A Sticky Decision… Which envelopes do you use?

A customer called the other day to order envelopes for their business. Once we determined which style of envelope best suited his needs, we discussed the merits of traditional sealing envelopes versus self-sealing envelopes. Because we wound up having a rather lengthy conversation on this topic I thought it might be worth sharing the points we discussed in the event that they are helpful to someone else faced with the same decision.

The first feature we discussed was cost. Not a shocking starting point considering that people are still being very diligent with their expenses. For the purposes of conversation, let’s work with an estimate of 1,000 double window style envelopes. A standard version of this envelope in this quantity is approximately $59.53 while the self-seal version is around $80.16. At first glance this seems like a big jump in cost and the knee jerk response would be to go with the traditional. Before making this decision, however, consider that with a quantity of 1,000 envelopes the cost difference equates to around $.02 per envelope.

With this $.02 per envelope realization in mind, you might want to consider how these envelopes are going to be used. More importantly, how many of them will you use on a daily basis? If you will only use a few at a time throughout the week, you may be better off sticking with the traditional envelopes and saving that $.02 per envelope. However, if you plan to use all 1,000 in a single project that requires a fast and timely completion, that extra $.02 could save you in the long run. Take a moment and consider how much time (and taste buds) might be wasted if you have to moisten each individual envelope during this project. Now consider how much faster the project could be completed if all you have to do is fold over the envelope flap and press it to the envelope to seal it. Take another minute and think about how impressive your skills will appear to your boss when you complete the project in less time than expected. Suddenly that $.02 extra per envelope does not seem like such an expensive upgrade after all…