Blank coasters are one of the few promotional items that cost under a dollar fifty and still get looked at every day for years. This guide covers what a case holds, what it costs, how sandstone differs from ceramic, and which of the four Photo USA coaster blanks suits a bar, a wedding or a corporate program. Sandstone blanks run about $1.39 per unit at 100 to a case. Stock is held in Fremont, California and Shepherdsville, Kentucky, and most orders ship within 24 hours.
Short answer: 100 sandstone coasters to a case at about $1.39 each, or 80 ceramic mug lid coasters at about $2.43 each. One case is the minimum and cases are not split.
The arithmetic on coasters is the reason they keep showing up in promotional budgets. A case of 100 costs $139. For the price of roughly two cases of mugs you can put a branded coaster in front of a hundred people, and unlike a mug it does not need a cupboard to live in. For a venue that means every table covered with spares behind the bar. For a wedding it means a favor at every place setting at a cost most couples do not have to think twice about.
| Blank | Material | Per case | Per unit | Case price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Square 4.25 in. | Sandstone | 100 | $1.39 | $139.00 |
| Round | Sandstone | 100 | $1.39 | $139.00 |
| Heart | Sandstone | 100 | $1.39 | $139.00 |
| Mug lid coaster | Ceramic | 80 | $2.43 | $194.60 |
There is no minimum number of cases, so a single case of one shape is a valid order, and shapes can be mixed across an order as long as each line is a full case. That matters for a first order, because most buyers do not know yet whether their customers want square or round until they have sold a few of each.
Short answer: Sandstone has a natural stone texture and a matte surface that reads as upscale and tactile. Ceramic is smooth and glossy, which makes printed color look brighter and more uniform. Most buyers want sandstone. Ceramic is for matched mug sets.
These are genuinely different products rather than two finishes of the same thing, and the choice is usually settled by how the coaster will be encountered.
A sandstone coaster is picked up. Someone sets a glass down, notices the weight and the grain, and turns it over. That physical quality is what separates it from the paper coaster the venue was using before, and it is why a brewery will pay for a stone coaster at all. The matte stone surface also treats a printed logo differently from a glossy one: colors sit slightly softer, which tends to suit a crest, a wordmark or a line illustration better than a photograph.
A ceramic coaster is looked at. The smooth glossy face holds color brightly and consistently, which is what you want when the coaster has to match something else, most obviously a mug. The Photo USA ceramic coaster is built for exactly that job, since it doubles as a lid for an 11 oz mug, so a printed mug and its coaster come out as one coordinated set.
| Sandstone | Ceramic | |
|---|---|---|
| Surface | Natural stone texture, matte | Smooth, glossy |
| Feel | Weighty, tactile, artisan | Clean, uniform, finished |
| Printed color | Slightly softer | Bright and consistent |
| Best for | Bars, breweries, gift retail, favors | Matched mug and coaster sets |
| Per case | 100 | 80 |
| Per unit | $1.39 | $2.43 |
Short answer: Square for bars and anything corporate, round for retail and gift sets, heart for weddings and Valentine's lines, ceramic lid coaster for matched mug sets.
About $1.39 per unit. Square at roughly four inches is the standard drink coaster format, which is not an accident: it holds the base of a pint glass, a rocks glass or a mug with a margin around it, and it stacks and ships without wasted space. This is the one to buy if you are buying one. Bars, breweries and restaurants want it because it is the shape their customers already recognize, and corporate programs want it because a square gives a logo the most usable area of any of the shapes.
About $1.39 per unit. Round suits a circular logo, a monogram or a single image with no cropping to work around, which removes a conversation from every custom order. It also reads as softer and more domestic than a square, which is why gift retailers and personalized home goods sellers tend to prefer it. A set of four round coasters in a box is one of the simplest products to assemble and one of the easiest to price above the sum of its parts.
About $1.39 per unit. The shape does the selling, which means a name and a date is enough to make a finished product. Weddings are the obvious use, and a coaster is one of the few favors that is cheap enough to put at every place setting, flat enough to post in a welcome box, and useful enough that guests keep it. Beyond weddings it carries anniversary gifts, Valentine's lines and engagement party favors, so a case bought in autumn does not sit idle waiting for one season.
About $2.43 per unit. This is a different proposition from the sandstone blanks: a smooth glossy white ceramic disc that sits on top of an 11 oz mug as a lid and under it as a coaster. Lead and BPA free, dishwasher and microwave safe. The commercial point is that it turns a single printed mug into a two piece matched set, which supports a higher retail price for one more press cycle and very little extra cost. If you already sell ceramic mugs by the case, this is the easiest upsell in the catalog.
Need a quote, or want them printed? Photo USA sells wholesale by the case with no minimum number of cases, and offers a wholesale imprint service if you would rather receive finished coasters than blanks. Email hello@photomugs.com with the shape, quantity and artwork, or contact us for pallet and container pricing.
Short answer: Square sandstone, 100 to a case, enough to cover every table with spares behind the bar for about $139.
Most venues start with paper coasters and stop using them within a year, for the obvious reason that they are thrown away constantly and have to be reordered constantly. A stone coaster is bought once. The cost comparison stops being close as soon as you count reorders.
There is a second argument that matters more to a taproom than to an accountant. A paper coaster signals that the venue is passing through. A stone one signals that it intends to be there, and it carries the brewery's mark in a way that a customer picks up and turns over rather than tears the corner off. For a brewery selling its own merchandise, the same printed coaster that sits on the table can go on the retail shelf next to the glassware, which is two uses from one case.
Practical note for anyone buying for a venue: order more than you think you need. Coasters walk out of bars in pockets, which is free advertising and also the reason a hundred does not go as far as it sounds. A case is the right starting unit for a single room, not a chain.
Short answer: Heart or round sandstone. Cheap enough for every place setting, flat enough to post, useful enough to keep.
Favors have a specific problem, which is that most of them get left on the table. A coaster does not, because it is a thing the guest already uses at home and it carries a date they want to remember. At about $1.39 per blank a planner can put one at every seat at a two hundred person wedding for under $300 in materials.
Flatness is the underrated property here. A coaster posts in an envelope with a save the date, slips into a welcome bag without taking the space a mug would, and ships to a destination wedding without the packing a fragile item needs. Planners who have tried to mail two hundred mugs do not need this explained.
The heart shape is the literal choice and sells for exactly that reason. Round is the one to offer couples who want something they will still use in ten years without the wedding being the first thing anyone notices about it.
Short answer: Square sandstone. A coaster stays on the desk, which is more than most promotional items manage.
The case for a coaster as a corporate item is about survival rather than impact. A branded pen is lost. A branded tote goes in a cupboard. A coaster is set on a desk on the first day and is still there two years later, because the alternative is a ring on the wood. Every time a cup goes down, the mark is seen. That is a lot of impressions for $1.39.
Real estate agents are among the steadiest buyers of coasters for the same reason they buy photo slates: a closing gift is needed every time a deal completes, which for an active agent is two or three times a month, and a set of four coasters with the house or the new address on them is both personal and inexpensive enough to give every single time.
For a distributor or a print shop, the margin logic is the same as it is on mouse pads and keychains: low unit cost, high perceived value, and a product that clients order again rather than once. A set of four in a box prices well above four loose coasters, and assembling a set takes no equipment beyond what you already own.
Short answer: Every coaster here carries an ORCA Coatings surface, so artwork presses into the coating permanently. If you do not have a press, Photo USA will print them for you with a one case minimum.
All four blanks are finished with ORCA Coatings, which means a printed transfer is pressed onto the face and the dye bonds into the coating rather than sitting on top as ink or a sticker. A logo, a photograph, a wedding date or a full bleed design becomes part of the surface and will not crack, peel or wash off.
Coasters are among the easiest blanks to press. They are flat, small, rigid and have no taper, no wrap and no curved surface to fight, which is why they are a common first product for a shop that has just bought a press. Test one unit from every new case before running the full order, as you would with any blank, since presses vary and a case is a hundred pieces to get wrong.
If you do not want to press them yourself, Photo USA runs a wholesale imprint service: send artwork, receive finished coasters. The minimum is one case, the same as for blanks, and pallet and container pricing is available for larger programs. Email hello@photomugs.com with the shape, the quantity and your artwork for a quote and a current lead time.
Photo USA packs sandstone coaster blanks 100 to a case in square, round and heart shapes, and the ceramic mug lid coaster 80 to a case. One case is the minimum order and cases are not split, but there is no minimum number of cases, so a single case is a valid order.
Sandstone coaster blanks are about $1.39 per unit, which works out to $139.00 for a case of 100. The ceramic mug lid coaster is about $2.43 per unit at $194.60 for a case of 80. Prices are per unit at case quantity, sold wholesale with no minimum number of cases.
The 4.25 in. square sandstone coaster. Square is the standard bar coaster format, the size fits a pint glass base with room around it, and sandstone has a weight and a surface texture that reads as a permanent fixture rather than a disposable paper coaster. At 100 to a case it is also enough stock for a venue to put one on every table and keep spares behind the bar.
Around 4 inches is the standard for a drink coaster, which is why the Photo USA square sandstone coaster is 4.25 in. That size holds the base of a pint glass, a rocks glass or a mug with a margin around it, which is what keeps condensation off the table rather than on the edge of it.
Material and feel. Sandstone has a natural stone texture and a matte, tactile surface that most buyers associate with an upscale or artisan product. Ceramic is smooth and glossy, which makes printed color look brighter and more uniform. Sandstone suits bars, breweries and gift retail where the object itself is part of the appeal. Ceramic suits matched sets and anything where color accuracy matters most.
Bars, breweries, distilleries and restaurants printing their own branded coasters, wedding and event planners making favors, print shops and promotional product distributors, real estate agents buying closing gifts, corporate marketing teams, and online sellers in personalized home goods.
Yes. Photo USA offers a wholesale imprint service, so you can send artwork and receive finished printed coasters rather than blanks. The minimum is one case, the same as for undecorated blanks. Email hello@photomugs.com with the shape you want, the quantity and your artwork for a quote and a current lead time.
Because a coaster stays out on a desk or a table rather than going into a drawer, and it is looked at every time a drink is set down. It costs a fraction of what a mug or a tumbler costs, which means a program can cover far more people for the same budget, and unlike a consumable it keeps working for years.
They are one of the most practical options at the price. A coaster is small enough to set at every place without a large budget, flat enough to post in an invitation or a welcome box, and useful enough that guests keep it rather than leave it on the table. The heart shaped sandstone blank exists for exactly this, and square and round work for couples who want something less literal.
Most orders ship within 24 hours. Photo USA holds stock in Fremont, California and Shepherdsville, Kentucky, and orders ship from whichever warehouse reaches the delivery address fastest, which keeps most of the country inside a short ground transit.
Browse the full coaster collection, or pair them with ceramic coffee mugs, mouse pads and bottle openers for a desk or bar set. For the highest margin low cost blank in the catalog, read the bottle opener guide.
