How we send jam in the post without it breaking!

A question I get asked A LOT is where do we get our online jam delivery boxes from?

I'm proud to say I developed them myself! Our jam gets sent out in our very own bespoke jam delivery box.  It is a clever design (if I say so myself!) of a cardboard box folded to create an insert that has the exact sized jam holes cut out of it. We then pop the glass jam jars into the holes and they are kept protected throughout the courier network, even if they hit a few bumps and tumbles along the way. Because, let's face it, even though our boxes are labelled to handle with care, we know that this doesn't always happen, especially at busy times of year.

Our boxes are 100% cardboard, and we seal them with paper tape so our packaging is completely plastic free.

Some questions we get asked about our boxes:

Where do you get your jam delivery boxes from?

As I said, I designed them myself! This was literally Blue Peter do it yourself territory- I got a large piece of card which I folded and cut to the shape which would perfectly fit our jars.  Then I started working with our local cardboard box supplier who took my design and created proper samples for me.  

How do you know your jam delivery boxes deliver jam in one piece?

I tested them! Once we had the initial tests I filled them with jam and sent them off like a normal delivery, just one that was sent back to myself.  They all arrived back in one piece.  We also now like to do occasional "Will our jam survive a fall" posts on our instagram page.  

Why have you used such a big box for just one jar of jam?

Setting up a new box costs money- you have to pay for a cutter guide (which cuts the cardboard out to the correct size) which is a one off cost of a few hundred pounds.  Then there is the cost of the box- the more you buy then the cheaper it gets per box.  In order to buy our boxes at a suitable cost price we have to buy a large volume at a time.  And therefore it makes sense to just have one size of box so all the volume can be put towards the one size.  Holding stock of a second size of box for smaller orders would mean that every box would be costing us more, or we'd have to have a lot of our cash tied up in thousands of boxes sitting around our warehouse.  As every small business owner knows cash is king in business, and as a small business we cannot afford to have more than one box size in stock. One day when we are bigger we hope this may be possible.

Do you use any plastic in your deliveries?

No! We are proud to say our delivery packaging is completely plastic free.  We use cardboard for the box and a paper tape to seal it.

How do you package your other products?

We use similar packaging for our gift boxes and mixed orders, and if necessary we will use compostable packaging chips for protection.  These are totally compostable and will dissolve completely in water! Take a look at our video here. If you order a single giant jar we use the very clever Flexi Hex packaging- more on that in a later blog!

Nicola Elliott, Founder, Single Variety Co.

We make seriously delicious fruit preserves and chilli jams that each showcase one single variety.  Find out more about us here.