Snacks are commonly packaged in plastic pouch bags, which may or may not be filled with nitrogen to protect fragile items. Cardboard boxes, jars, and cans are lesser common methods to package snacks. For most snack makers today, it is stand up bags that constitute the primary packaging methods for many reasons, ranging from cost to consumer usability.

Stand up pouch bags are an inexpensive method to package snacks. A typical custom printed stand up bag costs less than 20 cents. In comparison, other packaging methods such as cardboard boxes (35 cents and above) and jars (40 cents and above) cost a lot more.

Stand up bags are a flexible food packaging option. Manufacturers can fill their pouches with nitrogen to package fragile snacks such as fries. This is nearly impossible and very expensive to do with other packaging mediums such as cardboard boxes and plastic jars.

Usability is another factor that plays in favor of stand up bags. Consumers can hang these pouches on hooks or they can place them in kitchen cabinets. Use of tear notches allows consumers to access snacks easily, and the use of spouts and zip locks allows consumers to store snacks in stand up pouches.