Regardless of where you live, there is a chance that your packages may encounter winter weather during transit. If you’re not careful, shipping poly mailers without the proper protection could turn into a disaster. What steps should you take to keep your packages safe from the snow? It’s all about preparation, and it’s easier than you may think. By the end of this blog, you’ll be shipping your white poly mailers like a pro with no worries about what Mother Nature is doing!
Step 1: The Proper Packaging
The first step to ensuring your items arrive safely at their destination is to package them appropriately. Choosing the proper packaging means doing your research about which products will protect the contents of your shipment. In terms of shipping poly mailers, we’re a fan of using white poly mailers for a majority of our standard shipping needs. Thanks to their polyethylene construction, poly mailers are affordable, durable, and tend to hold up well against the elements. This material keeps water, dust, dirt, and debris out and your package safely stored inside. Also, polyethylene is resistant to tears, rips, and punctures, so your packages have an additional layer of protection during their travels. Although an easy-seal closure isn’t necessarily a standard feature on all white poly mailers, it’s a must-have feature for us when shipping poly mailers. The quick seal technology makes closing your package fast, easy, and more secure than it would be using traditional packing tape — it’s a no-brainer.
Although weight doesn’t have a direct impact on snow safety, is it another perk of utilizing colored, decorated, or white poly mailers. In addition to offering protection, polyethylene is incredibly lightweight when compared to its durability, making it a more economical choice as well as one that will protect against the elements. Increasing the affordability of your mailing services will allow you to invest your savings in something else, such as one or more of the features we’ll mention later on.
Step 2: Plan Ahead
It’s hard to predict the weather, even when you’re a professional. However, having a general idea of when a storm may impact your shipments can help you make more informed and proactive choices. These choices can be as simple as adding a layer of protection in the form of a plastic sealable sandwich bag or as extensive as shipping poly mailers utilizing a faster delivery option, so your package arrives at its destination before any hazardous weather does.
Step 3: The Best Services
Although it’s easy to skimp on extra features like tracking numbers and insurance, paying extra for these services is a smart choice, especially when shipping poly mailers that may encounter snow or other adverse weather. Adding insurance to your white poly mailers always seems unnecessary until something disastrous happens. This idea falls under the “better safe than sorry” category of best practices when shipping poly mailers. Not only can insurance help offset the cost of replacement if your package is lost or stolen, but it also typically covers damage during transit or after delivery (although we’ll get to those details a bit later).
Another service that we always recommend when shipping poly mailers is tracking. Providing the ability for your customers to track their packages can be advantageous for more than the obvious reasons. The majority of people utilize tracking services when a package hasn’t arrived by its intended date. However, as technology evolves, apps such as Arrive can log the tracking information from your email to send you notifications on where your package is, when you can expect it to arrive, and delays it may experience along the way.
But how exactly does this supply of information protect your white poly mailers? When shipping poly mailers, knowing the date and time when you can expect your package to arrive can have the most significant impact on keeping your customer’s merchandise safe from snow — or ice, rain, neighborhood cats, you name it.
Let’s say that you are shipping poly mailers full of t-shirts to a customer in Colorado. Although the shipping service expects your package to take between five and seven business days, they provide you with a tracking number to pass along to your customer. Once you do, your customer inputs that information into their tracking app to receive real-time notifications about the status of their shipment. Fast forward. On day two, you learn a snowstorm will hit the city where your customer lives in two days. On day four, the snowstorm arrives, along with a notification that their package should be delivered the following day. On the day of expected arrival, your customer receives a notification that their package is out for delivery.
Although you have done your part by packaging your customer’s order in white poly mailers to protect it as much as possible, having it sit all day in the snow and slush waiting for your customer to return from work is less than ideal. However, because you elected tracking when shipping poly mailers, your customer is able to ask their neighbor to pick up the package for them once it arrives. Customers who are able to stay informed about the details of when their white poly mailers should arrive are more likely to make proactive decisions to protect their orders.
Step 4: Make Friends
If you’re a business owner who is shipping poly mailers to your customers, asking for friendly advice on from your favorite mail carrier can provide insider tips on how you can keep your merchandise safe. As a customer, making friends with your mail carrier can be even more critical. Although many mail carriers carry plastic bags to cover packages during lousy weather, it doesn’t always happen. Making friends with your mail carrier can help ensure your packages aren’t left in the cold, wet snow. Plus, it’s also just nice to have more friends sometimes.
Whether you’re shipping poly mailers or receiving them this winter, using the right materials, planning ahead, staying updated, and being kind are our best tips for keeping your orders safe and warm! For more tips and tricks on shipping, including a comparison of different carriers, check out the Shop4Mailers blog!
