Case study: shipping sarees in cartons with brown packing tape
For years, many parcels in India went to the post office stitched into white cloth, saree parcels among them. India Post stopped accepting those on 1 April 2022. Today the question for a small seller is a different one: courier bag or carton?
This is a worked example. The business is illustrative, put together from situations small sellers commonly face. The product details and the maths are real.
Here is the short answer. Most everyday cotton sarees can go in a courier bag, and I would not push a seller into cartons she does not need. A carton is right for silk and zari sarees, for sarees in gift boxes, and for orders of two or more. For those cartons, 2 inch brown BOPP tape is all she needs, and at 150 orders a month that comes to about two rolls of 65 m.
The seller
Our example is a home-based saree seller in the Chanderi and Bhopal belt. She sells Chanderi silk-cotton sarees, a few pure silk pieces with zari borders, and everyday cotton sarees. Orders come from Instagram, WhatsApp and one marketplace, about 150 a month, and she packs on the floor of a spare room with one family member helping in the wedding season.
Today she seals cartons with 1 inch cello tape from the stationery shop. On a dusty, reused carton, the ends of that tape lift. She also worries about a customer saying the box arrived opened.
Bag or carton: which sarees need a box?
This is the decision that matters more than the tape.
Here is how I would split her orders.
| Order | Pack | Why | Share (assumed) |
|---|---|---|---|
| One cotton saree | Courier bag, usually 12x16 inch | Light, folds flat, no corners to protect | 60 a month |
| One silk or zari saree | Flat carton, about 35 x 25 x 8 cm | Keeps the folds from being crushed under heavier parcels, protects zari edges | 70 a month |
| A saree in a gift box (wedding, trousseau) | The gift box inside a brown carton | The gift box itself has to arrive without dents | part of the next row |
| Two or more sarees, or gift orders | Carton, about 40 x 30 x 15 cm | A fat courier bag rounds out and the folds crush, and the weight is better on a flat base | 20 a month |
For the bag orders, our tamper-proof courier bags come in six sizes from 6x8 to 14x18 inch. Measure the folded saree in its inner cover, add its thickness plus about 1 inch to both sides, and pick the first size that covers both. The courier bag size chart shows this with examples.
If she ships by India Post, there is one rule to know. Parcel Directorate Order No. 3/2022, dated 10 February 2022, stopped India Post from accepting cloth-wrapped parcels from 1 April 2022, because the barcode label does not stay on cloth. Cloth packing is still fine inside a corrugated box or a flyer bag. Onmanorama reported the change in March 2022. So the muslin can stay, but only as an inner layer.
Why brown 2 inch tape, and what would I not buy?
If I were packing for this seller, I would put one thing on her table: a 2 inch tape dispenser with brown packing tape, 2 inch x 65 m. It is BOPP film with adhesive, 48 mm wide and 65 m on every roll, in sets of 6 or 12.
Why brown? Her cartons are plain brown, often reused. Brown tape on a brown carton looks neat, and it hides dust and hand marks better than clear tape.
Why 2 inch and not 1 inch? A 1 inch strip does not cover the gap between the flaps with a margin on both sides. Two 1 inch strips side by side leave a weak line down the middle. For a carton, 2 inch is the normal width.
Now the things I would not buy for her.
- 3 inch tape. Her cartons weigh 1 to 3 kg. Our own taping guide puts 3 inch tape at cartons above about 15 kg.
- Long 300 m rolls. At two rolls a month she does not need them. They make sense for a fulfilment room like our warehouse case with long tape rolls, not for a spare room.
- Logo printed tape. We print logos on 48 mm tape from 360 rolls (5 boxes of 72). At two rolls a month, that is 15 years of tape. A printed sticker on the carton does the branding job for her today.
- Fragile tape. Sarees are not fragile. Save it for glass.
One honest trade-off. BOPP is plastic.
If her brand ever promises plastic-free packing, she should move to kraft paper tape, and I have compared the two in kraft paper tape vs BOPP tape.
How would she pack one silk saree?
- Fold the saree along its own folds, with plain tissue paper or a soft cotton cloth between the zari folds. We do not sell tissue. Any clean, plain sheet works.
- Slip it into its inner cover, the same poly or cloth cover it would sit in on a shop shelf.
- Tape the bottom of the empty carton first, while it sits upside down on the floor. One strip along the centre seam, running about 6 cm down each end.
- Lay the saree flat in the carton. Put the invoice on top, inside, in an envelope.
- Close the top flaps and run one strip along the seam, again 6 cm down each end. Rub it hard with the palm, because this tape holds by pressure.
- For the bigger gift and multi-saree cartons, add two short strips across the ends of the seam on both faces. That is the H pattern, and our guide on how to tape a shipping carton shows it step by step.
- Sign across one end of the top strip with a marker, half on the tape and half on the carton. If anyone peels and re-tapes it, the line will not meet.
- Stick the shipping label flat on the top face, with no tape over the barcode.
I would also keep a short phone video of every silk order being sealed. It costs nothing, and in a dispute about an opened box it is better evidence than any tape.
How much tape does 150 orders a month take?
I use the same formula as our taping guide. Each strip is the carton's flap length plus 12 cm, i.e. 6 cm down each side. The carton's height does not change the answer.
For the single-saree carton of 35 x 25 cm, one strip top and bottom is 2 x 47 cm = 0.94 m.
For the gift and multi-saree carton of 40 x 30 cm with the H on both faces, each face takes 52 + 42 + 42 = 136 cm, so 2.72 m a carton.
| Pack | Orders a month | Tape per order | Tape a month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Courier bag | 60 | none | 0 m |
| Single silk saree carton, 35 x 25 x 8 cm | 70 | 0.94 m | about 66 m |
| Gift or multi-saree carton, 40 x 30 x 15 cm, H pattern | 20 | 2.72 m | about 54 m |
| Total, plus about 10% for bad cuts and returns | 150 | about 132 m |
That is about two rolls of 65 m a month.
A set of 6 rolls lasts her about three months, and a set of 12 about six. I would reorder when two rolls are left, which gives a month of cover. We dispatch in 1 to 2 working days and delivery is free with no minimum order, so there is no reason to buy six months of tape to save on shipping.
In the wedding months her orders may double. The maths stays the same, so she only needs to look at the roll count a little earlier.
We make this tape at our own plant in Jaipur, and we would rather sell her the right two rolls than the wrong twelve. This short video shows the line.
What should she watch?
- Dust on reused cartons. Wipe the flaps with a dry cloth before taping. Glue holds dust, and dust holds nothing.
- Winter mornings. Cold glue is stiff. Keep the rolls indoors and press harder in December and January.
- Damp. A carton that has picked up moisture loses its grip and its strength. Keep the carton stack off the floor in the monsoon.
- The bag-or-box split itself. If silk orders grow, more orders move into cartons, and tape use rises with them.
- The result. Count "box arrived opened" and "saree crushed or creased" complaints for 60 days before and after the change. That is the honest test of this setup.
If you sell sarees, start here
- List your last 50 orders and mark each one bag or carton, using the table above.
- Measure your two carton sizes and work out the tape per carton with the formula.
- Multiply by your monthly orders and add 10%.
- Buy a set of 6 rolls if that is under two rolls a month, and a set of 12 if it is more.
- Seal one carton with the H, leave it in the warmest corner of the house for a day, and try to open it with your fingers.
If you cannot open it, you are ready. If you can, write to us with a photo of the carton, and we will tell you honestly whether the tape or the box is the problem.
Products in this guide
Prices are before GST. Free delivery across India on every order.
