Custom Corrugated Literature Mailers
Custom corrugated literature mailers — the flat, one-piece folder box for books, catalogs, prints and anything else that must arrive unbent — from 100 units. Sized to the page so the contents cannot slide, locked with tabs, and printed like a cover.
A box for things that must not bend, and must not slide
- Board
- E-flute for most; B-flute for hardcovers and large flats; chipboard stiffener option
- Depth
- 0.5–3 in, in quarter-inch steps
- Sizes
- Built to the trim size plus 1/8 in; from 5 × 7 in to 20 × 26 in
Get a price for Corrugated Literature Mailers
Send the size and quantity — we reply the same working day with a price, a dieline and a date. Artwork optional at this stage.
- Free dielineThe flat drawing comes with the quote, before you commit.
- Proof before pressNothing is printed until you have seen it laid on the dieline.
- Die kept for reordersTooling is paid once. Every reorder skips straight to press.
- Quoted in four marketsUS, UK, Canada and Australia, in the delivery currency.
Sized to the page, with almost no play
A literature mailer is built to the exact footprint of the contents plus an eighth of an inch, and to the exact stack height. That tightness is the protection: a book that cannot slide cannot crush its own corners. Order a stock size that is a half inch bigger and the box does less than a padded envelope. Send us the trim size and the thickness and we build the die to it; a paperback, a hardcover, an A4 catalog and a stack of prints are four different boxes.
| Paperback, 5.5 × 8.5 in | E-flute, 1 in deep, tab lock |
|---|---|
| Hardcover, 6 × 9 in | B-flute, 1.5 in deep, tab lock, corner pads optional |
| Catalog or magazine, 8.5 × 11 in | E-flute, 0.5–1 in deep, holds 1–6 copies |
| Prints, up to 18 × 24 in | B-flute with a chipboard stiffener; the version on our art print shipping boxes page |
One piece, tabs, no tape
The blank folds up around the contents: the base, then the side walls with double thickness at the corners, then the lid with tabs that lock into slots in the front wall. The double-thickness corners are the point — they are where the box hits the ground, and they are two layers where a standard carton is one. The lock holds through transit and the box opens with a thumb, which matters for a product that is often a gift.
A tear strip across the lid lets the recipient open the box without a blade, which is worth specifying for anything sold to the public.
Print like a cover
A literature mailer is flat and the lid is a single large panel, so it prints like a book cover: one color on kraft for a publisher's trade mailer, full color on a white liner for a direct-to-reader edition. The inside of the lid is seen when the box opens, and a line of text there is cheap. The general case for a box that shows the brand on the outside, rather than a plain carton, is the same as for our ear lock mailers that open flat, scaled down to a half-inch depth.
Multiples, and the carrier band
- A mailer holds one item or a stack of the same item; a divider is rarely needed.
- Depth is built in quarter-inch steps, and the lid tabs are cut for the exact depth.
- Most literature mailers fall inside the letter-post or flat bands, which is where the depth matters more than the footprint.
- A chipboard stiffener under the contents keeps a large flat item from flexing in a mail sack.
Corrugated Literature Mailers — specification
The rows that are specific to this build first, then what applies to every job we run. Anything not listed is a question, not a limit — send the brief.
This build
- Board
- E-flute for most; B-flute for hardcovers and large flats; chipboard stiffener option
- Depth
- 0.5–3 in, in quarter-inch steps
- Sizes
- Built to the trim size plus 1/8 in; from 5 × 7 in to 20 × 26 in
- Closure
- Tab lock into the front wall; tear strip on request
- One color on kraft to full color on white; inside lid
- Minimum
- 100 boxes
On every job
- Print process
- Flexo in one to four colors straight onto the liner; litho-lamination where the box needs full color or a photograph.
- Color
- Flat colors on kraft. Full color needs a white top liner or a laminated sheet, because brown shifts every color warm.
- Tolerance
- Cutting plus or minus 1.5 mm. The flute compresses, so corrugated runs wider than folding board.
- Tooling
- No die on a regular slotted box, which is cut on a slotter. Die-cut mailers and trays need one, made once and kept.
- Food contact
- Food-grade liners and a vented build where the box carries hot food.
- Sustainability
- High recycled content through liners and flute as standard, and the box recycles whole if it is sealed with paper tape.
- Artwork
- Vector PDF or AI, 3 mm bleed, 4 mm safe area, fonts outlined. We check every file and send a proof before press.
- Dieline
- Supplied free with the quote, before you commit. Yours whether or not you order.
- Sample
- A plain unprinted sample at the finished size on request, for fit and construction.
- Reorders
- Skip the tooling and go straight to press at a lower unit price.
- Lead time
- Quoted with the price against your fill date rather than promised before we have seen the spec.
- Markets
- United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia — priced in the delivery currency, freight included.
Boards and films we build corrugated literature mailers on
Corrugated is a fluted sheet glued between two liners, and the flute decides nearly everything: how it prints, how it dents, how high it stacks. These are the grades we run.
E flute
About 1.5 mm. Prints well and folds crisply; dents under a stack. Retail boxes, mailers and light shippers.
1.5 mm, single wallB flute
About 3 mm. The working default for parcels — takes print reasonably and stacks reasonably. Most shipping boxes are B.
3 mm, single wallC flute
About 4 mm. More cushioning than B, slightly less stacking strength per weight. Common on grocery and produce cases.
4 mm, single wallBC double wall
B and C glued together, about 7 mm. Heavy or fragile goods, pallet stacking, anything over roughly 15 kg.
7 mm, double wallKraft liner
Brown, strong, absorbent. One or two flat colors flexo print well on it; photographs drink into the brown and go muddy.
Outer and inner linerWhite top liner
A bleached outer liner for full-color print on corrugated. Costs more and marks more easily than kraft.
Outer liner onlyRecycled-content corrugated
High post-consumer fiber through liners and flute. The default for shippers; a slightly greyer brown and no loss of strength at grade.
All flutesCoated and water-resistant
A coating or a wax-free barrier liner for damp stores and cold chains. Check the recycling stream before printing a claim on it.
B and C fluteNot sure which? Say what goes in it and where it is sold — the material follows from that. Our notes on recycled, recyclable and compostable cover which claims each stock can honestly carry.
- 01
Send what you have
A dimension, a photograph beside a ruler, or the product itself. No technical drawing needed — that part is ours.
- 02
We quote and draw
A price, a dieline and a date come back together. If a different build would suit the product better, that is in the reply too.
- 03
Approve the dieline
The flat drawing is yours to check: which panel is the front, where the folds fall, how deep the cavity really is.
- 04
Artwork on the dieline
You place your design on the flat we sent, or we place it for you, and you see a proof before anything goes to press.
- 05
A sample if you want one
A plain unprinted sample at the finished size shows fit and construction — the things a drawing cannot.
- 06
Cut, printed, shipped
The die is cut once and kept, so every reorder skips the tooling and goes straight to press at a lower unit price.
Format
Vector PDF or AI where possible. Raster artwork at 300dpi at final size, in CMYK.
Bleed
3 mm past every trim line, so a fraction of drift on the cutter never leaves a white edge.
Safe area
Keep type and anything important 4 mm inside the cut and away from every fold.
Color
Convert to CMYK before sending. Uncoated stock prints lighter; a spot color is the only exact match.
Fonts
Outline them or supply the files. A missing font substitutes silently and the proof will not match.
Barcodes
On a light, matte, unvarnished patch with the quiet zone clear — a code on gloss fails the scanner.
Not set up that way? Send it anyway — fixing a file is a short conversation, and we check every one before press. Our guide to preparing print files covers each point.
Corrugated takes fewer finishes than folding board, and the ones it takes it takes well.
Flexo on kraft
One or two flat colors straight onto brown. Cheap, fast, honest.
Litho-lamination
An offset sheet glued to the flute: full color and photographs on a shipper.
Aqueous varnish
Scuff resistance with no film, so the box still recycles whole.
White top print
Full color flexo on a bleached liner; brighter, and it marks more easily.
Inside print
A second pass on the inner liner — the panel a customer sees first.
Printed tape seal
The brand applied at the last moment, on paper tape that recycles with the box.
Not sure which suits the shelf it sells from? Say where the product is sold and we suggest one — our notes on specialty finishes show them on real boxes.
Sizing a corrugated box against the carrier, not the catalog: corrugated literature mailers
Corrugated is cut to your internal size, so the box goes round the product rather than the product going into a stock size. That is where the money is: a box 20 mm smaller each way is often a whole postage band cheaper.
- Internal dimensions
- Length, width and depth of the space you need. Board thickness is added outside that, and the flute is thicker than people expect.
- Clearance and void fill
- 5–10 mm a side for a rigid product. Size it properly and you need no void fill at all, which is cheaper and better received.
- Stacking
- Tell us how high the boxes stack on a pallet or a shelf. Edge crush grade is specified from that, not guessed.
- Weight
- The contents weight sets the flute and the liner grade. Over about 15 kg we move to double wall.
- Score allowance
- Corrugated needs more room at the folds than boxboard. The dieline accounts for it; a box drawn from flat dimensions comes out tight.
- Cutting tolerance
- Plus or minus 1.5 mm on corrugated, wider than folding board because the flute compresses.
Not sure your numbers are right? Send the product dimensions rather than the box dimensions and we work the box out — the full method is in our guide to measuring for a box.
Interactive · five steps · no sign-up
Build your Corrugated Literature Mailers in 3D
Pick a shape, type a size, choose a board and a finish. The preview on the left redraws as you go, and the spec lands with us exactly as you set it.
Frequently asked questions
Got a question about corrugated literature mailers? The answers below cover what we get asked most. If yours is not here, send it with a brief, message us on WhatsApp, or call +1 503-461-4788 — we reply the same working day.
What size do I need?
The trim size of the contents plus an eighth of an inch, and the exact stack height. Send us those and we build the die; a loose fit does less than a padded envelope.
Does it protect the corners?
Yes — the walls are double thickness at the corners, and the tight fit stops the contents sliding into a corner on impact.
Does it need tape?
No. The lid tabs lock into the front wall. Tape is optional for a tamper seal.
How many books can it hold?
One, or a stack of the same title up to about 3 in. Deeper than that and a regular carton is the better tool.
Can I ship prints in it?
Yes, with a chipboard stiffener under them so they cannot flex. Up to about 18 × 24 in; larger flats go in a tube or a dedicated art box.
Can it have a tear strip?
Yes, across the lid, so the recipient opens it without a blade. We recommend it for anything sent to the public.
Can I print it in full color?
Yes, on a white liner. One color on kraft is the trade standard and cheaper.
Is it recyclable?
Yes, as plain corrugated, including the chipboard stiffener.
Does it ship flat?
Yes, as a die-cut blank. It folds up around the contents in a few seconds.
What is the minimum order?
100 boxes per size. The die is the set-up cost and is reused on every reorder.
How long does production take?
It depends on the size, the print and the quantity. We give a date with the quote rather than a number before we have seen the spec.
Will you send a sample?
An unprinted mailer in your size, so you can pack your book or print and post it to yourself before print.
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