Custom Vinyl Record Shipping Boxes
Custom vinyl record shipping boxes — corner-protecting mailers for 12-inch LPs, 7-inch singles and box sets, with stiffeners, sized to one, two or five records — printed with your label from 100. Dieline and price the same working day.
A record survives the post at the corners or not at all
- Board
- E flute for 1–3 LPs and singles; B flute for 5 LPs and box sets
- Builds
- Corner-pad mailer with stiffeners; self-locking lid; tear strip
- Sizing
- Sleeve plus 3 mm; 1, 2–3, 5 LP; 7-inch; box set
Get a price for Vinyl Record Shipping 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.
Mailer formats
| Single LP mailer | A flat box with folded corner pads; about 325 × 325 × 15 mm internal |
|---|---|
| 2–3 LP mailer | The same with a deeper wall; 25–35 mm |
| 5 LP mailer | A deeper box with a stiffener top and bottom; 50 mm |
| 7-inch mailer | About 190 × 190 × 12 mm; the singles format |
| Box set mailer | Sized to the set; a cradle; B flute |
Corner protection, and how it works
The mailer's walls fold inward at each corner into a pad that sits between the sleeve corner and the box corner. A drop on the box corner is absorbed by the pad and the sleeve corner never touches the impact point. A stiffener — a board sheet on each face — stops the sleeve bending across the middle. Together they are why a record mailer is not a flat box. Our shipping boxes for every product cover the general-purpose mailers.
Board and the fit
- E flute for singles and one to three LPs; B flute for five and box sets.
- Internal size to the sleeve plus 3 mm — a loose record slides and dents.
- A self-locking lid, no tape, that opens without a blade near the sleeve.
- A tear strip for a clean open.
Print for a label or a shop
Record mailers are printed with the label or the shop on the outside and, on a subscription or a limited edition, on the inside lid. One or two colors on kraft is the record-shop look; full color on white for a label with an image. A "do not bend" mark is printed rather than stamped.
Records are heavy. A five-LP mailer weighs over a kilogram filled, and it is built in B flute with a base that carries it.
Labels, shops and the pressing run
Independent labels ship a pressing of 300 to 1,000 in its own mailers; record shops ship daily in stock mailers printed with the shop; subscription clubs print the inside. Mailers ship flat in bundles of 25 or 50 and fold without tape. The die is kept per count.
Vinyl Record Shipping 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 for 1–3 LPs and singles; B flute for 5 LPs and box sets
- Builds
- Corner-pad mailer with stiffeners; self-locking lid; tear strip
- Sizing
- Sleeve plus 3 mm; 1, 2–3, 5 LP; 7-inch; box set
- Protection
- Folded corner pads; board stiffener each face
- 1–2 colors on kraft or full color on white; inside lid; "do not bend"
- Supply
- Flat, bundles of 25 or 50; folds without tape
- 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 vinyl record shipping 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: vinyl record shipping 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 Vinyl Record Shipping 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 vinyl record shipping 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.
How does the mailer protect the corners?
The walls fold into pads at each corner that sit between the sleeve corner and the box corner, so an impact on the box never reaches the sleeve.
Does it stop the record bending?
Yes, a board stiffener on each face keeps the sleeve flat.
What sizes do you make?
Single, two-to-three and five LP mailers, a 7-inch mailer, and box-set mailers sized to the set.
Does it need tape?
No, a self-locking lid with a tear strip for opening.
What is the minimum order?
100 boxes.
Can I print inside the lid?
Yes, for a subscription or a limited edition.
Kraft or white?
Kraft with one or two colors is the record-shop look; white for a label with a full-color image.
Does it ship flat?
Yes, in bundles of 25 or 50, folding without tape.
Can it hold a gatefold or a heavy sleeve?
Yes, the two-to-three LP mailer takes a gatefold with an inner.
Is the five-LP mailer strong enough?
Yes, in B flute with a base built for the weight, which is over a kilogram.
Do you keep the die?
Yes, per count, so reorders skip the tooling.
Do you ship outside the US?
Yes, to the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, quoted in the delivery currency.
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