A mixed dispatch is a parcel that needs more than a carton. This topic is the long note on how those pieces fit, and the shorter guides and articles around it.
The order of the pack does not change because the basket is large. Outer, then cushion if something can break, then fill if something can move, then tape. Packing a mixed dispatch is the full version.
The outer is a size, then a board
Measure the goods before you open a category. Length, width and height, including what cannot fold. Boxes holds the cubes, and choosing a cardboard box says which range is which. Single wall is the everyday board, described as strong, affordable and versatile. Double wall is the stronger board, manufactured in the UK, for heavy, fragile or stacked goods. A larger single wall box is not a stronger box.
Flat goods want a book wrap, not a deep cube full of paper. A roll wants a tube. Hanging clothes want a wardrobe box with a rail. Files you will lift again want an archive box. Those are shapes, and they are separate ranges because a cube is the wrong kindness. White postal boxes are the white finish that the category says qualifies as a Royal Mail small parcel, in 125WK/T, some of them shell-and-slide with foam. They are still subject to the outside maximum.
If you are buying for the first time, do not sample every shape. A first stock of packaging is one proven size, one tape, one cushion if you need it, and one fill if the fit is not perfect. Specials wait until a job asks. The product pages are pack quantities of the size you chose. Order what you can store and use.
Cushion, fill and tape are three jobs
Bubble wrap cushions a face. The category lists small, large, green biodegradable and paper bubble, plus pouches for a single bagged item. Foam is the continuous soft sheet. Edge guards cover the corner a sheet misses. None of those fills an empty carton. If the goods slide, the carton is too big or the shape is awkward, and the material is void fill or paper void fill. Ecoflo peanuts are the corn-starch fill named on the eco-friendly page.
Tape closes the lid. Brown and clear packing tapes, gummed paper tape and the water-activated Xtegra range live in tapes. Gummed paper tape is described as recycled, biodegradable and recyclable, and it needs the dispenser that wets it. A crash lock box is the one style with a peel-and-seal strip on that seam. Wrap and fill do not seal anything. The short combined note is void fill, bubble and tape.
A mixed basket is still one order. Orders placed by 3pm leave the same day. The terms aim for 5.30pm the next working day. Friday aims for Monday. A bank holiday on Friday or Monday moves that. A 1 to 3 day courier is also described, depending on the items. UK delivery is free over £50 ex VAT, on the goods total before VAT. An order under that still leaves. Same-day dispatch and free UK delivery are the short versions. Delivery is the page for a pallet or anything awkward.
Posting it, and buying it again
If the parcel is a Royal Mail small parcel, measure the outside of the finished pack. Our changes page gives 450 × 350 × 160 mm, external, and a roll at up to 450 mm long and 80 mm in diameter. A small parcel costs less than a standard parcel for senders of fewer than 1,000 parcels a year. Postal packaging and Royal Mail lists the other compliant sizes we stock. Tape and a bulge count. The goods measurement does not.
When the pack works, write the size, the board and the outside result down and reorder that, not a larger carton “to be safe”. TradePro is for trade businesses that repeat the order. It starts at 5% off and goes to 10% over £1,000 a month, with BACS as well as card and PayPal. Checkout without an account still takes card, PayPal, Apple Pay and Google Pay. The account does not move the 3pm cutoff. Stocked items can be returned within 14 days. Call and arrange it.
Use the guides when you are choosing, and the articles when you are timing the order or building the first shelf. This topic is the table of contents for that desk. It is not a second catalogue. If a line is not on the parcel you actually send, it does not belong on the first order, however complete the range looks.
A desk that can repeat the pack
Once a week of parcels has gone out without damage and without a size surprise, stop shopping and start reordering. The note from the first stock should already say the carton, the tape and whether you used bubble, foam or fill. A first stock of packaging is finished at that point. The next orders are the same lines in the quantity you now know. Adding a new range because it is on sale, or because a photograph looked useful, puts an unproved product on a shelf that was finally simple.
Keep the postal check on the same note if the goods are posted. A carton that was inside 450 × 350 × 160 mm on the outside last month can creep over if you add a thicker tape, a label that stands proud, or a product that is slightly taller. Measure a finished parcel when the goods change, not on a timetable. Postal packaging and Royal Mail is the page to reopen then, rather than guessing that “it was fine before”.
If the same pack is now every week, the trade account is the remaining decision, and it is a decision about payment and rate, not about materials. TradePro starts at 5% for a trade business and goes to 10% over £1,000 a month. Apply when the reorder is real. Until then, pay by card, PayPal, Apple Pay or Google Pay and spend the attention on the fit of the carton. A mixed dispatch that is boring to pack is the one that was set up properly.