Bin boxes are pick containers: open or cut down at the front so a hand can reach in, stacked or shelved in rows, and replaced when they wear out. That changes how you size them. A shipping carton is sized around a product. A bin box is sized around the rack it lives in, and the product only has to fit in what is left.
Start at the shelf
- Measure the usable depth of the shelf, front edge to back stop, not the nominal shelf size.
- Measure the clear height under the shelf above, then subtract enough that a full bin can be tilted out without catching.
- Measure the clear width between uprights and divide by the number of bins you want across. Take off about 1/4 in per bin so they are not wedged.
- Decide how far down the front is cut. A deep cut is easy to pick from and weak to stack. A shallow cut stacks better and slows picking.
Those four numbers give you an internal length, width and depth. Everything after that is board and print.
Make the footprint divide into the pallet
The standard US pallet is 48 x 40 in. Bins that divide evenly into that footprint ship and store without dead space, and they let you move a whole layer at once instead of restacking. This is arithmetic on a published pallet size, not a list of sizes we stock.
| Bins per pallet layer | Footprint that fits 48 x 40 in | Practical note |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | 24 x 20 in | Large parts bins, heavy enough that two hands are needed |
| 6 | 16 x 20 in | Fits three across the 48 in face, two deep on the 40 in face |
| 8 | 12 x 20 in | Narrow front, deep reach, good for long items stored end on |
| 16 | 12 x 10 in | Small fastener and component bins, four across and four deep |
Board, fronts and labels
Bins get handled every day, so board choice is a wear decision rather than a protection decision. Heavier flutes hold their shape longer under repeated pulling, and a cut down front is the first edge to fail, which is why a folded or doubled front lip is worth asking about on the quote. Leave a flat panel for the label. If you are barcoding, keep the scan area on a face that stays upright and unbent, not on the cut edge.
Print is usually simple on bins, because the job is identification rather than retail appeal. One or two colours on kraft reads well under warehouse lighting and keeps the setup light. If bins are colour coded by zone or by line, say so on the request so the colours are held consistent across every reorder.
Minimum, price and lead time
The minimum is 100 boxes, priced from about $0.48 per unit at bulk volumes and confirmed on your written quote. Because the die, the plates, design support, US shipping and a digital proof are included, a bin cut to your exact shelf costs no more to tool than a generic one, which is the main reason to measure the rack properly rather than round to a familiar number. Production is quoted per product in three lanes, rush (expedited production plus air freight), standard (air) and cost saver (sea), from about 7 business days, plus 2 to 5 for delivery. We run two plants, West Chicago and Guangzhou.
Send the rack measurements and how many bins you want across each shelf with your quote request, and we will come back with an internal size that uses the shelf instead of fighting it. If you also need shipping cartons for the same parts, the flute logic on single wall box dimensions explains how much board caliper adds to the outside.
