Packaging

Boxes and Mailers

I spend a considerable amount of money on the boxes I use to ship packages. They're thick cardboard and all but the very largest are a style sometimes called "literature mailers." They come in all kinds of shapes and sizes. They need no tape to assemble and they have tuck lids, so they don't have to be taped closed. They're very sturdy and brilliantly reusable because of this; they still look good after you open them and they close back up neatly with no tape required. My hope with using them is that you'll reuse them, either to mail something else in the future or for storage. 

I sometimes use padded mailers for small, lightweight items. Wherever possible, I reuse mailers rather than buying new in the interest of conservation. It has proven impossible to avoid plastic in making and shipping my stuff, but I try not to contribute to the unnecessary creation of more of it where I can help it, and so I reuse what I can.

Where necessary, padding and filler in packages is compostable or recyclable paper and/or bubblewrap getting a second lease on life. I hate packing peanuts and I try very hard not to do that to you. So far I haven't had to - it would take a really large order with a lot of heavy glass for me to resort to packing peanuts.

Boxes, mailers, and labels are plain natural or white cardboard and I don't add any extraneous information to the outside of the package or label. So nobody will know what's in your package - the return address just says Seraphin Station + my address.

For overseas shipments, customs declarations require me to list the contents, weight, and value, but they don't require me to provide a specific product *title,* and I don't. Soap is soap - it's totally unimportant for customs purposes that the item title is "Van Van Hoodoo Soap" or whatever. I don't include unnecessary information.

Bottles and Vials

I tried out a lot of bottle and label options before deciding on my current ones. If you have a half-ounce bottle of oil in a Boston round bottle with a black cap, there's a clear plastic bit inside the lid. It doesn't do anything in this context except ensure a really tight seal. It can come detached from the cap and seat itself in the mouth of the bottle and when it does that, it might look like an orifice reducer or dropper tip. It is NOT. It serves no purpose once the bottle has arrived at its destination and you can just discard it - it's included in that style of bottle by default from the supplier I was using. 

The older Boston round bottles are also likely to have the older paper labels on them. Those are unfortunately not water- or oil-resistant, but I have since shifted to water- and oil-resistant labels for all oils and for all bath crystals. If you get the new half-ounce bottles with silver caps that look like vials, those have the new labeling. (I'm working on a supplier for 4 and 8 oz bottle labeling still.)