Padded Envelopes

Padded envelopes have saved me on many occasions from having to either call a courier to collect a parcel that I needed to have delivered or make a tedious drive to deliver the parcel to the client in person. The reason why the parcel needed such careful attention was because it was fragile. In this case it was photographs that I had taken for a client and needed delivering in such a way that they would not be bent or get wet. Luckily, padded mailing envelopes were available at the Post Office and I decided to use these instead. Besides being far cheaper than a courier, they also saved me the hour return trip to deliver my parcel. Just dropping a padded envelope in the mail is far easier and less time consuming.

The padded mailers I chose to use had bubble wrap as their padding. The bubble wrap was glued to the entire inside of the envelope giving complete protection to whatever was placed inside. The bubble wrap also made it very difficult to bend the envelope making it perfect for my photographs. In addition, because the bubble wrap is made of plastic and is therefore waterproof, bubble envelopes give a certain amount of moisture protection as well. The envelopes I used had a heavy duty paper as the outer layer. This type of paper is resistant to ripping and provides that extra protection. It is also possible to get these envelopes with a plastic outer layer that makes them completely waterproof. Regardless of whether heavy duty paper or plastic envelopes are used, the combination of moisture protection and padding make these envelopes perfect for any number of gifts that someone may want to send to friends or family without incurring a huge expense, whilst ensuring the gift reaches the recipient in good order.

For these same reasons I have also used these envelopes for sending other smaller printed envelopes that needed to reach their destination unfolded and without any moisture damage. In all the situations that I have used padded envelopes for this purpose, the small envelopes have arrived in perfect condition.

These padded envelopes aren’t great for customized envelope printing. The padding stops the envelope from being able to lie flat and so the envelopes aren’t easily passed through a four colour printing press. Since corporate businesses are the most likely to want personalized business envelopes, they will normally have the printing done prior to constructing the envelope and this is usually done by the company that manufactures the envelopes. The paper is passed through the printer and is then cut to the size of the required envelopes. The bubble wrap is then glued to the paper and the paper glued together to form the finished envelope with the customized business printing on the front or back of the envelope.

Bubble mailer envelopes can also be used for storing small breakable items in the home. There are always those situations when small items need to be easily stored away safely. One option is to place them in a shoe box with the hope it won’t be thrown around. Newspaper can be used to wrap the items but this can leave marks from the newspaper inks. Alternatively, bubble wrap can be used on it’s own to wrap the items but this can be slightly inconvenient as most people don’t have or want bubble wrap sitting around the house and it requires sticky tape to finish the job. The easiest alternative is to use a padded envelope provided the items will easily fit inside without distending the envelope. It has the bubble wrap contained within it, the envelope itself provides an easy storage solution and it can even be written upon to identify it’s contents.

Colored envelopes are available in a range of colors including black envelopes and come in a range of shapes and sizes including square envelopes. For those who are environmentally aware, it is also possible to get environmentally friendly envelopes that use unbleached paper that has been recycled from disposed paper and cardboard boxes. It’s worth remembering that the envelopes once received, can be kept and used again by simply placing a new label with the new mailing address on the front of the envelope to cover the old mailing address. Many envelopes also come with a pull tab at the end making them easy to open. It’s just a matter of pulling the tab and the entire end of the envelope rips off providing easy access to the contents and saving your finger nails from the unenviable job of letter opener.

Finally it is worth noting that bubble mailers are perfect for entertaining bored children. Who doesn’t enjoy bursting all of the little bubbles that make up the bubble wrap as you slowly make your way across each section? The padded envelope provides the bubble wrap for bursting on the inside and the envelope for drawing upon on the outside. What a perfect distraction. It is important to make sure children are old enough to handle the plastic that comes with the padded envelopes.