Custom Mailer Boxes, Printed and Finished In House

What custom mailer boxes are

Custom mailer boxes are one-piece corrugated shipping boxes, printed with your brand and die cut to fold and lock without tape. MPress prints, die cuts, foils, and glues them in house at our 35,000 square foot plant on Howard Avenue in New Orleans and at MPress West in McKinney, Texas, then warehouses the finished boxes and releases them as you need them. You work with one commercial printer from artwork to the loading dock, not a broker who sends the job somewhere else. If you also need folding cartons or retail boxes, they come off the same presses through our custom packaging and folding cartons service.

A custom mailer box is a corrugated box cut from a single flat blank that folds into a self-locking shape, so it seals without tape and opens without a knife. The corrugated wall gives it more crush resistance than a folding carton, which is why it is the standard format for shipping products directly to a customer. Because the whole outside prints, the box protects the product in transit and doubles as the first thing the customer sees when the package arrives.

What we print

We print mailer boxes for the ways brands actually ship and sell:

• E-commerce and subscription mailers that go straight to the customer
• Retail-ready mailers and product boxes for the shelf
• Boxes with die-cut windows that show the product inside
• Corrugated shippers for heavier or bulk orders

Every one prints full color on offset, digital, and UV presses, and finishes in house with foil stamping, embossing, and soft-touch or spot coatings through our bindery and finishing department. The print method is matched to the run: digital printing for shorter quantities, offset for volume.

Stage	What runs in our own building	Where it fits
Print	Full color on offset, digital, and UV presses	Digital printing for shorter quantities, offset for volume
Die cutting	Steel rule dies cut and crease the flat blank	Cutting and creasing in one pass is what makes the box fold square
Finishing	Foil stamping, embossing, soft-touch and spot coatings	A tactile or reflective cue on the printed panel
Structure	Dielines built to the product, and die-cut windows	The dieline keeps the box tight to the product; a window shows what is inside
Formats	E-commerce and subscription mailers, retail-ready mailers and product boxes, window boxes, corrugated shippers	Matched to how the box ships and sells
After print	Warehousing, pick and pack, and release on demand	Order in one run and pull from stock. Stock released through MPress Xpress can go out for delivery the next day.

Capabilities as published on our bindery and finishing, digital printing and fulfillment and warehousing pages.

How much do custom mailer boxes cost?

The price of a custom mailer box is set by five things: the finished size, the corrugated board, the print method, the finishing, and the quantity. Quantity is the largest lever, because the die and the press setup are a one-time cost spread across the run, so 5,000 boxes price far lower per box than 500. The die is a physical tool and can be reused on reorders, which keeps the cost per box down once it exists.

Size matters twice, because carriers price parcels by both weight and size, so a mailer box cut to fit its contents can ship for less than an oversized carton. We build the dieline to the product before printing, which keeps the box tight and the shipping bill down. Full-bleed color, foil, and specialty coatings add cost per unit, and longer offset runs lower the cost per box. Send the artwork and quantity and we quote the exact spec rather than a range.

Cost driver	What it covers	Which way it moves the price
Finished size	The box dimensions, length by width by depth, cut to the product it holds	A bigger box uses more board and can push the parcel into a higher carrier price. A box cut to fit lowers both.
Corrugated board	Board weight and corrugation grade	Heavier board and specialty stock cost more per box, and protect more.
Print method	Offset, digital, or UV	Digital skips plate setup, so a shorter run costs less to start. Offset lowers the cost per box as the run grows.
Finishing	Foil stamping, embossing, soft-touch and spot coatings, die-cut windows	Each finish prices on top of the base print, per box.
Quantity	How many boxes in the run	The largest lever. The die and the press setup are a one-time cost spread across the run, so the price per box falls as the quantity rises.

Price drivers as published on this page and on our custom packaging and folding cartons page. MPress quotes the exact spec rather than a range, so send the size, the quantity, and the artwork for a price per box.

What is the minimum order for custom mailer boxes?

MPress does not publish a fixed minimum for custom mailer boxes, because the workable quantity is set by the print method. Digital printing skips plate setup, which makes a shorter run practical, and lithographic offset rewards a larger quantity with a lower cost per box. Tell us the quantity you are considering and we will quote the run that fits.

What sizes and board can MPress print?

There is no standard size for a custom mailer box. It is specified as length by width by depth and cut to the product it holds, and our prepress team builds the dieline to that product before anything prints. Corrugated board is what makes the wall strong enough to ship: a fluted middle layer between two liners, specified by weight and corrugation grade alongside the box. Our steel rule dies hold a tolerance of about plus or minus 0.005 inch, which is what keeps the cut lined up with the print.

How long does a custom mailer box order take?

The schedule has four parts: prepress and the dieline, your proof approval, the print run, then die cutting, foiling, and gluing. Nothing runs until you approve the proof, so part of the calendar is in your hands. Finishing is the stage most schedules underestimate, and on a box it can take as long as the printing did. Because printing, die cutting and finishing, and the warehouse all sit in our own building, the job never waits on a truck to an outside trade shop. Send your in-hands date with the quote request and we will confirm the schedule before the job starts.

Can I get a sample before the run?

Yes. You approve a proof before anything runs, and because the plant is in New Orleans you can review a physical sample without waiting on a cross-country shipment, which catches structural problems before the full run. Working with the same team on the same equipment keeps color and construction matched from one run to the next, so a reorder matches the first box.

How a mailer box order runs at MPress

The order moves in five steps, all under one roof:

1. Quote. You send the size, quantity, and artwork, and we price the exact spec.
2. Prepress. Our prepress team builds the dieline and preps the files for print.
3. Proof. You approve a proof before anything runs.
4. Print, die cut, and glue. We print, die cut, foil, and glue the boxes in house.
5. Warehouse and ship. We store the finished boxes and release them as you need them.

Why brands order mailer boxes from MPress

MPress prints, die cuts, foils, and glues mailer boxes in house, so the box is not handed to an outside converter and marked up. Offset, digital, and UV presses sit under one roof, so the run length is matched to your budget instead of your budget to the press. Through fulfillment and warehousing, we hold the finished boxes and release them on demand, so you order in one run and pull from stock instead of storing pallets yourself. And you reach a New Orleans commercial printer by phone, not a web form and a ticket number.

Custom mailer boxes for New Orleans and beyond

Our plant is at 4100 Howard Avenue in New Orleans, and we work with brands across the Gulf South on their packaging. Because we warehouse and ship, the boxes go wherever your fulfillment center or storefront needs them, in New Orleans or across the country.