Industry Trends

Why I Don't Want a Packaging Vendor That Says 'Yes' to Everything

I don't want a packaging and printing vendor that says yes to everything. I want one that occasionally tells me no.

That sounds backwards, especially in purchasing, where the whole game is usually getting a supplier to accommodate you. But after five years of managing office purchasing—roughly 60–80 orders a year, across eight vendors, for a 400-person company—I've come to believe that the supplier who understands what not to sell you is worth more than the one who'll print anything you ask.

Here's the thing: an honest "that won't work for your situation" is not a refusal. It's a cost-saving insight packaged as a sentence.

The Gorilla Label Lesson: Strongest Isn't the Smartest

We order custom gorilla label products—printed with our logo and a barcode—for internal shipments. They're tough, waterproof, and they stick to just about anything. I can't say a bad word about the product itself. But the first time we ordered, I assumed "strongest" automatically meant "best." It didn't.

The adhesive that's fantastic on corrugated boxes is miserable on certain recycled-paper envelopes. It pulls the surface off. And on some plastic mailers, it leaves a residue that made accounting's return labels look like a sticker was peeled off a banana (ugh).

Strong is great. Strong in the wrong application is just a cleanup project.

How long does Gorilla Glue take to dry? More than you think.

When we started using Gorilla tape and glue for mailing and crate assembly, I made an assumption that cost us a delay. I assumed the glue was like the tape—instant. Nobody corrected me in time.

For the record: original Gorilla Glue needs to be clamped for 10–30 minutes and reaches full cure after 24 hours. The white and clear formulas bond faster—about 30 minutes—but they're a different product. And if someone asks about "gorilla glue number four" (which happens more than you'd expect), the honest answer is: don't get hung up on the number. It's not a SKU in a packaging lineup. What matters is choosing between the original polyurethane formula, which needs moisture and clamping, and the quick-set variants, which don't.

I don't have hard data on how many rushed packaging jobs fail because someone ignored the cure time. But based on our experience, I'd say it's close to half of the "glue failures" people complain about. It took me three years and way too many urgent reorders to understand that adhesive selection is not a grab-the-strongest-tube decision.

What an Orlando Poster Order Taught Me About "Custom"

In 2023, we needed large-format Orlando poster prints and standees for a product demo in Florida. The design was done, the venue was booked, and I emailed our print vendor for a quote. I assumed posters were posters—send a file, get a print.

The project manager came back with the quote and then a "ps" that saved us a meaningful chunk of budget: "If you need these in 2 days instead of 5, it's about twice the price. If you can wait a week, it's cheaper. And for this event, you probably don't need heavy matte stock—standard satin will look the same on the wall."

That was an education in print limitations I hadn't asked for. We waited, we downgraded the paper, and the posters looked excellent. Looking back, I should have asked about paper weights and turnaround tiers when we first quoted that Orlando poster job. At the time, I didn't know enough to ask.

When a client asked about the Starbucks coffee bear cup

A marketing manager once showed me a photo of the Starbucks coffee bear cup and asked if we could do a custom version as a client gift. The honest answer: no, not cost-effectively. The bear cup is a proprietary seasonal item, and a custom cup wrapper at a quantity of five is a ridiculous per-unit cost.

"At that quantity, the setup alone makes each one about quadruple the cost of a standard wrap. What if we did a small batch of custom gift labels and a nicer box instead?"

That's the honest-limitation position, and it's rare.

The vendor who instantly says "yes, we can do that" to every custom print request isn't being helpful. They're being optimistic. I've watched three overpromised print projects fail in my career—one became a redo, two became refunds (note to self: always ask for a proof before committing to any custom run).

Does a 6x9 Envelope Require Extra Postage? Yes—and Your Vendor Should Tell You

Here's a question that appears every quarter: does a 6x9 envelope require extra postage? It looks like a letter. It's not.

According to USPS (usps.com), as of January 2025:

• First-Class Mail letter (1 oz): $0.73
• First-Class Mail large envelope (1 oz): $1.50
• Additional ounce for large envelopes: $0.28

USPS defines a 6x9 envelope as a large envelope (a "flat")—it's above the 6.125" × 11.5" letter maximum and under the 12" × 15" flat maximum, provided it's flexible and under 3/4-inch thick. So yes, it requires extra postage—roughly double, before you factor weight. We once mailed 600 invitations with standard letter stamps and ate over $460 in returned mail and corrected postage (that one hurt).

And this is exactly the kind of thing a packaging supplier should flag when you order envelopes. The product is not just the paper rectangle; it's the rate class, the wrapper, the mail workflow. A vendor that says "here are the envelopes you ordered" is fulfilling a PO. A vendor that says "this is a flat—do you need oversized postage advice?" is actually doing the job.

The Objection: "Just Find the Cheapest Supplier and Move On"

Let me preempt the pushback: why don't you just buy from the lowest-priced reliable vendor and stop overthinking it? Price matters. I'd be out of a job if I ignored it. But the cheapest vendor isn't cheap if they can't do the job you actually need.

In 2020, a supplier quoted us 30% below our regular packaging vendor on custom tape and labels. I placed the order. What I didn't verify was invoicing capability. They sent a handwritten receipt. Finance rejected the expense report, and I ate $2,400 out of the department budget (real talk: I have not fully forgiven myself). When I looked at the two vendors side by side—same order, same spec—the "savings" were $2,100. The loss was $2,400. Seeing that comparison made me realize I was optimizing the wrong number.

That's the point of honest limitation. It's not a product defect. It's accuracy about fit. If a vendor tells me their adhesive isn't ideal for a specific plastic, they're not losing my trust. They're earning it. I don't buy less from them because of that honesty. I buy more.

Why I Keep Ordering From Gorilla

After all those years and roughly 400 orders, here's my conclusion: there is no perfect supplier. There's only a supplier whose limitations you can predict.

I keep ordering Gorilla labels, tape, and custom print because they've told me "no" when it counted. They warned me about cure times, steered me away from a custom cup program that made no sense, and documented the postage implications of the envelopes they sell. That's not marketing. That's the kind of insight that saves my department real money.

So no, I don't want a vendor that says yes to everything. I want the one that says "here's what will actually work for you." The "no" is just the "yes" that hasn't found the right application yet.