Unimate 7‑Day Trial Pack

What falls out of the table: stick brands almost never give product away. They sell 5–9 sticks for $8–$20, or gift 8 sticks with a full‑size order. Seven is rare (Redmond, AG1, Factor Form, ZOE). AG1 is the only brand that turned seven sticks into a $35 “starter” by adding a shaker and a habit journal. Seven Unimate sticks are $18 at member price, so a $19–$29 trial sits inside the category range.

Ten patterns that work, with the evidence

“I think that one is set up for shipping, so it's cardboard and big enough for a shipping label. But for what we need, it doesn't have to ship. It's going to be mostly sold in person. We'll flat pack and ship them as part of the 10pack.”

“So instead of cardboard, it could be a paper print with lots more color.”

— the president, 2026‑08‑28

Four paper formats

Each holds the same seven stock stick packs and arrives to the distributor flat. Costs are supplier list prices for printing, not quotes, and exclude dies, freight and the labour of filling each pack.

QA ✓

Paper band around a bundled seven Printed paper belly band

What it is. A strip of printed paper about 7 inches long and 2.5 inches tall, wrapped around the middle of a stack of seven stick packs and closed with a glue tab or a peel-and-stick strip. Stock is roughly 100 lb silk-coated text, a sheet a little heavier than a magazine page, matte, not board. It holds the bundle by friction alone: the tops and bottoms of the sticks stay exposed. It ships dead flat in a stack, and someone wraps it around the sticks at the fill site.

Why it fits. This is the cheapest way to obey the president's brief. No board, no shipping strength, and the entire surface can be one saturated flavor color. Field Notes has sold three-notebook packs held together by nothing but a paper band for years, so the format is proven as a primary pack. Because it never mails, we can use uncoated or heavily-inked paper that would scuff in transit.

Risk. A band around loose sticks does not stop them sliding out sideways. Bands work on rigid, same-sized contents (notebooks, soap); flexible foil sticks are the worst case. This needs a second cross-band or a folded paper tray underneath before it survives a distributor's bag, and it adds a hand-wrapping step at pack-out with no protection in return.

Cost Supplier list prices, not quotes we've received: Ryt Packaging starts at $0.40/unit at 100 pieces and Teal at $0.44 at 50. Estimated at our volumes, a plain 2x7-inch band gang-run in four colors is roughly $0.06-$0.12 each at 1,000 and $0.03-$0.06 at 5,000, plus about $0.03-$0.06 for the peel-and-seal adhesive. Cheapest of the four formats per unit.

QA ✓

Seed-packet envelope in full flavor color Printed paper envelope (seed-packet style)

What it is. A single sheet of paper die-cut, folded and glued into a pocket about 4.5 by 6.5 inches, the same construction as a garden seed packet. Printed in full color on both faces on coated paper, sealed at the top with a peel-and-stick strip. It arrives flat and empty, nested in cartons, and gets filled and sealed on a line later. Opaque, so both sides are usable printing space for the story, dosing and a QR code.

Why it fits. An envelope is the only one of these four that fully encloses the sticks without a custom die and without an assembly step at the distributor. It reads as craft rather than factory. Hudson Valley Seed Company built a whole brand on the artwork of the packet itself. Because it never ships on its own, we can flood the whole packet in flavor color instead of reserving a white patch for a label.

Risk. The 5,000-unit floor is the trap. Ordering 1,000 costs the same as ordering 5,000, so a small first run is the worst possible quantity. Also, seven sticks stacked flat are about 1.6 inches thick, a flat glued pocket will not close over that. This needs a gusset (expanding side folds) or the sticks laid side by side, which makes it a wide envelope, not a small one.

Cost Supplier list prices and published minimums, not quotes: JBM Packaging requires 5,000 units total with 1,000 minimum per design, and publishes no prices. Quote only. Estimated at roughly $0.06-$0.15 each at 5,000 for four-color on white wove; more on coated stock. Short-run digital shops advertise no minimum but at meaningfully higher per-unit prices, useful only for prototypes.

QA ✓

Folded wallet, opened Folded paper wallet with die-cut slits

What it is. A flat printed card, roughly 8.5 by 4.5 inches open, scored down the middle and folded like a greeting card or a menu. Cut into the inside panel are seven pairs of small slits; each stick slides into a pair and is gripped by the paper. Stock is about 14pt coated one side, stiff card, not board. It ships completely flat and scored; the distributor or the fill site folds it and slides the sticks in. Closes with a tuck tab, no glue needed.

Why it fits. This is the only format here that both encloses the sticks and gives one large uninterrupted printed surface to hand over like a menu. The slits cost nothing extra. They are cut on the same pass as the outline, and the whole inside panel becomes a seven-day calendar the customer works through. Honest caveat: this is borrowed from gift-card holders and cosmetic sampling, not from any supplement brand.

Risk. Die-cut slits alone let contents work loose over time, and a foil stick is slick and floppy, worse than the rigid cards this mechanic was designed for. It needs a tuck flap or a band over the slit field. Separately, flooding solid color across a fold cracks the ink along the crease and shows white fiber; that is fixed by scoring correctly and a matte laminate at about $0.03-$0.08 a unit.

Cost Supplier list prices, not quotes: UPrinting's french-fold brochure is $114.93 for 250. Estimated at stick-pack size on 14pt, about $0.15-$0.28 each at 1,000 and $0.09-$0.18 at 5,000 for print, score and fold, plus roughly $0.03-$0.08 per unit for the die-cut slits and a one-time cutting die charge of about $350-$1,500 depending on how fussy the shape is.

QA ✓

Paper pouch with a folded header card Paper pouch + folded-over header card

What it is. Two pieces. A small flat paper bag holds the seven sticks; a printed card is folded in half over the bag's open top and fastened with two staples or a strip of double-sided tape. The header card is about 4 by 4 inches folded and carries the whole brand face, front and back, and can be printed on the inside too. Both pieces ship dead flat and separate; nothing is assembled until someone assembles it.

Why it fits. This is the small-batch look. It reads as made by a real company rather than stamped out by a factory, and it is the most explicitly flat-packing of the four. The header is a second printed surface at the exact moment the customer opens it, so dosing instructions live where they are read. It is also the only format we could prototype for real money this week.

Risk. The assembly never goes away. Every single pack needs someone to fill a bag, fold a card and drive two staples. That is fine at 500 units and painful at 5,000. Price the labor before the paper. A stapled pack also looks handmade, which cuts both ways: charming at a home event, off-brand next to the current retail box.

Cost The one hard published number in this research: UPrinting lists $81.38 for 1,000 header cards at 4x4 inches on 14pt. $0.08 each, and roughly $0.04-$0.06 at 5,000. A small kraft or glassine bag adds about $0.05-$0.15. But the real cost is labor: at 15-20 seconds a unit, 5,000 units is 25-35 hours of hand assembly, which at $18/hour adds another $0.09-$0.13 a unit and can double the true cost.

Color, and the moment it is handed over

QA ✓

QA ✓

Three things that decide this, from the print research

Six more, from expo tables and living rooms

Where the four above start from the material, these start from the moment. A stranger at a booth who has ten seconds, and a distributor working a room of eight people who already know her. Each one borrows a mechanic that a real company already uses. They are sketches rather than worked formats: the reasoning and the precedent are real, the dimensions are first estimates.

QA ✓

The Share Card

Single-stick share card, 6.25 x 2.75 in

Borrowed from: AromaTools' doTERRA sample cards and Young Living's Sample Sachet Business Cards, a printed card the sample is physically attached to, with a blank for the distributor's name.

A flat paper card about 6.25 inches wide and 2.75 inches tall, printed on uncoated card stock roughly the thickness of a postcard. Two small angled cuts hold one Unimate stick across the face, so the stick slides out and the card stays. It is a single flat piece of paper, so a hundred of them stack about as thick as a paperback and travel loose in a bag.

The research is blunt about what kills a loose sample: the person forgets what it was, how to use it, and who gave it to them. A card fixes all three because the instructions and the name travel with the stick. It is also the only format here cheap enough to leave in a bowl at an expo booth or hand over at the end of a two-minute conversation without thinking about cost. Trade show data cited in the research puts free samples as the number one reason someone walks into a booth at all.

Cost Roughly 25 to 50 cents per card, before the stick. Company Folders publishes printed card holders from 21 cents each at minimums between 50 and 2,500 units; AromaTools sells the doTERRA equivalent at about 29 cents. These are published list prices off supplier websites, not quotes we asked anyone for.

Risk One stick may not be enough. Yerba mate's benefit is described as cumulative, so a single serving may not produce the effect that sells a second purchase. This format wins on cost and loses on proof.

QA flag: render shows loose sticks in the pocket where it should hold folded trial packs

The Take-One Tent

Folded paper counter tent holding six trial packs, 5 x 7 in

Borrowed from: Dilco easel-back counter cards and the 'take one' cardboard rack holders sold by Affordable Display Products, crossed with the PDQ counter tray that arrives holding its own product.

One sheet of stiff paper, scored and folded into a triangle that stands on its own with a pocket across the front. It is about 5 inches wide and 7 inches tall and holds six flat trial packs upright, faces forward. It ships dead flat inside the distributor's own box and the distributor folds it in about ten seconds. No glue, no easel part, no assembly instructions.

This is the expo table and the gym front desk in one object. The research is clear that samples lying loose on a table read as staff property and go untouched, while a container that holds them upright and says 'take one' gives a stranger permission to take one. Because it is one folded sheet, it costs a fraction of a display box and it is the only format here that keeps selling while the distributor is talking to someone else.

Cost Dilco lists 5x7 easel-back counter cards at $2.30 each for 250 and $1.51 each for 1,000; UPrinting lists folded table tents from $3.83 each at a 25-piece minimum, dropping sharply with volume. A folded tent needs no easel part, so it should land under the easel prices. Published supplier list prices, not quotes we obtained.

Risk An unattended take-one display empties fast and teaches you nothing about who took the packs, so the pack itself has to carry the follow-up code, the display will not capture a single name on its own.

QA ✓

The 7-Day Passport

Stitched mini booklet, 3.75 x 6 in, 16 pages

Borrowed from: The Rodan + Fields 'mini facial' card that stages one ritual in sequence, plus the day-by-day check-in formats published for It Works! distributors ("one product each morning, one check-in text each afternoon").

A small stitched booklet about 3.75 inches wide and 6 inches tall, printed on uncoated paper with a slightly heavier cover. Each spread is one day, Day 1 through Day 7, and each right-hand page holds one stick tucked into a die-cut slit. The last spread is the distributor's page and the reorder code.

This is the only format that paces the seven days instead of dumping them. The customer cannot see all seven at once, so each morning is a small reveal and the coaching line arrives at the moment they are drinking it. Every direct-selling sampling format in the research pairs the physical object with a scripted daily touch, the booklet builds that rhythm into the paper itself, and seven pages means seven natural reasons to text.

Cost The expensive one. Saddle-stitched booklets are generally quoted at $2 to $8 per unit, and attaching the sticks is hand assembly on top. A small 16-page booklet at high volume would land well below that, but no supplier publishes that tier. This one needs a real quote. Everything else here is published list price.

Risk Cost and assembly. A booklet that costs several dollars plus hand-fitting seven sticks is not something a distributor hands out freely. It is a paid trial or a gift for a booked appointment, and it will not survive as a giveaway.

QA ✓

The Coach Slot

7-stick paper sleeve with card slit and sticker target, 4.5 x 6.25 in

Borrowed from: Company Folders' business-card die-cut slits, plus the peel-and-place QR stickers Arbonne and Plexus distributors already buy for themselves from Sticker Mule and Etsy sellers.

A paper sleeve about 4.5 by 6.25 inches holding seven sticks, printed on 300gsm uncoated stock. Two angled cuts on the front hold the distributor's own business card, and a printed white circle marks where they stick their own QR label. Corporate prints one design forever; the distributor adds their identity at the moment they hand it over.

This is the cheapest way to make one print run serve every distributor in every market. The personalisation cost moves onto the person who benefits from it, nothing has to be reprinted when a distributor quits, and the company keeps control of every claim on the pack because the distributor only ever touches the name and the link. The research flags distributor-made marketing as a standing compliance headache. Supplying the template is the defensive move as much as the marketing one.

Cost The slit is a standard die option, effectively free per unit. Sticker Mule lists die-cut stickers at 30 cents each for 500 and 23 cents for 1,000, bought by the distributor. Personalised card artwork sells to distributors at $8 to $12 a file today. Supplier list prices, not quotes we obtained.

Risk A loose card falls out of a handbag and the personalisation is gone. The slit should never be the only place the contact detail lives. Pair it with a printed generic code on the pack.

QA ✓

The Tear-Apart Sheet

Perforated paper sheet, 8.5 x 11 in, tears into six single-stick pockets

Borrowed from: Mary Kay's samples sold in packs of 3, 6 and 12 so a consultant can hand one to every guest at a table, and the party-plan convention of a favor every guest leaves holding.

One printed sheet of paper the size of a letter page, perforated into six small pockets. Each pocket holds one stick and each is a different flavor color. The host tears them apart at the table and hands them round. Flat as a sheet of paper until the moment it is used, so a distributor can carry twenty in a folder.

Herbalife's shake-party guidance says the sale dies if the guest leaves empty-handed, and party-plan companies solve it by having a favor for every seat. This sheet is that, in the cheapest possible material. Tearing one off in front of someone is a small ritual that makes the handoff deliberate rather than casual, and six different colors turns it into a choice, which flavor do you want. Instead of a handout.

Cost Perforation is a standard finishing option on a normal print job, with typical short-run minimums of 250 to 500. A letter-size full-color sheet is a few cents; the cost sits in the six sticks, not the paper. Published supplier terms, not a quote we obtained.

Risk Flimsy. A perforated paper pocket holding a stick will not survive a handbag the way a sleeve does, and once torn apart the six pieces carry no reason to be kept. This is a favor for the room, not a take-home that lasts a week.

QA ✓

The Hang Tag

Strung paper hang tag over a banded 7-stick bundle, 3.25 x 7 in

Borrowed from: 4OVER4's printed kraft hang tags and the door-hanger format with a perforated tear-off card that the recipient keeps after the product is gone.

A tall paper tag about 3.25 by 7 inches, punched and strung with a cotton loop, sitting over a banded bundle of seven sticks. The bottom third of the tag is perforated so the customer tears off a business-card-sized piece with the code on it and keeps it. Hangs on a peg hook, a gym locker, or the handle of an event tote.

Almost nothing here can hang. A tag can, which turns a trial pack into something a gym, a salon or a market stall can display on a hook without any fixture, and it fits a conference tote handle where a flat pack disappears into the bottom of the bag. The tear-off is the point: the sticks get used and thrown away, and the code survives because the customer chose to keep it rather than having it forced on them.

Cost 4OVER4 lists printed kraft hang tags starting around $58 for the entry quantity, with tiers up to 25,000; door hangers with a perforated tear-off run roughly 17 to 31 cents each at 500 to 1,000. The string and the banding are extra assembly. Published list prices, not quotes we obtained.

Risk The tag brands and hangs but it does not contain. Seven sticks held by a paper band will slide out in a bag, so this needs a proper band or a glued end. That detail decides whether it works at all.

One format worth naming that did not make the four: glassine, the translucent, grease‑resistant paper used for seed packets and chocolate. It is genuinely lovely, food‑safe without any plastic coating, and compostable. Two facts rule it out for this brief: its dense, non‑absorbent surface takes saturated full‑bleed color badly, and custom printing starts at 25,000 units. If the president ever wants a quiet, natural‑looking pack instead of a colorful one, it becomes the first choice.

Still unresolved, and it matters more here than above: a paper pack has to hold seven sticks without a rigid box around it, so the closure (glued pocket, die‑cut slit, fold‑and‑tuck) is the whole engineering problem. That cannot be settled from a render. It needs one physical sample with real sticks in it. The stick dimensions are still unmeasured.

Where this comes from