Protective Insert: wholesale price
A typical US business buyer pays a median of $0.29 per unit at small order quantities, falling to $0.07 at volume, on a typical 21-day lead time. These medians come from published supplier pricing. Treat them as a starting point for a sourcing conversation rather than a binding quote.
Median price by order quantity
| Order size | Median /unit |
|---|---|
| 500–999 units | $0.29 |
| 1,000–4,999 units | $0.19 |
| 5,000–9,999 units | $0.15 |
| 10,000–24,999 units | $0.12 |
| 25,000–99,999 units | $0.10 |
| 100,000+ units | $0.07 |
What moves the price
For protective insert, the drivers are cut level, material, coating, gauge/thickness, liner type, food-safe compliance, temperature rating, thickness — the same item can land at either end of the band depending on how those are specified.
Paperboard and kraft inserts are the lowest-cost routes, while corrugated, molded pulp, foam, heavier board weights, and premium printing drive price up. Published wholesale pricing from packaging suppliers shows simple paperboard inserts around $0.19–$0.40 at 500+ units, $0.12–$0.29 at 1,000+ units, and $0.10–$0.18 at 5,000+ units, with broad market guides placing paperboard inserts in roughly the $0.15–$0.50 range and noting higher costs for more complex constructions. Realistic supplier routes are US-facing custom packaging vendors for short runs and import/landed-equivalent sourcing for 10k+ volumes when the design is simple enough to amortize tooling and freight.
Paying more than the median?
If you reorder protective insert regularly, run a free savings check — enter what you pay and see it against these researched medians, item by item. About three minutes, no card or account.
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