Reusable shipping bags for contact lens delivery

Contact lens delivery

Contact lenses are a repeat purchase with predictable consumption. People who wear them order the same product from the same supplier two to four times a year, often on subscription.

Reusable shipping bags from hey circle turn that into a loop. The folded size is what makes it work: the small bag measures 18 x 25 x 1.5 cm folded, which puts it in large-letter format - so the empty return costs letter postage rather than parcel postage.

So funktioniert der Kreislauf

You ship the quarterly or six-month supply in the hey circle bag. The customer takes out the goods, and the bag stays in circulation - up to 70 times.

There are two ways back. Either the customer folds the bag flat and returns it as a large letter. Or they drop it off at the optician, who is supplied anyway - then the collected volume travels back in bulk and costs next to nothing.

  • Packen & verschließen

    • Place lens boxes and care solutions in the hey circle shipping bag
    • Close the bag with the zip - no tape and no void fill
    • Three sizes: S for monthly lenses, M and L for a quarterly supply with care solutions

  • Versenden

    • Apply the shipping label and send it as usual via DHL, GLS or Hermes
    • Tested and approved by all parcel carriers, shipped without surcharge
    • Wipe-clean surface, label peels off without residue

  • Zurücksenden

    • The customer folds the bag down to 18 x 25 x 1.5 cm
    • Return as a large letter - considerably cheaper than a parcel return
    • Or dropped off at the optician, who is supplied anyway

Contact lens delivery & Mehrweg: Ein Dreamteam

  • Large-letter size when folded

    With low-value shipments, the return leg decides whether reuse pays off. Folded, the small shipping bag stays under the large-letter threshold - so the empty return costs letter postage rather than parcel postage.

  • The optician as the drop-off point

    If you ship directly to the optician's customers on their behalf, you already have the drop-off point: the practice that is supplied anyway. A single B2B contract then drives a loop across many end customers.

  • A predictable order rhythm

    On subscription you know the address, the rhythm and the next delivery date. That makes retrieval predictable - and the return becomes an extra touchpoint with the customer.

  • More than paper and offsetting

    Many suppliers in this market currently rely on used cardboard, paper padding or climate-compensated shipping. Those are material swaps and offsetting, not a loop. Reuse avoids the waste - up to 94 % less, along with up to 76 % less CO2.

  • Regulation

    The PPWR turns reuse into a requirement, with obligations applying from 12 August 2026. Mail order with high shipment volumes comes under pressure first.

Passende Verpackungen

Experience from optical retail

There is currently no publicly named hey circle reference in contact lens delivery. In the neighbouring optical market we already work at scale, though: pricon supplies around 6,200 optical retailers, and roughly 90 % of those deliveries travel in customised reusable shipping bags.

A note on honesty: if you ship in letter or small-packet format today, you are not comparing against an expensive box but against very low postage. That is why the return via the optician usually works better than a postal return from a pure online retailer.

Häufige Fragen

Was lässt sich mit den hey circle Boxen und Taschen transportieren?

Wiederverwendbare Versandverpackungen sind geeignet für viele Einsatzgebiete. Hier findest du einige Beispiele.

Produktbeispiele:

  • Kleidung
  • Schuhe
  • Spielsachen
  • Bücher
  • Schmuck
  • Elektronik
  • Werkzeug
  • Büroausstattung
  • Brillen
  • Lebensmittel (gekühlt, ungekühlt)
  • Medikamente (gekühlt, ungekühlt)
  • Körperpflege
  • Tiernahrung

How can hey circle packaging be returned?
  • Without a product return, the empty packaging is simply folded, closed and provided with a return label. Depending on the parcel service provider, the return can be handed to the mail carrier, dropped into a mailbox, or left at a packing station.
  • In the event that goods are returned, a seal or adhesive seal should be enclosed to close the box or bag.
  • In cases involving regular deliveries, multiple packages can be bundled together and returned cost-effectively in a single box.
  • Parcel service providers currently transport reusable packaging exclusively on behalf of business customers. As an online retailer, please provide your customers with a return label. We are already working with a wide variety of market participants to also enable returns in retail stores.

Can the hey circle boxes and bags also be returned in retail stores?

Currently, returning them in stores is not yet possible. Empty shipping packaging is also returned via parcel service providers or post. We are already working on a reverse logistics network to enable convenient returns and to optimize the environmental footprint as well as return costs by bundling returned packaging.

Can customers keep the packaging?

All hey circle shipping packaging has to be returned. The more cycles a reusable packaging completes, the more sustainable it is. Online retailers can decide whether to ship all their orders in reusable packaging or to let customers choose between single-use and reusable packaging at check-out.

Customers have to return the packaging within a set period, otherwise it will be invoiced.

Wie kannst du mit Mehrweg sparen?

Unser Team berät dich gerne zu den Vorteilen einer Mehrweg-Versandverpackung für deinen Versand-Kreislauf.

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