Custom Ear Lock Mailer Boxes
Custom ear lock mailer boxes that close by locking two tabs into the side walls, from 100 units. No tape, no glue, a lid that opens flat for the reveal, and a die-cut blank that folds up in ten seconds — which is why it is the mailer most small brands end up with.
The mailer that closes with two tabs and no tape
- Board
- E-flute, B-flute or EB double-wall corrugated; kraft or white liner
- Closure
- Two ear tabs into side-wall slots, dust flaps at the corners; no tape
- Sizes
- 4–16 in long side; custom to your product
Get a price for Ear Lock Mailer Boxes
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.
How the lock works, and where it fails
The front flap folds down over the front wall and its two ears — the tabs at each end — slide into slots cut in the side walls. The slot is cut a fraction narrower than the ear so the corrugated compresses as it goes in and springs back to hold. Cut the slot too wide and the lid lifts in transit; too narrow and the customer tears the ear off opening it. We size the slot to the flute — an E-flute ear needs a different slot from a B-flute one — and we crease the ear so it folds rather than cracks.
A dust flap under each ear closes the gap at the corner, which is what keeps the box square and the contents in when it is dropped on the corner.
Sizes, and what the standard ones hold
Ear lock mailers scale from about 4 in to 16 in on the long side. Above that the lid flap flexes and the ears will not hold; the roll-end or tuck-top styles take over. For a box sized against carrier rates, our note on dimensional weight and box size sets out where the bands fall.
| 6 × 4 × 2 in | Cosmetics, a phone case, jewelry with an insert |
|---|---|
| 8 × 6 × 3 in | The subscription box size; apparel folded once, a candle |
| 10 × 8 × 4 in | Shoes, a book plus a gift, a skincare set |
| 12 × 10 × 4 in | Apparel flat, two products side by side |
Printed inside, because the lid opens flat
The lid of an ear lock mailer opens fully back and lies flat, so the inside of the lid is the first thing seen — a full panel at the right moment. A message, a pattern or a second brand color there costs one extra pass and changes the whole box. The outside is often kept plain or one color, and it is the way to do a premium box on a small budget: quiet outside, loud inside. Where an insert holds the product in place under that lid, we build it on the lines of our mailer boxes with die-cut inserts.
Corrugated prints matte. A gloss finish on a mailer needs a laminated outer liner, which adds cost and makes the box harder to recycle.
Flute, and the drop
An ear lock mailer is usually the shipping box, not a box inside one. We spec the flute to the contents and the carrier, not to the print.
- E-flute — 1.5 mm, prints sharply, the choice for anything under about 2 lb.
- B-flute — 3 mm, more cushion, coarser print; for heavier or fragile contents.
- EB double wall — for a box that ships alone with something breakable inside.
- White or kraft outer liner; kraft is cheaper and hides scuffs.
Ear Lock Mailer Boxes — 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, B-flute or EB double-wall corrugated; kraft or white liner
- Closure
- Two ear tabs into side-wall slots, dust flaps at the corners; no tape
- Sizes
- 4–16 in long side; custom to your product
- Outside and inside the lid; one color to full color, matte
- Inserts
- Die-cut corrugated or paperboard on request
- 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 ear lock mailer boxes 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: ear lock mailer boxes
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 Ear Lock Mailer Boxes 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 ear lock mailer boxes? 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.
Does it need tape?
No. The ears lock into the side-wall slots and hold through transit. Tape is optional for a tamper seal.
Will the lid pop open in shipping?
Not with a slot cut to the flute. A slot cut too wide is the usual cause; we size it to compress the ear as it seats.
Can I print inside the lid?
Yes, and it is the best panel on the box. The lid opens flat, so the inside is the first thing the customer sees.
What flute should I choose?
E-flute for anything under about 2 lb and for the sharpest print; B-flute for heavier or fragile contents; double wall for a breakable product shipping alone.
How big can it go?
About 16 in on the long side. Beyond that the lid flexes and the ears do not hold, and a roll-end or tuck-top style takes over.
Does it ship flat?
Yes, as a die-cut blank. It folds up in about ten seconds with no tools.
Can I add an insert?
Yes, a die-cut corrugated or paperboard insert that holds the product still under the lid. Send us the product and we cut it to fit.
Is it recyclable?
Yes, as plain corrugated. Skip the laminated gloss liner if that matters, because it complicates recycling.
Kraft or white?
Kraft is cheaper, hides scuffs and suits a natural brand. White gives the cleanest print and shows handling.
What is the minimum order?
100 boxes. The die is the set-up cost, and it is reused on every reorder.
How long does production take?
It depends on the flute, 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 box in your size, so you can pack your product and test the lock before print.
Same range
