Friends and Customers

With that in mind, we thank all of our friends and customers who make our continued growth possible. It has also been our delight to watch many of them grow tremendously over the years, and it is so encouraging to know we have played a small but significant role in their success.

Vendors and Manufacturing Partners

Most of the people we work with today are the same ones we began with almost five years ago. Most have become close friends and true partners in the creative and sustainable approach we are determined to deliver to our customers.

Especially during these troubling economic times, it is good to know we are helping these companies to create and maintain domestic jobs in manufacturing, design and even sales.

Our People Resources

We truly value the people we work with on a daily basis, but in a small company like ours, important positions such as graphic artists, web designers, tech people and even the people responsible for our internet presence like this blog, are not full-time positions. We utilize a variety of talented people who always seem to be there when the bell rings and understand our varying and oftentimes, last-minute needs.

Family

They are the driving force and the people who make all the work and occasional headaches worthwhile. Of course, my wife and partner Lenora remains at the top of the list, but it is a fast-growing group with significant others and grand babies being added all the time.

I will be taking a few weeks off from writing to spend extra time with all of the people above and I encourage you to do the same. Time passes quickly and accelerates with age, so please take time to enjoy this holiday season with everyone you love and everyone who loves you.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Happy Holidays to All!

GWEN FROSTIC CUSTOM-PRINTED TAPE

The internet is an amazing information-gathering tool. However, it also has the ability to make every product a commodity and every company appear the same under one broad heading or Google search term.

We are truly blessed to work with a wide variety of incredibly gifted and unique people and companies. We are also proud to be able to help them communicate and demonstrate the difference they offer through their packaging.

When “Unique” Is an Understatement

Gwen Frostic Prints is one of those incredibly unique companies started by an amazingly dedicated and talented lady and continued by people who loved her and her work. I will not attempt to recap the life of Sara Gwendolyn Frostic, but I do encourage you to visit www.GwenFrostic.com and learn more about the person, her art and the company she founded.

I am confident you will also agree the web site is one of the most beautiful you have visited and that it truly does do justice to the work they do in Gwen Frostic’s name. In addition, you’ll understand why I have added their store to my “must see” list of Midwestern places I want to visit soon.

Standing Out in a Crowd

Only from a packaging application perspective is Gwen Frostic similar to other companies. Check out the Gwen Frostic online shop and you will see why they have to use a variety of different shipping containers and sizes. This makes it difficult, if not impractical, to custom brand their shipping boxes with their eye-catching logo.

However, this scenario also makes them an ideal candidate for custom-printed, water-activated paper tape because one design and one roll of tape literally “fits all” of their products and packaging. Every box has that unique Gwen Frostic look thanks to the random repeat logo that is printed on the tape in a beautiful dark brown, making it jump off the Kraft surface it is applied to.

CUSTOM-PRINTED TAPE MADE EASY

BTW, did I mention that water-activated tape is “greener” and actually works better than plastic tape? It also makes your packages more secure and helps minimize damage and pilferage.

If you are still frustrated by that one, “tough to buy for” person on your Christmas list, I encourage you to visit the Gwen Frostic site to see some products and prints you will not see anywhere else in the world or on the internet.

If you want to create that deservedly unique look for your packaging, please contact Salazar Packaging and see how easy more than 50 years of packaging experience can make the custom-printed packaging process.

100% RECYCLED CONTENT RETAIL CARTONS

The term “so good it melts in your mouth” is over-hyped and so over used it has nearly lost all meaning. However, it really is an accurate description of the candy product made by one of our newest Globe Guard customers.

Barbary Brix is a San Francisco-based company that makes candy the way it used to be made before high-production equipment and cost-saving recipes became the norm. Check out the delicious assortment of unique flavors they offer on their online Barbary Brix candy store. My wife was almost immediately addicted to their “Salty Dog” flavor, and as one who enjoys nuts with his caramel, I am now a huge fan of “The Prospector.”

“Good for people and the environment!”

That statement is part of their tag line that you see proudly displayed on the home page designed by partners Melissa Scheiderer and Rob Ray. They are determined to be eco-consistent, from the natural ingredients they use, all the way through to their product packaging.

It was during their search for the greenest possible packaging that we met. And, like so many others, they were pleasantly surprised to find out that our retail and secondary packaging products are competitively priced with other, “not nearly as green” options.

100% Recycled Content Retail Quality Paper Board Packaging

Melissa and Rob’s commitment to use sustainable packaging began with the compostable wrappers used to individually wrap each caramel. For their retail cartons, we helped them select a folding carton style and to identify a 100% recycled board that would print well with their beautiful and unique design (see photos above). In addition, for this high quality job we selected a manufacturing partner able to meet the esthetic requirements, and, as a green bonus, also takes pride in manufacturing their cartons with 100% wind power.

To save Barbary Brix money on art and plate costs, we advised them to create a carton that could be pre-printed with all of their consistent product information and to utilize a label to communicate all of the variable information such as flavor, ingredients, freshness date, etc. They selected a local green printer able to provide them with a 100% recycled content label to do the trick. This approach provided them maximum flexibility (now and in the future) at minimal cost.

Stock Globe Guard® Boxes for Shipping Wholesale and Web Order Fulfillment 

BARBARY BRIX 2 PACK IN STOCK MAILER AND BIO BUBBLE

As Barbary Brix develops their web store, they will be able to use our Globe Guard® die cut mailer and RSC corrugated boxes for shipping. For example, you can see how well our stock Light Rate mailer (pictured right) accommodates a two-pack of their premium candy cartons. Larger web or wholesale orders can also be shipped using our most popular 100% PCW recycled content, RSC-style shipping boxes.

We sincerely enjoy watching a new company, a new web site or a new product take off and be successful. We are also most grateful whenever a customer/client decides not to compromise and chooses to use the greenest possible packaging materials.

Barbary Brix has made that quality commitment in their product as well as their packaging and the results are extraordinary! Please check out the Barbary Brix web site and send someone on your Christmas list a taste they are sure to appreciate and remember.

Stock custom-printed 7x7x2 corrugated mailer

We are very quickly becoming a leading source for stock size die cut mailer boxes that can be custom printed with YOUR name, logo, return address, etc. The photos included in this post show off two of our most popular stock mailer sizes that have been custom printed to create an attractive and unique look.

What’s the benefit of utilizing a stock size?

We are able to save our customers time and money if we can avoid making a cutting die and are able to use one of the dies we already have on hand. Depending on a number of variables, a new cutting die for a mailer of this type can cost $500 to $800. What is at times even more important is that using an already made die saves time, in most cases a minimum of one week.

What if your available stock sizes are not right for my product?

Please keep in mind what we show on our store as our “stock” sizes is just a small sampling of what we have available. Not all boxes we’ve manufactured are popular enough to justify adding or keeping them in stock. In addition, we also have access to a large inventory of “readymade” dies that we can use for you. As we always suggest, if you don’t see the size you want or need, please ask.

Isn’t it less expensive to print boxes that are already made and die cut?

Corrugated boxes that are already manufactured are not “imprinted,” which is essentially printing them after they are made. Corrugated board is typically “pre-printed” and then it is cut or converted into boxes. Most people don’t realize ALL printed boxes are run “custom” or separate. The second little known fact is that it is not as difficult as many “stock box sellers” often make it sound.

How can I reduce the cost of my printed boxes?

Custom-printed 9x6.5x2.75 stock corrugated mailer

In spite of popular belief, two-color printing is not a lot more expensive than one color, so if that is going to make your boxes stand out, go for it. Number of colors, ink coverage and even board weight and grade will make a minor difference, but nothing impacts price like set up time. As I often tell our customers, “Ink is cheap, but set time is not.” Set up time is usually a fixed cost and it is amortized over the length of the run. The larger the run, the lower the impact of the set up cost. Conversely, the shorter the run, the greater the impact of that same set up cost.

The best way to reduce the cost is to order more of them. People are often surprised when they discover that they can buy, for example, 2,000 custom-printed boxes for not a whole lot more than, let’s say, 500 of the same boxes.

What about lead time? I am already late on my project!

We can’t tell you how many times we have heard that question, followed by that particular comment. We see people ordering plain, unprinted mailer boxes because they believe they don’t have time to custom print them.

Assuming we don’t need to make a cutting die, we can almost guarantee you shipment in two weeks, and that includes one week for the making of printing plates. BTW, repeat orders that have plates already made almost always ship in a week.

When you specialize in something like custom-printed stock size mailers, you tend to become very good at it, and we are. Please don’t hesitate to contact Salazar Packaging so we can show you what we can do for you.

Who Needs a Paper Dispenser?

The fact is that customers love them because they make it easy to always cut off the correct and consistent size sheet when using packaging papers such as our 40# Kraft, 60# Indented Kraft, 50# recycled bogus or 30# newsprint. All are made of 100% recycled paper and available on our Globe Guard® web store. In addition to saving paper, no knife or blade is necessary for the cut, making it safe and easy to use.

The dispenser we are overstocked on is the 24” model and it normally sells for $35.00 on our site. However, while quantities last, any customer placing an order of $100 or more worth of any of our paper rolls will receive the dispenser for free. We even pay the $5.00 shipping charge making it a great deal.

These beauties are not going to last forever so …. (There I go again.)

Please let us know if you have any questions, and thank you for using Globe Guard® products to save money while you protect the environment.

In our opinion, there are few packaging products as green as corrugated partitions, yet many people simply do not understand how to design and purchase them. Here are a few facts that may help you utilize this unique and valuable green packaging solution:

1. Corrugated Partitions Are Available in Small Quantities – There are no “stock” partitions available, and of course set up time has its expected impact on a short run of any product, but we have run as few as 200 partitions for a customer with limited usage. A common misconception is that you have to order large quantities of partitions in order to use them.
2. Corrugated Partitions Can Be Made in a Variety of Board Grades – The most common partition grade is 32C, which is more than sufficient for most applications. However, there are situations when a heavier board is required. For example, partitions used to ship Volcano Island Honey (pictured above) are made of 48B/C, double wall because the product is glass, very dense/heavy and, as you would expect for a product made in Hawaii, always ships via boat or plane.
3. Corrugated Partitions Can Be Made With or Without a Perimeter Air Cell – It depends on what you are shipping and how you are shipping it, but a perimeter air cell (pictured in photo above) can help prevent side impact damage by providing a reinforced air “cushion.”
4. Corrugated Partitions Deliver Labor Savings – We have helped many customers eliminate costly bubble, foam or paper hand-wrapping operations. Not only are these efforts to protect the product always laborious, but also in many cases they prove to be ineffective and result in damage.
5. Corrugated Partitions Are Available Assembled or Unassembled – We still occasionally run into a customer who loves partitions but hates the assembly that is sometimes required. They simply don’t realize that for a slight additional cost, the partitions can be automatically assembled by the manufacturer. Note: pre-assembled partitions take up more room compared to unassembled ones and are thereby more expensive to ship and store. Most customers, however, agree the labor savings more than offsets that additional expense.
6. Corrugated Partitions Can Reduce Box Costs — Much as vertical columns or walls help support a ceiling or roof, properly designed partitions tremendously improve a box’s strength (as demonstrated in this picture), especially for stacking purposes. In some cases, this enables partition users to reduce box grade and cost while delivering a stronger overall shipping container to their customers.
7. RSC and Die Cut Boxes Can Be Designed with Built in Partitions - There are many examples of when this makes economic sense because it eliminates the need to stock two packaging SKU’s, may result in a lower overall cost and reduces packaging labor cost as well.

We offer a wide variety of internal, protective, green packaging products including molded pulp, paper and even plastic solutions like our biodegradable bubble packaging or inflated air pillows. So a complete application review is always recommended.

Please contact us if you have any questions or if you would like to discuss your specific needs.

CHECK OUT THESE OTHER RELATED BLOG POSTS:

Corrugated and Paperboard Partitions – Green, Affordable and Not Just for Bottles

Sustainable Packaging Solution – Corrugated Partitions

Corrugated Partitions Are a Fine Sustainable Packaging Option

Interior Protective Green Packaging – Molded Pulp versus Partitions

Green, Cost Saving Packaging by Combining Stock and Custom Products

They have proactively helped lead the cosmetics industry, making their products and primary packaging as sustainable as possible. I am pleased to say they also see the value of making their secondary packaging consistent with everything else they do and believe.

This world famous French company consists of 27 different brands, many of which are household names. Domestically in the U.S., they include retail consumer brands like Maybelline, Softsheen and Garnier, as well as professional product lines including Matrix, Redken and Pureology, to name just a few.

Marketing Promotions Create Unique Green Opportunities  

What can make secondary packaging for special marketing promotions especially challenging is that you are never sure if they are ever going to repeat. As a result, you don’t want to waste a lot of time and money designing and creating tooling you may never need or be able to use again. Not only is a one-time design expensive, let’s face it, it is also kind of wasteful and not very green.

The people at Pureology were in need of two different size shipping containers that were green and could also be branded. We were able to provide them with two of our Globe Guard® stock die-cut corrugated mailers that fit their needs well and were 100% recycled content and 100% recyclable. For the minimal cost of a couple of print plates, we were able to quickly deliver stock boxes with a custom-branded look.

Green Accolades for L’Oreal and Pureology

They could have easily placed their product in almost any corrugated container and most people would not have noticed. After all, isn’t one corrugated box just like another? Actually, no, and they realized that all boxes are not the same, so they deliberately sought out one that is consistent with their product, their packaging and their commitment to sustainability. They selected a Globe Guard® 100% recycled content container, and we thank them for that extra effort and their fine example of “eco consistency.”

For more information on how we can help make your special marketing promotion greener, less expensive and on schedule, please contact Salazar Packaging.

Label Specifications

Our stock labels are available in some of the most popular sizes and layouts, ranging from a 2.625” X 1” with 30 labels per sheet to our 8.5” X 5.5” that offers 2 labels per sheet. However, we also have hundreds of other sizes and configurations in stock, so if you don’t see what you need, please contact us.

Globe Guard® labels are matte white with 92% brightness and will run on either ink jet or laser printers. We also have colors and even decorative foil finishes available if that is your preference.

All stock items are sold in 25-sheet packs to help you minimize inventory and cost.

How to Double Your Savings

To save 10%, all you need to do is use promo code LABELS at check out. If you order your labels in addition to any other Globe Guard® stock product, we will double your discount to 20%. For example, order tape and labels and your discount on the labels increases to 20%. Combine your label order with an order for any of our stock Globe Guard® boxes and your label discount will be manually adjusted to 20%.

Please let us know if you have any questions, and remember, this offer is good through October 31, 2011.

1. The container or mailer they used had to be green. Ideally with a high percentage of recycled content and definitely 100% recyclable as well.
2. They wanted to be able to custom print it in relatively small quantities with their brand/logo and other product/environmental information.
3. As is often the case with projects and promotions, they were rapidly running out of time to meet their deadline.

A Great Example of “Eco Consistency”

What makes this ComfortBlend Hanes tee shirt unique is that it uses up to 5% Eco Smart® fiber, which is made from recycled polyester originating from plastic bottles. As big proponents of recycling and the development of recycled waste, we were more than pleased to be involved in their project.

They could have shipped out the tee shirt in almost any type of mailer, whether it was eco friendly or not. In fact, companies do it all the time. However, Hanesbrands understood the value of being consistent in product and in the packaging used to ship it, so they sought out the right solution for their green project.

Globe Guard® Mailers More than Satisfied the Need

The new Kraft version of our Globe Guard® non-padded mailers turned out to be exactly what they were looking for. After all, they are made of 50% recycled content and are 100% recyclable. In addition, they are lightweight compared to padded paper mailers and reasonably priced, even when custom printed.

Just as importantly, we knew that with our manufacturing partner’s help, we could meet the deadline, which was now less than two weeks and included a three-day holiday weekend. We all agreed to a timetable for artwork and proof approval, and to Hanesbrands’ credit, they kept to it. The final art approvals were given on September 1, and product was shipped on Friday, September 9, as promised. You have to know that is an incredible accomplishment for a custom-printed product of any type.

A lot of things had to happen right to make this possible, but with the help of a cooperative and understanding customer, we have a habit of making the impossible, quite possible. Contact Salazar Packaging for more information on our Globe Guard® mailers and our other eco-friendly packaging products.

What Is a Broad-Based Solution?

In my mind, it is a product that would have mass appeal and solve a common or very typical packaging problem. For example, when we and others began promoting 100% recycled content corrugated for shipping boxes, the concept did not win awards or grace the cover of packaging magazines, even though it could potentially benefit every single shipping box buyer and user.

The idea of using 100% recycled content was a timely, simple and inexpensive solution that at least in theory was available and potentially of value to almost everyone. There are enhancements and improvements made in the packaging industry almost daily that for the most part go unnoticed and unheralded but deliver major contributions to the cause of sustainability.

Other times, a customer base is broadened by a process improvement that perhaps makes a product or solution more available, more useful or affordable to a larger market. For example, relatively new low-cost tooling for molded pulp trays now enables even low-volume customers to utilize this extremely effective and green interior protective packaging solution.

A different example is how a new process now allows us to create and deliver printed shrink film packaging at a fraction of the cost and time it used to take. Printed shrink film is easily removed and recycled when done, and in the right application it can deliver substantial savings by eliminating the material and labor costs of multiple labels or other ancillary packaging.

Packaging Made of Alfalfa?

No, it’s not a real product (that I am aware of), but I will use it as a hypothetical example of a packaging innovation that could possibly be created to solve an unusual packaging problem or perhaps appeal to a specific market. Let’s say it is a flexible pouch for liquids, and we’ll call it the Sustainable Alfalfa Container (SAC).

The SAC would be considered green because it is made from a renewable source, and, let’s face it, it is not plastic or glass. The SAC would almost immediately capture the attention of the media because as we all know, everyone loves a good green story. Regardless of cost, it could be a big hit within the green market because there is a small segment that is eager to buy and use the greenest, latest and “eco trendy” packaging solution, and because they can afford it.

The SAC could have much broader success and appeal if it delivered an indirect savings or benefit. For example, tests prove that milk packaged in the revolutionary SAC pouch has double the shelf life. You can imagine the impact that would have on product loss, as well as transportation, storage and packaging costs. Now the SAC ascends from being green to being bright green thanks to those dramatic and measureable savings.

Can the SAC Become a Broad-Based Solution?

I believe almost any product can be if it addresses a common need and if it is able to satisfy two critical requirements:

• Initial price – Even if it delivered a substantial indirect savings, the buy-in “price” has to be affordable to customers who are now programmed to think short-term price rather than long-term cost. Becoming the low-cost producer is no longer just a desired objective, it is a necessity.
• Availability – Some of the most exciting recent innovations are primarily held back by their manufacturing process and the inability to make the product fast enough to meet demand. On a natural, plant-based product, the growing cycle may be slow and limit service capabilities and thereby growth potential.

Also, understanding the difference between a niche product and one with broader appeal is important because it helps us to determine where and how we market our products and solutions. In the last year or so, much has been written about how green may be dying and how we may be contributing to it with poor marketing efforts.

We seem surprised and are disappointed when everyone does not buy every green solution we create, but if we use hindsight to re-evaluate the potential, we will often realize we were trying to force a unique niche product with limited appeal on to a weary and leery green market in need of broad-based solutions.

As a defendant who would have to plead guilty on multiple counts of miss marketing, I now recognize my mistakes and promise to do better in the future. Unless, of course, we create a new green packaging solution that the whole world should buy immediately.

It may be that the only thing more difficult to control than green innovation is green enthusiasm.