Mailers packaging EPR Colorado: what a mailer box costs per 1,000 packs, 2027

What this page estimates for a mailer box in Colorado

The mailer box on this page is a corrugated cardboard box that an order travels in to the customer. It has one component, each matched to the published rates of the 2027 schedule of Circular Action Alliance (Colorado PRO) for Colorado; weight times rate gives a fee per 1,000 packs in USD. The figures are estimates built on starting weights.

What is in a mailer box

The mailer is one corrugated component. Tape, labels and void fill are separate packaging items and are not weighed here.

Starting weights, an Instica estimate for a typical pack and not a measured weight: mailer box (corrugated board, 150 g).

Mailer box

corrugated board, 150 g (Instica starting estimate)

Worked example: 1,000 mailer boxes in Colorado

One mailer box of the Medium (about 12 x 9 x 4 in) size weighs 150 g in total. For each component the table gives its weight, the matched published rates, and the fee for 1,000 packs.

Added together, the estimate for 1,000 packs is $33.07 to $105.82.

Divide by 1,000 for a single pack: about $0.0331 to $0.1058.

What the fee tool returns for 1,000 mailer boxes in Colorado

Entered into the public fee tool for Colorado (2027 schedule, effective January 1, 2027), 1,000 mailer boxes give the figures below. The tool is the same engine that prices a report, so this page and the tool agree.

The tool total is $33.07 at the lowest matched rates and $105.82 at the highest.

Which published rates were matched in Colorado

2 published rates were matched to the pack in Colorado from the 2027 schedule. Each is quoted from the programme’s own fee table; the page does not change the rate or round it.

Mailer box, 150 g: 2 matched rates

How size changes the fee for a mailer box

The weight of a mailer box depends on its size. The table prices each of the 3 sizes with the same matched rates, so the only thing that changes between rows is the weight.

Each component of the mailer box priced at every size, at the matched rates for Colorado.

What if the mailer box used another material?

Suppose the main component of the mailer box, weighing 150 g, were made of another material. The table prices the same weight in each material class that Colorado publishes a rate for, at the lowest published rate in that class.

A fee comparison only: another material changes weight and protection too.

What a larger run of mailer boxes costs in Colorado

Fees scale with the number of packs, because the schedule charges by mass. The table repeats the worked example for larger runs of the Medium (about 12 x 9 x 4 in) mailer box in Colorado. Nothing else changes between rows: the same weights and the same matched rates apply.

Taken as a whole, the pack is priced at $0.2205 to $0.7055 per kilogram of packaging, so a heavier pack costs more in proportion to its weight.

Flat fee bands, registration fees and minimum charges sit outside this per-kilogram table.

How the fee for mailer boxes has moved on Colorado schedules

Colorado has published 2 per-mass fee schedules that price this pack. The same Medium (about 12 x 9 x 4 in) mailer boxes are priced on each below, with the same weights and the same matching rules, so only the published rates differ.

The same matched categories on each Colorado schedule, per kilogram; a dash means the schedule does not publish that category.

The fee schedule behind these figures for Colorado

The rates come from the 2027 schedule of Circular Action Alliance (Colorado PRO) for Colorado, effective January 1, 2027. The facts below record where it was published and what else the schedule charges.

The schedule also lists 4 flat fee bands for small producers. They can replace the per-kilogram fee and are not part of the estimate on this page.

The schedule describes an eco-modulation of its rates, so the fee a producer pays can be adjusted up or down from the base rates shown here.

Ways to lower the fee on a mailer box

Corrugated board is heavier than folding board, so box size is the lever: a box that fits the product closely weighs less.

Many schedules give corrugated cardboard its own line, and some publish a lower rate for it than for other paper because of its high recycling rate.

Void fill, tape and inserts are priced as their own packaging, so a light mailer with heavy fill may cost more in total than a snug box.

Online sellers ship in mailers that they buy and fill themselves, so the shipping box is usually the seller’s own packaging.