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OrderingHow Many Kraft Mailers Should You Order?
Quantity is usually the hardest number to pin down on a first kraft mailer order — order too few and you’re reordering within weeks at a worse price tier; order too many and you’ve tied up capital in packaging that outlives your current design. Here’s a simple way to land on the right number.
Start from your shipping cadence, not a round number
Rather than picking a quantity that feels safe, work backward from how many orders you actually ship in a defined period. Take your average weekly or monthly shipment volume, multiply by how many weeks or months you want the order to cover, and add a buffer of about 10 to 15 percent for demand spikes, damaged mailers, or design testing.
| Business type | Formula basis | Suggested coverage period |
|---|---|---|
| E-commerce / DTC, steady volume | Average weekly shipments | 8–12 weeks |
| Subscription box | Confirmed subscriber count | 2–3 billing cycles |
| Seasonal / apparel drops | Prior season’s sell-through | Single season |
| Corporate gifting | Recipient list size | Single campaign, plus 10% buffer |
New brands: start at the minimum and reorder fast
If you don’t have shipping history yet, our 250-piece minimum is a reasonable starting point for testing a first kraft mailer design before committing to a larger volume tier. Because reorders move faster once your artwork and specs are on file, there’s little downside to starting small and stepping up once you’ve confirmed real demand.
Established brands: order at the volume tier that lowers cost
Once you have a stable shipping cadence, ordering at a higher volume tier — 1,000, 2,500, or 5,000-plus units — typically lowers your per-unit price meaningfully. The math is usually favorable if you can confidently forecast selling through the quantity within two to three quarters, since holding costs for kraft mailers are low compared to the price improvement at volume.
Seasonal and drop-based ordering
Brands running seasonal collections or limited drops should size their order to the specific season or drop rather than a rolling calendar period, using last season’s sell-through as the baseline and adjusting for expected growth or new customer acquisition.
Accounting for growth and marketing pushes
A quantity formula based purely on historical average shipping volume can undercount what you’ll actually need if you have a marketing push, a major sale event, or a press mention planned within your coverage period. When any of these are on the calendar, it’s worth padding your order beyond the standard 10 to 15 percent buffer, since running out of branded mailers mid-campaign forces either a rush reorder at a worse price tier or a temporary fallback to generic packaging during exactly the period when brand impression matters most.
What happens if you order too much or too little
Overordering ties up cash in inventory and risks holding stock that outlives your current design if you rebrand or update packaging before it sells through — kraft mailers store well, but a large excess still represents capital sitting on a shelf. Underordering forces a rush reorder, typically at a smaller quantity and therefore a less favorable price tier than your original order, and it can create a packaging gap if the reorder doesn’t arrive before you run out. Both outcomes are avoidable with a quantity built from real shipping data plus a reasonable buffer, revisited every few months as your business changes.
Not sure what to order? Get a custom quote and tell us your shipping volume — we’ll help you land on the right quantity. Learn more about how we work, or browse more guides.