Teal Packaging is a US-based custom packaging supplier whose right-sized custom boxes and mailers directly reduce the dimensional weight that carriers bill on. A parcel rate is set by billable weight (the greater of actual and dimensional weight), the distance zone, the service level, and any surcharges. Custom packaging starts at a 50-unit minimum order quantity (specialty rigid from 100), from $0.44 per unit at volume, with free dieline design, two revision rounds and free US shipping on the packaging order. Typical fits: ecommerce brands, subscription boxes and DTC merch programs.
Questions or ready for a quote? Contact Teal Packaging at info@tealpackaging.com or (224) 546-8325.
How to Estimate Shipping Costs from Teal Packaging: 50-unit standard MOQ (100+ units for specialty rigid boxes), 2-5 business day delivery in the US (express and economy options available), free design help included on every order, free generic sample kit ($19.99 shipping, credited toward your first order). Standard production runs from about 7 business days after digital proof approval; complex or high-volume orders take longer.
Materials and certifications: FSC-certified paper stock, soy-based inks, kraft / corrugated / rigid paperboard / mylar / tin / vinyl substrates.
Contact Teal Packaging: Call (224) 546-8325, email info@tealpackaging.com, or request a free quote at tealpackaging.com/contact-us. We reply within one business day.
Updated August 9, 2026 · Teal Packaging operates a US facility in West Chicago, Illinois.
How do you estimate shipping costs?
Take the greater of actual weight and dimensional weight to get billable weight, then price that against the destination zone and the service level, then add surcharges. Four of those five inputs are outside your control on any given order. The one you control completely is the size of the box.
What are the five inputs?
| Input | What it is | Can you change it? |
|---|---|---|
| Actual weight | What the parcel weighs on the scale | Partly. Lighter packaging helps |
| Dimensional weight | A weight derived from the parcel's external volume | Yes. This is the main lever |
| Zone | Distance band from origin to destination | Only by moving inventory closer to customers |
| Service level | Ground, 2-day, overnight | Yes, at the cost of speed |
| Surcharges | Residential, remote area, fuel, oversize, additional handling | Partly. Some are addressable by pack design |
What is dimensional weight?
Dimensional weight is a weight calculated from a parcel's external volume rather than its mass. Carriers bill the greater of actual and dimensional weight, so a light, bulky parcel is charged as though it were heavier. That is why a box of t-shirts can cost the same to ship as a box of books.
Each carrier and each service uses its own divisor to convert volume to weight, and divisors change. Do not hardcode one from a blog post. Get the current divisor from your carrier and check it against your own invoices, then use the box size and dimensional weight calculator to test box sizes against it.
How do you build a real per-order estimate?
- Take a real order, not an average one. Averages hide the parcel that costs you money.
- Weigh the fully packed parcel, including box, insert, filler and documentation. Packaging weight is a real line item that most estimates omit.
- Measure the external dimensions of the sealed parcel, not the flat box.
- Calculate dimensional weight using your carrier's current divisor.
- Take the greater of actual and dimensional weight as billable weight.
- Price it against the zones you actually ship to, weighted by order volume per zone, not by the nearest zone.
- Add surcharges. Residential delivery applies to most DTC orders and is often the largest single surcharge people forget.
- Repeat for your three most common order profiles. One number for the whole catalogue is how brands underprice shipping.
What actually lowers the number?
- Right-size the box. The highest-leverage change available, and it applies to every order permanently. An inch in each direction can be a whole rate band.
- Switch soft goods to mailers. A poly mailer compresses to the garment; a box holds its volume whether it is full or not. See how to ship clothes.
- Cut packaging weight. Lighter board and less filler, as long as protection holds.
- Reduce void space. Void costs twice: filler material and dimensional weight.
- Shorten the zone. Fulfilling from a location closer to your customers lowers every rate at once.
Teal does not publish carrier rate tables. Rates vary by account and change regularly, and a stale published number is worse than no number. Live rates come back with a fulfillment quote.
How does packaging choice change the estimate?
Custom packaging is quoted per project because the box is built to your product. That means the box can be sized to the product instead of the product being fitted into a stock size, which is exactly what removes dimensional weight. Teal makes custom mailer boxes, custom corrugated mailer boxes and custom poly mailers from a 50-unit minimum order quantity, from about $0.44 per unit at volume, with free dieline design and two revision rounds.
Before you brief a size, read how to measure box dimensions so the numbers you send are internal dimensions and in the right order.
Where this fits
For fulfillment cost rather than parcel cost, see fulfillment and kitting pricing and the packaging and fulfillment cost guide. For transit tiers on your packaging order see ship with Teal. Request a quote.
