Where To Get Shipping Boxes

You can get shipping boxes free from your carrier, buy them cheaply in bulk from suppliers like Uline, or pick them up from retailers like Amazon, Walmart, and Home Depot. The right source comes down to volume: free carrier boxes work for the occasional Priority shipment, bulk suppliers pay off once you ship every day.

Free boxes from carriers

USPS, UPS, FedEx and DHL all give away branded packaging, with two catches. Each box is tied to a service, so a free Priority Mail box is only free if the parcel actually ships Priority Mail. And UPS, FedEx and DHL tie their supplies to an account: you need a UPS.com username, a FedEx account or a DHL account number to order, and UPS also scales what you can reorder to how much you ship. USPS sets no shipping-volume condition on its free catalog.

USPS: free Priority Mail and Priority Mail Express supplies

The free USPS boxes and envelopes are all Priority Mail, Priority Mail Express or Flat Rate. The Free Shipping Supplies catalog on the Postal Store lists 47 items at $0.00, from the Flat Rate Envelope up to the Priority Mail Large Box. Boxes come in packs of 10 or 25 and labels in rolls of 250 or 1,000. The same catalog gives away forms and labels most sellers don't expect to find there: Certified Mail labels, Collect on Delivery forms, Domestic Return Receipt forms and customs form pouches.

Who qualifies: the catalog sets no shipping-volume or account-history condition. You add items to a Postal Store cart like any other order.

How to order and how long it takes: order through the Postal Store and expect a wait. USPS says boxes and envelopes arrive with your regular mail, usually within 7 to 10 days, so order before you run low. Once they arrive, you can print postage through Click-N-Ship and schedule a USPS Package Pickup instead of driving them in.

Ground Advantage: there is no Ground Advantage item in the free catalog. None of the 47 items carries the Ground Advantage name; the branded boxes and envelopes are all Priority Mail, Priority Mail Express or Flat Rate. If you ship Ground Advantage, plan on your own boxes or plain mailers.

The rule that makes a misused USPS box expensive

The usage rule is DMM 601.6.1, USPS-Produced Packaging: "All USPS-produced packaging (including Flat-Rate packaging) must be used only for the applicable product (e.g., Priority Mail Express, Priority Mail). The mailer of any matter mailed in USPS-produced packaging, regardless of how the packaging is reconfigured or how markings may be obliterated, must pay the appropriate product price."

In practice, if you send a Priority Mail box as Ground Advantage, you owe the Priority Mail price for that piece. Turning the box inside out, covering the logo or taping over the markings does not change what you owe, because the rule names reconfigured and obliterated packaging explicitly.

UPS: free supplies tied to your shipping activity

UPS gives away boxes, express envelopes, label pouches, forms and labels, but how much you can get now depends on how much you ship. Under its current customer supplies policy, new customers receive an initial allocation of free supplies, ongoing eligibility depends on shipping activity and supplies usage, and access may be limited if usage doesn't line up with shipping activity. In plain terms, if you order far more boxes than you ship, UPS can cut back what you're allowed to order.

UPS sorts customers into three access levels. Full Access covers every supply on UPS.com. Limited Access covers general supplies but not the ones meant only for UPS Express shipments. No Access is what it sounds like, and restricted customers are pointed to UPS Customer Service or their Account Executive.

Who qualifies and how to order: you need a UPS.com username to place a supply order, quantities per order may be limited, and what you can reorder is based on your recent shipping volume. Orders typically arrive within a few business days.

FedEx: complimentary packaging for expedited services

FedEx packaging is free only if you ship the right services. Envelopes, paks, poly bags, boxes and tubes are complimentary when you use expedited FedEx services, and you log in with your FedEx account to order them from the shipping supplies page. The boxes page spells out the limit in a footnote: complimentary packaging is only available for shipments using FedEx expedited, FedEx Express Saver or FedEx International Economy services. FedEx ships the supplies to you free when you order online, but neither page gives a delivery window, so order ahead. For picking among the free sizes, see which FedEx box is best for you.

What is not free at FedEx: the standard boxes sold at FedEx Office. The boxes page prices them from $2.00 for an 8" x 8" x 8" box to $15.25 for a 28" x 28" x 28" heavy-duty box, box only, before packing. They are plain boxes you can ship with any service, and they are easy to confuse with the complimentary branded boxes.

DHL: free supplies for account holders

DHL Express packaging is free, but only if you have a DHL account. Its US Prepare Your Shipment guide says DHL provides supplies free of charge to account holders and that you order them using your account number; DHL then sends a confirmation email telling you when your local courier will deliver them. Orders go through the DHL US supply order site. The guide gives no delivery window beyond that courier confirmation, so order ahead as you would with FedEx. Without a DHL account, none of this applies to you.

Marketplace supplies are a separate program. If you sell on eBay, Store subscribers at Basic level and above get a quarterly eBay-branded supplies coupon that has nothing to do with the carrier programs above.

Cheapest places to buy

• Uline: the go-to for bulk. Huge catalog, low per-unit pricing, fast regional shipping. Best once you are ordering boxes by the hundred.
• Amazon: convenient for small runs and odd sizes, with quick delivery on Prime.
• Walmart and Home Depot: easy in-store pickup and moving boxes that double as shippers.
• Local stores: many grocery and retail stores give away clean used boxes if you ask.

Pick the right box, not just the cheapest

A box that is too big costs you twice: more dunnage to fill the void, and higher dimensional weight that carriers bill you for. Match the box to the product, keep a small range of sizes, and you cut both material and postage.

When it makes sense to stop sourcing boxes yourself

Buying, storing and restocking boxes is real overhead once volume climbs. With Simpl, packaging is included in the per-order price, starting at $7/order, so you stop ordering boxes and managing a supply closet. Standard ecommerce fulfillment accounts have a $750/month minimum, billed pay-the-difference: if a month's order billing comes in under $750, you pay only the gap. See pricing.

Sources

• USPS Free Shipping Supplies catalog on the Postal Store: the free items and who can order them
• USPS Priority Mail: delivery time for free supplies
• USPS Domestic Mail Manual 601, section 6.1: the USPS-produced packaging rule
• UPS Packaging and Shipping Supplies: the customer supplies policy, access levels and ordering
• FedEx shipping supplies: complimentary packaging for account holders
• FedEx boxes: eligible services and FedEx Office box prices
• DHL Prepare Your Shipment guide: free supplies for account holders
• DHL US supply order site: where DHL supply orders are placed