A padded envelope, also known as a padded or cushioned mailer or ( UK) jiffy bag, is an envelope incorporating protective padding to protect items during shipping. The padding is usually thick paper, bubble wrap, or foam.

Uses

Mailing envelopes and small packages may receive as many as 27 handlings during shipment with the maximum drop height of . The contents of the mailing envelopes often need protection from shock and vibration damage.

Cushioning Package cushioning is used to protect items during shipment. Vibration and impact shock during shipment and loading/unloading are controlled by cushioning to reduce the chance of product damage. Cushioning is usually inside a shipping container s ...

or padding can be built into the mailing envelope to help protect the contents.

Construction

Several constructions are available.

Exterior

The exterior envelope can be made of a heavy paper,

paperboard Paperboard is a thick paper-based material. While there is no rigid differentiation between paper and paperboard, paperboard is generally thicker (usually over 0.30 mm, 0.012 in, or 12 Inch#equivalences, points) than paper and has certain ...

corrugated fiberboard Corrugated fiberboard or corrugated cardboard is a type of packaging material consisting of a fluted corrugated sheet and one or two flat linerboards. It is made on "flute lamination machines" or "corrugators" and is used for making corrugated ...

or plastic film.

Padding

The padding material can be recycled

newsprint Newsprint is a low-cost, non-archival paper consisting mainly of wood pulp and most commonly used to print newspapers and other publications and advertising material. Invented in 1844 by Charles Fenerty of Nova Scotia, Canada, it usually has an ...

, foam, bubble wrap, or other

cushioning Package cushioning is used to protect items during shipment. Vibration and impact shock during shipment and loading/unloading are controlled by cushioning to reduce the chance of product damage. Cushioning is usually inside a shipping container s ...

materials.

Closure

Many mailers have an integral flap that has a pressure-sensitive adhesive, a gummed (water-activated) adhesive, or

tape Tape or Tapes may refer to: Material A long, narrow, thin strip of material (see also Ribbon (disambiguation): Adhesive tapes * Adhesive tape, any of many varieties of backing materials coated with an adhesive *Athletic tape, pressure-sensitiv ...

to allow easy and secure closure.

Environmental impact

A Life Cycle Analysis was conducted to compare a Kraft paper mailer with newsprint padding to a LDPE plastic mailer with air bubble padding. Both had advantages and disadvantages; overall, the Kraft padded mailer had a higher overall environmental impact compared to the LDPE bubble mailer. The study recommended use of future products with lower mass and which use renewable resources.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* Soroka, W, "Fundamentals of Packaging Technology", IoPP, 2002, * Yam, K. L., "Encyclopedia of Packaging Technology", John Wiley & Sons, 2009, {{Bags Containers Envelopes Packaging