How to Get Free Shipping Supplies

If you ship your merchandise to your customers you will find that the cost of shipping supplies, when purchased retail, can really eat into your profit margin. Although it is inevitable that you will have to buy some shipping supplies, you can keep your costs down by getting some of your supplies for free.

Instructions

1. Order free Priority Mail shipping supplies from the US Postal website. They offer boxes and labels for free to be used when shipping items through them Priority Mail.

2. Ask an employee at your local grocery store what days and time they get deliveries in. Usually the stores will not hold boxes for you, but if you show up after they unload their deliveries and before they cut the boxes for recycling they will typically let you take as many as you want.

3. Contact the managers of local stores that sell breakable merchandise. They often receive their items packaged with bubble wrap and peanuts. When they sell it to the customer it gets wrapped in tissue paper and put in a bag. The bubble wrap and peanuts become a waste product. They are often happy to let you take it away.

4. Go "Dumpster Diving" behind malls and plazas. You don't have to actually dive into the dumpsters, but often you will be able to find good cardboard boxes in and around the dumpsters of stores. Be sure to do this on a day when it hasn't rained for a couple of days.

5. Tell friends and family that you need shipping supplies. Ask them to save boxes, bubble wrap and peanuts when they get packages in the mail.

6. Be creative. Look around your house to see what you might have that could be used for shipping supplies. Save egg cartons and use them to line cardboard boxes before putting a breakable item into the box. Corrugated Pizza Box tops fold easily around books and provide better protection when shipping than an over sized envelope. Shredded paper is a wonderful alternative if you do not have styrofoam peanuts.