We recommend packaging up your masks using brown paper. If you've got a stash of brown paper bags (or those retail shopping bags made of stiff paper), this is a great time to put them to use! Butcher or craft paper from a roll (if you've got it) is also a great choice.
Using what you have on hand to package up the masks compactly and minimally makes a huge dent in per-package shipping cost. Even if you have padded mailers or other large envelopes on hand already, they increase weight and, therefore, shipping cost.

Paper Dimensions
1-5 masks: 9-10" W ✕ 18-21" L - 1 stack (finished package: approx. 1.25" ✕ 6" ✕ 6")
6-10 masks: 12-13" W ✕ 20-23" L - 1 stack (finished package: approx. 2" ✕ 6.5" ✕ 7")
11-15 masks: 12-13" W ✕ 26-28" L - 1 stack (finished package: approx. 2.75" ✕ 6.5" ✕ 7")
16-20 masks: 14-16" W ✕ 33-36" L - 2 stacks (finished package: approx. 3" ✕ 8" ✕ 10") *uses a full brown paper grocery bag

If you don't have brown paper, you can use anything that won't easily rip in transit:
	• 2-3 sheets of printer paper taped together (on the long edge): use a few pieces of scotch tape to hold them together, then be sure to run a piece of packing tape over the seam after you tape the package closed
	• a dense plastic shopping bag, like they have at Target, or the ones they call "reusable" plastic grocery bags (in states that have banned single-use plastic bags) • 2-3 layers of magazine pages: carefully pull the staples out of the center to get larger sheets—you may wish to first fold a single sheet of printer paper around the masks to make the package just a little more rigid
Shipping just ONE mask? - You can fit a single mask in a normal letter or gift card envelope and ship it with a single 55¢ first-class stamp. ** If you think you can squeeze 2-3 masks into an envelope, don't do it. There's a good chance USPS will reject this, because it will have too much variation in thickness. Shipping 2 masks w/ elastic loops? - You CAN ship such a package with $1 of postage. As long as the package is less than 3.5 oz, and there is minimal variation in thickness (can be achieved by sandwiching masks between two 6" ✕ 6" pieces of chipboard, edges taped, from a box of granola bars or cereal, or even a bit of (dried!) Tetrapak from a nut milk box). Don't attempt with 2 masks w/ ties. ** this is the cost for a "normal" letter that is rigid, square, or oddly shaped—so make sure you could feasibly call this an envelope (rather than a package/parcel).

METHOD 1: the fastest/easiest (and still quite cheap)
We display a shipping cost for each outgoing package with your assignment details, and this cost is based on the packaging recommended above. You order stamps from USPS in several denominations, stick them right on the package, and pop it in the mailbox, and you're done!

It's fun & lets you choose from lots of designs. If it helps, you may want to take a look at shipping rates in the chart at the bottom of this page, decide how much shipping you'll be doing, and order accordingly (make sure to get $1 stamps, $2 stamps, and several smaller denominations, noting that "forever" stamps, new or old, are currently worth 55¢).

Our shipping calculations assume the greatest shipping distance (aka farthest "zone")—we can't calculate the actual zone because we don't collect your (maker's) mailing address. Therefore, if you are shipping much closer distances, your shipping cost could (in theory) be up to 60¢ cheaper than our calculations. Also, to ensure our shipping amounts do not result in any rejected packages, all are slightly rounded-up figures—assuming you are using heavy brown paper and the largest of both dimensions.

Of course, if you have a scale to weigh your package yourself, you can also look up the cost from USPS here, and it may be less!

METHOD 2: the cheapest
If you want to get even cheaper rates (between 80¢ & $1.33 less per package when shipping 15 or fewer masks), and you don't mind creating a free account and typing in the recipient's address for each outgoing package, there is no way to beat the pricing at PirateShip, where you can pay for and print your postage. The company's pricing is transparent, and their rates match the commercial rates offered by USPS, with no fees or surcharges added by PirateShip. Since you enter the recipient's address, it will also give accurate zone pricing, which can reduce per-package shipping cost by up to 64¢ (if shipping to the nearest zone).

When PirateShip asks for the package weight, you can refer to the chart at the bottom, looking up the weight for the corresponding number of masks. Of course, you'll likely save a bit more if you're able to weigh your package yourself.

You'll have to decide for yourself whether you want to spend the extra time for the amount you'll save (it increases dramatically for packages over the 13 oz threshold, which you'll reach at about 15 masks). This is probably worth it for larger packages or if you'll be returning for many additional mask assignments.

NOTE: we contacted the company to ask if it is strictly necessary for you to share your phone number, and the answer was (indirectly) no, not really. It's a required field, but feel free to put in an old phone number (we even tested it with 800-555-1234 with no issue), since no one at PirateShip intends to actually use this to contact you.

METHOD 3: the middle ground
If you are not up for typing in the recipient's address, and are not concerned with saving 80¢ to $1.33 per package (for packages under 13oz), you can also just enter the recipient zipcode at this PirateShip page—they display the USPS retail cost (crossed out) above their discounted cost. This will allow you to save up to 64¢ per package by ensuring you get zoning pricing (rather than in our pricing estimates, which all use the farthest zone).

If you're sticking stamps on your package, you just use the crossed-out price that PirateShip displays (it is the USPS retail price w/o the commercial discount offered by PirateShip). If you don't have a scale, refer to weights in the chart below.

When you sign up to make masks and receive an "assignment", it will display retail USPS shipping costs so you can put your own stamps on each package. The cost will be specific to the types and quantities of masks in each package, and will therefore be lower than displayed in the chart below (mask types 2 & 3 weigh less, but this chart is based on type 1, the heaviest).

If you use envelopes, padded mailers, or other premade packaging, and cannot weigh the entire finished package: if you can find out the weight of the mailer you are using, you can then add this to the weight of the mask(s) from column B.

If you are packaging the masks in recommended packaging (as mentioned above), and wish to utilize the "balanced" postage approach (Method 3) for lowest zone pricing, you can refer to column C for the total weight of the package (for mask type1, adult size w/ ties, which weighs the most).

A	B	C	D	E
# of masks	masks only*	w/ packaging*	USPS retail	PirateShip
1	0.7 oz	1.4 oz	$4.20	$3.18
2	1.5 oz	2.2 oz	$4.20	$3.18
3	2.2 oz	2.9 oz	$4.20	$3.18
4	3.0 oz	3.6 oz	$4.20	$3.18
5	3.7 oz	4.4 oz	$5.00	$3.67
6	4.4 oz	5.4 oz	$5.00	$3.67
7	5.2 oz	6.1 oz	$5.00	$3.67
8	5.9 oz	6.8 oz	$5.00	$3.67
9	6.7 oz	7.6 oz	$5.00	$3.67
10	7.4 oz	8.3 oz	$5.75	$4.46
11	8.1 oz	9.3 oz	$5.75	$4.46
12	8.9 oz	10.1 oz	$5.75	$4.46
13	9.6 oz	10.8 oz	$5.75	$4.46
14	10.4 oz	11.5 oz	$5.75	$4.46
15	11.1 oz	12.3 oz	$6.50	$5.70
16	11.9 oz	13.7 oz	$9.35	$5.70
17	12.6 oz	14.4 oz	$9.35	$5.70
18	13.3 oz	15.2 oz	$9.35	$5.70
19	14.1 oz	15.9 oz	$9.35	$5.70
20	14.8 oz	16.6 oz	$9.35	$8.42

* Weights shown in above chart represent weights for mask type1, the heaviest of the 3 mask types. It's not possible to display a single chart that shows every possible combination of the 3 mask types and weights, so we've displayed the weight for the heaviest to ensure that referring to these values will never result in too little postage!

The approximate individual weights of the 3 mask types, just in case you need it:
Mask type1: 0.74oz / 21g (adult size w/ ties)
Mask type2: 0.46oz / 13g (adult size w/ elastic)
Mask type3: 0.60oz / 17g (child size w/ ties)