We sell dry pet food, and use 4-color resealable gusseted bags from VEPET/PE material. Bags are between 2 and 8 lbs. Is this the safest and best material? If not then please suggest alternatives. As well, when we try new items, since 4-color printing is only economical when you do runs of over 6,000 per bag, are you able to share USA Digital Bag Printers who can do economical runs of 200-500 bags? We print in China now, but with the tarifs, we would like to bring our printing back to the USA. As well, if there are suggested well-suited eco-friendly material then please share those materials as well. Thank you.
Topic summary
A pet food seller is seeking advice on packaging materials and digital printing options for small test runs (200-500 bags). They currently use 4-color resealable gusseted bags made from VEPET/PE material in 2-8 lb sizes, printed in China.
Key Questions:
- Is VEPET/PE the safest/best material for dry pet food?
- Where to find USA-based digital bag printers for economical small runs?
- What eco-friendly material alternatives exist?
Context: Traditional 4-color printing requires minimum runs of 6,000+ bags to be cost-effective. Due to tariffs, they want to shift production from China to the USA.
Response: One commenter suggested focusing on branded boxes instead of bags (which they manufacture domestically), but the original poster rejected this approach. They emphasized that customers primarily see the bag in product photos and retail settings, not the shipping box, making bag branding essential.
Status: The question about USA digital bag printers remains unanswered.
1 Like
I wouldn’t bother branding the bags right now and focus on branding the boxes they arrive in instead.
We make those here in the USA which can help assuage the worry of China tariffs.
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Although I appreciate your response, you suggest a solution that does not make sense to me. When selling online and even in retail stores, no one cares about the box nearly as much as they do about the what the bag looks like. The product, not the box, is shown in the hero shot. In fact most consumers will NEVER see the box. So if anyone has used a digital printer in the US then please share