How to Reduce the Shipping Cost of Mat Board

To understand the total cost of your mat board you must factor in the cost of shipping it.  Because all mat board ships in 12 or 25 piece cartons, and because packing materials must be used to fill any empty space in the carton, the weight and size of a carton containing one sheet is pretty much the same as one containing 12 or 25 sheets.  Which means the cost of shipping one sheet is similar to the cost of shipping 12 or 25. 

So let's say the shipping cost for a 12 piece carton is $12.  If you fill the carton it will cost you $1 per sheet for shipping.  But if you choose to order only 4 sheets, the cost for shipping leaps up to $3 a sheet.  You can minimize the cost by filling cartons.   

Let's say you order 13 sheets.  Not a good idea.  This forces us to a.) Fill up one 12 sheet carton and then put one sheet in a second carton with a bunch of packing material, or b.) Put all 13 sheets in a 25 piece carton with packing material.  If the cost to ship that 25 sheet carton is $15, the cost per sheet for shipping 13 sheets will be $1.15.  But fill up the 25 sheet carton and the cost per sheet is only .60.   

What's more, filling cartons reduces the potential for damage in transit.

Using Foam Board to Fill Cartons

If you don't need to order more than a few pieces of mat board, consider filling the rest of the carton with foam board.  Most frame jobs require foam board, so it's just a matter of planning ahead.

Consider:  1 sheet of 1/8" thick foamboard is equivalent to 3 pieces of mat board.  1 sheet of 3/16" thick foamboard is equivalent to 4 pieces of mat board.

So, if you only want to order 3 sheets of mat board, order 3 sheets of foamboard as well and you will fill a 12 sheet carton, spreading your shipping costs and reducing the potential for damage.

Foreseeable Damage

Dings, dents and dog-ears are minor and foreseeable circumstances in the shipment of mat board. You should anticipate this. Most customers trim full size sheets down to smaller sizes before using them, and in doing so, trim away damaged edges. Framing4Yourself.com cannot accept returns for minor and foreseeable damage to mat board or foamboard.  Only if dings, dents or dog-ears intrude more than 1" into the sheet is the damage recoverable from the carriers.