Buying coffee mugs by the case is a different job from buying one mug. The questions are how many come in a box, which size people actually use, what the per unit price works out to once you commit to a full case, and whether the mugs can be decorated later. This guide answers all four across the full Photo USA ceramic range, from the 6 oz espresso cup at about $1.80 per unit to the 20 oz jumbo, including two-tone and color-handle options. Stock is held in Fremont, California and Shepherdsville, Kentucky, and most orders ship within 24 hours.
Short answer: 48 for 6 oz espresso, 36 for 10 oz through 15 oz, and 24 for 16 oz and 20 oz. One case is the minimum order and cases are not split.
Case counts drop as capacity goes up, for the obvious reason that a bigger mug takes more room in the box. That matters more than it sounds, because it changes what a case costs you even when the per unit price looks similar. A case of 36 at $1.85 each is a $66 commitment. A case of 24 at $5.22 each is $125. If you are testing a size for the first time, the smaller capacities let you do it with less money tied up.
The other practical consequence is weight. A case of 24 jumbo mugs weighs noticeably more than a case of 48 espresso cups, which affects both what you pay on inbound freight and what you charge a customer to ship a finished order. Work that out before you quote a large job rather than after.
| Size | Mugs per case | Per unit | Per case |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 oz espresso | 48 | $1.80 | $86.16 |
| 10 oz white | 36 | $1.63 | $58.64 |
| 11 oz white | 36 | $1.85 | $66.48 |
| 12 oz latte | 36 | $2.04 | $73.40 |
| 14 oz white | 36 | $2.84 | $102.12 |
| 15 oz white | 36 | $2.66 | $95.72 |
| 16 oz latte | 24 | $3.42 | $82.04 |
| 20 oz jumbo | 24 | $5.22 | $125.24 |
Short answer: 11 oz is the default and the right starting point for most buyers. Move up to 15 oz when the mug needs to feel like an upgrade, down to 6 oz for espresso service, and out to 16 oz or 20 oz when generosity is the point.
Most people buying mugs in bulk overthink this. 11 oz exists as the standard for a reason: it is what a person pictures when they hear the word mug, it fits a car cup holder, it fits a dishwasher rack, and every mug shipping box on the market is built around it. If you have no specific reason to choose otherwise, choose 11 oz and spend your attention elsewhere.
The reasons to choose otherwise are real, though, and they are mostly about who is drinking from it. An office where people refill twice a morning wants 15 oz. A cafe serving espresso needs 6 oz, because an 11 oz mug holding a double shot looks empty and cheap. A hotel room or a vacation rental wants something that survives being handled by strangers, which usually means a thicker standard size rather than a tall latte shape.
About $1.80 per unit and the deepest case in the range at 48 pieces, which makes it the lowest cost per case at $86.16. This is service ware rather than a gift mug. Cafes, coffee roasters, tasting rooms and restaurants buy it because a double shot in an 11 oz mug looks like a mistake, and because a small cup lets a venue serve espresso and cortado without stocking three shapes. It is also the right size for a hotel breakfast service or an office that has a real espresso machine rather than a drip pot.
About $1.63 per unit, the lowest cost per mug anywhere in the range and $58.64 for a full case. The straight-sided shape is slightly slimmer than the standard 11 oz, which some buyers prefer in the hand, but the main reason to choose it is budget. For a church coffee hour, a school staff room, a conference giveaway where the quantity is high and the per piece budget is tight, this is the mug that lets the numbers work. At under $60 a case it is also the easiest size to buy as a first test.
About $1.85 per unit and the single most useful case to have on a shelf. Everything is built around this size: shipping boxes, dishwasher racks, cup holders, retail packaging, display stands. Customers do not need it explained to them. If you are stocking one mug and only one, this is it, and if you are stocking several, this is the one to buy two cases of. This particular version is finished with the Black ORCA coating, the top grade in the ORCA Coatings range.
About $2.04 per unit. The latte shape tapers from a narrow base out to a wide rim, which makes it read as cafe rather than office even though the capacity is only slightly above standard. That shape difference is worth real money at retail: the same artwork on a latte mug supports a higher price than on a straight-sided mug, because the silhouette signals a different category of product. Coffee shops buying retail stock and gift sellers building boxed sets reach for this one.
About $2.84 per unit in the statesman shape, which has a heavier base and a more formal profile than the standard mug. This is the size corporate buyers choose when the mug is going to sit on an executive desk or go into a client welcome package, because it feels substantial without being oversized. It is also a sensible choice for a hotel or a short term rental, where the extra weight means it is less likely to be knocked over.
About $2.66 per unit and the most common upgrade from 11 oz. The case count stays at 36, so you get the larger mug without the smaller case that comes with 16 oz and above. Offices buy it because people stop refilling as often. Retailers buy it because a 15 oz mug can be priced above an 11 oz one for the same printing cost, which is the simplest margin improvement available on a mug line. If you carry two sizes, 11 oz and 15 oz is the pair that covers most of what customers ask for.
About $3.42 per unit. This is the tall latte silhouette at a capacity large enough to be the main mug in a house rather than a specialty piece, with a high gloss finish that makes color look deeper. At 24 to a case the commitment is $82.04, which keeps it approachable as a second or third line. Gift retailers and cafe merchandise programs use it where the mug needs to look like a considered product rather than a standard blank.
About $5.22 per unit and the largest in the range. A 20 oz mug is a different product from a coffee mug: it is a soup mug, a hot chocolate mug, a novelty gift where the size itself is the joke or the generosity. Nobody buys it by accident, which is useful, because a customer asking for a jumbo mug already knows what they want and is not shopping on price. The large surface is also the easiest one in the range to print a full wraparound design on.
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 mugs than blanks. Email hello@photomugs.com with the size, quantity and artwork, or contact us for large orders with specific delivery dates.
Short answer: A colored inner, rim or handle costs about 16 cents more per mug than plain white and changes what the finished product looks like on a shelf. All three options run about $2.01 per unit in 11 oz, 36 to a case.
Plain white is the workhorse and always will be. But the gap between a white mug and a color-accent mug at wholesale is small enough that it rarely makes sense to decide on price alone. At 11 oz the difference is $1.85 against $2.01, which is 16 cents, and a mug with a colored interior and handle is immediately read as a better product by someone picking it up in a store.
The three variations are not interchangeable. A colored inner and handle shows the color when the mug is sitting on a desk facing you, which is the most visible of the three. A colored rim and handle gives a thinner accent line that reads as more restrained. A full two-tone body puts the color across the outside, which is the boldest of the three and the one that needs to be matched to brand colors rather than chosen on taste.
About $2.01 per unit in black, red, blue and yellow. The color runs across the outside of the mug, which makes it the most visible of the three accent styles from across a room and the one that works hardest for brand merchandise. If a company has a strong primary color, this is the mug that carries it. The trade-off is that a bold exterior color limits what artwork will sit well on it, so it suits logos and simple marks more than full photographs.
About $2.01 per unit. The thinnest accent of the three: a line of color along the rim and down the handle, with the body left white. This is the version to choose when the mug needs to look finished rather than branded, which covers most retail gift lines and anything where the artwork is the thing people are meant to look at. It photographs well for a product listing because the white body keeps the design readable in a thumbnail.
About $2.01 per unit, and the most popular of the three for a straightforward reason: the colored interior is what you see when the mug is sitting on a desk in front of you, full or empty. It gives a white mug a flash of color without taking any of the outside surface away from the design. For photo gift sellers and print shops this is usually the best value upgrade in the whole catalog.
About $3.15 per unit in black, red, blue and yellow. This is the latte shape with a colored exterior, which combines the two things that move a mug out of the commodity category: an unusual silhouette and a color finish. It is the most expensive mug in this group and it should be sold that way, as the premium line rather than the everyday one. Cafes building their own retail merchandise and gift sellers assembling boxed sets are the natural buyers.
Short answer: Cafes and roasters, churches and schools, corporate HR and marketing teams, event and wedding planners, hotels and rentals, promotional distributors, and print shops that decorate and resell.
These groups want different things from the same shelf, and it is worth knowing which one you are before you choose a size.
| Buyer | Usually wants | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Cafes and roasters | 6 oz, 12 oz latte, 16 oz latte | Service ware plus retail merchandise in the shapes customers associate with a coffee bar |
| Churches and schools | 10 oz, 11 oz | High quantity, tight per piece budget, no need for a premium look |
| Corporate HR and marketing | 11 oz, 14 oz, color accent | Employee gifts and client packages where the mug represents the company |
| Event and wedding planners | 11 oz, color accent | Favors and welcome bags, often with a date or a name printed on them |
| Hotels and rentals | 11 oz, 14 oz | Durability and a standard size that guests handle without thinking |
| Promotional distributors | 11 oz, 15 oz | The two sizes clients ask for by name, stocked deep |
| Print shops and online sellers | 11 oz, 15 oz, inner and handle colored | The sizes that sell, plus one upgrade option to price above the standard line |
One pattern worth noticing: almost every one of these buyers reorders. A church runs coffee hour every week. A hotel replaces breakage every quarter. A corporate team does an employee gift every December and a conference every spring. Mugs are not a one-time purchase, which is why buying a full case of a size you will use again is nearly always cheaper over a year than buying small quantities repeatedly.
Short answer: From $58.64 a case. One case is the minimum, there is no minimum number of cases, and most orders ship within 24 hours from Fremont, California or Shepherdsville, Kentucky.
The ordering rules are simple enough to state in three lines. A case is the smallest quantity sold and cases are not split. There is no requirement to buy more than one case, so a single case of a single size is a valid order. You can mix sizes and styles freely across an order as long as each line is a full case.
On cost, the honest guidance is to work in cost per case rather than cost per unit when you are deciding what to try. Per unit prices across the standard sizes sit close enough together that they rarely decide anything, but the difference between committing $58.64 and committing $125.24 is real if you are testing a product you have not sold before.
Shipping from two US warehouses matters more than it sounds for a heavy, fragile, bulky product. Mugs cost real money to ship and arrive broken if they travel badly. Orders leave from whichever of the two locations reaches the delivery address faster, which keeps most of the country inside a short ground transit and keeps the freight bill proportionate to the goods.
Short answer: Every mug on this page is coated for dye sublimation, so artwork can be printed onto it permanently. If you do not want to print them yourself, Photo USA runs a wholesale imprint service with a one case minimum.
This is where a blank ceramic mug stops being a commodity. All of the mugs above carry an ORCA Coatings surface, which means a printed transfer can be pressed onto them and the dye bonds into the coating rather than sitting on top as a sticker or a layer of ink. A logo, a photograph, a wedding date or a full wraparound design becomes part of the mug. It will not crack, peel or wash off, and the coating is SGS certified to 3,500 dishwasher cycles, UV resistant and FDA certified food safe.
Practically, that gives you two routes. If you already have a heat press, buy blanks and print them yourself, which is the cheaper path and the reason most print shops and online sellers buy by the case. If you do not, Photo USA will print them for you: send artwork, receive finished mugs. The minimum is one case, the same as for blanks, so you do not need to commit to a pallet to get printed product. Email hello@photomugs.com with the mug, the quantity and your artwork for a quote and current lead time.
Worth knowing if you are buying for a fourth quarter program: printed mugs are one of the most reliable corporate holiday gifts because they are used rather than stored, and the lead time is short enough that a December order is still realistic in late October or early November. If drinkware is the theme rather than mugs specifically, our bulk Christmas gift guide covers tumblers and glassware alongside ceramic.
It depends on the size. Photo USA packs 48 to a case for 6 oz espresso mugs, 36 to a case for the 10 oz, 11 oz, 12 oz, 14 oz and 15 oz sizes, and 24 to a case for 16 oz and 20 oz mugs. Larger mugs take more room in the box, so the case count drops as the capacity goes up. One case is the minimum order and cases are not split.
11 oz is the default and the size most buyers should start with, because it is what people picture when they think of a coffee mug and it fits every cup holder, dishwasher rack and shipping box designed for mugs. Go to 15 oz if your customers drink large coffee or you want the mug to feel like an upgrade. Go to 6 oz espresso for cafes and tasting rooms. Go to 16 oz or 20 oz if the mug is meant to feel generous rather than standard.
Photo USA ceramic coffee mugs run from about $1.63 per unit for the 10 oz white mug up to about $5.22 for the 20 oz jumbo. The 11 oz white sits at about $1.85 and the 15 oz at about $2.66. Two-tone and color-handle mugs run about $2.01 per unit in 11 oz. Prices are per unit at case quantity, sold wholesale with no minimum number of cases.
Buy a full case of a single size rather than mixed small quantities, and choose a smaller capacity if the size is not important to the job. The 10 oz white mug at about $1.63 per unit is the lowest cost per mug in the range, and the 6 oz espresso at about $1.80 is the lowest cost per case at $86.16 for 48 pieces. Buying direct from a supplier that stocks in the United States also avoids the import minimums and lead times that come with ordering overseas.
Shape. A coffee mug has straight or barrel sides and a wide base. A latte mug is taller and tapers from a narrow base out to a wider rim, which is the cone shape used in cafes for milk drinks. At the same capacity a latte mug looks taller and more slender on a shelf, which is why it tends to be chosen for cafe retail and gift sets rather than for office stock.
Cafes and coffee roasters buying service ware and retail stock, churches and schools, corporate HR and marketing teams buying employee and conference gifts, wedding and event planners, hotels and vacation rentals, promotional product distributors, and print shops and online sellers who decorate mugs and resell them.
Yes. Photo USA ceramic mugs are dishwasher and microwave safe. The ORCA Coatings surface is SGS certified to 3,500 dishwasher cycles, UV resistant and FDA certified food safe. The one exception is any mug with metallic trim or a metallic finish, which must never go in a microwave.
Yes. Photo USA offers a wholesale imprint service, so you can send artwork and receive finished printed mugs rather than blanks. The minimum is one case, the same as for undecorated mugs. Email hello@photomugs.com with the mug you want, the quantity and your artwork for a quote and a current lead time.
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.
Yes. One case is the smallest quantity sold and cases are not split. There is no minimum number of cases, so a single case of one size is a valid order, and you can mix different sizes and styles across an order as long as each line is a full case.
Browse the full coffee mug collection, or compare with our travel mugs, enamel camping mugs and insulated tumblers. For printed drinkware programs, read the travel mug guide or the tumbler size guide.
