A 55 yd (50 m) roll of 2-inch packing tape seals about 55 medium shipping boxes, roughly 70 small ones or 40 large ones. A 110 yd (100 m) roll seals twice as many. Divide your monthly packages by the boxes per roll and you have your rolls per month. Most small shops shipping 100 to 300 orders a month use 2 to 6 rolls of 55 yd tape a month.
How the math works
Most boxes get two strips of tape: one along the top seam and one along the bottom. Each strip runs the length of the box plus about 6 inches so it wraps onto the end panels. So a 12-inch box uses two 18-inch strips, 36 inches of tape in total.
A 55 yd roll is 1,980 inches of tape. Divide by 36 inches and you get 55 boxes. Small boxes waste proportionally more at the ends, so the real-world figure for a 6-inch box is closer to 70 than the 80 the arithmetic gives. Large 18-inch boxes use two 24-inch strips, about 41 boxes a roll.
| Box size | Tape per box | Boxes per 55 yd roll | Boxes per 110 yd roll |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small, about 6 in | about 24 in | about 70 | about 140 |
| Medium, about 12 in | about 36 in | about 55 | about 110 |
| Large, about 18 in | about 48 in | about 40 | about 80 |
If you H-seal boxes (a strip down the center seam plus a strip along each edge) multiply tape per box by about 1.5. If you ship padded mailers or poly mailers, you may use one short strip or none at all, so count only the boxes.
Worked examples
An Etsy shop shipping 80 orders a month
Medium boxes, 80 a month, is about 1.5 rolls of 55 yd a month, or 18 rolls a year. A 36-roll First Run covers two years of shipping. Buying the 110 yd length instead means 36 rolls lasts four years, which is more tape than most shops want to hold, so 55 yd is the better fit here.
A Shopify brand shipping 400 orders a month
Medium boxes, 400 a month, is about 7.3 rolls of 55 yd or 3.6 rolls of 110 yd a month. 72 rolls of 110 yd lasts about 20 months, and 144 rolls lasts over three years with free print setup. At this volume 110 yd pays for itself in fewer roll changes alone.
A subscription box shipping 5,000 a month
Large boxes, 5,000 a month, is about 63 rolls of 110 yd a month, or about 750 rolls a year. That is wholesale territory: 576 rolls and up, priced to the configuration, with a production schedule agreed in advance.
55 yd or 110 yd?
The tape is identical. 110 yd rolls are the same 2-inch width on the same 3-inch core, wound to 111 mm across instead of 103 mm, so both fit a standard tape gun. The difference is how often you change rolls and the cost per foot.
- Under about 100 packages a month: 55 yd. Lower order total, lighter in a hand dispenser, and you will not be holding tape for years.
- 100 to 1,000 packages a month: 110 yd. Half the roll changes, and at Parcelry it is $4 more per roll for twice the tape, so the cost per foot drops by about 40 percent.
- Over 1,000 a month: 110 yd, and talk to us about wholesale pricing from 576 rolls.
Making a roll go further
- Use a tape gun with a cutting blade. Hand-tearing wastes an inch or two on every strip and leaves a ragged edge on the print.
- One strip is enough on boxes under about 2 lb if the flaps meet cleanly. Add the second strip for anything heavier or anything going through a carrier hub.
- Store rolls flat in a cool place. Heat softens the adhesive and the roll can flatten or telescope, which wastes the outer layers.
- With printed tape, one clean strip across the top seam is the strip the customer sees. Put the brand where the eye lands and plain tape or a second strip on the bottom if you want to stretch the printed rolls.
See your logo on the tape before you order
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