To order, see corrugated boxes. This guide is the specification checklist: six decisions, in the order a quote needs them.
1. Style
| Style | What it is | Suits |
|---|---|---|
| Regular slotted container | The classic shipper, flaps meeting at the centre | General shipping, cases, bulk |
| Die cut mailer | One piece, folds up and tucks closed, no tape | Ecommerce, printed brand packaging |
| Five panel folder | A wrap with double thick ends | Long, flat, narrow products |
| Tray and lid | Two piece, open tray with a separate cover | Produce, retail display, heavy flat goods |
| Telescoping box | An outer sleeve over an inner base | Oversized or variable height contents |
2. Wall construction
Single wall covers most retail and ecommerce work. Double wall doubles the flute layers and is the answer for heavy contents, long transit or repeated handling. Triple wall exists for industrial loads. The step up in wall also steps up the external dimensions, so check the pallet fit again after you change it.
3. Flute
Flute is the wave between the liners. E is about 1/16 inch and prints finest, B is about 1/8 inch and resists crushing, C is about 3/16 inch and is the general shipping workhorse, A is about 1/4 inch for cushioning bulky light goods, and BC double wall is about 5/16 inch. The comparison that comes up most is covered in detail in E flute vs B flute.
4. Print method
- Flexo direct: ink printed straight onto the corrugated. Efficient, best for one to three colours and simple graphics.
- Litho lamination: a printed sheet laminated to the board. Full colour, photographic quality, used on E flute retail packaging.
- Digital: no plates, good for short runs and variable designs, with a different colour character from offset.
- Unprinted: plain kraft with a stencil or a label. Cheapest, and entirely appropriate for an inner case.
5. Closure
Tape, glue, tuck and lock, or strapping. Each has a cost at your end as well as ours: a tuck and lock mailer needs no tape and no machine, a glued case needs a gluer, a taped RSC needs tape and a person. If your team packs by hand at volume, closure speed is worth more than a small saving on board.
6. Palletisation
Give us the case count and the pallet pattern if you have one, or the shipping profile if you do not. The North American pallet deck is 48 x 40 inches, and a box footprint that tiles it cleanly reduces freight cost on every shipment. Cube utilization explains how much that is worth.
Minimum, price and lead time
The minimum is 100 boxes. Pricing starts from about $0.48 per unit at bulk volumes and is confirmed on your written quote. Turnaround is quoted per product across three lanes: rush, which is expedited production plus air freight at a premium of roughly 7 to 25 percent depending on the job, standard on air, and cost saver on sea, from about 7 business days in production plus 2 to 5 days for delivery. Production runs from West Chicago in the United States and Guangzhou in China, and the die, the plates, design support, US shipping and a digital proof are included.
To order, see corrugated boxes. For internal versus external sizing and pallet arithmetic, read corrugated shipping box dimensions, then send the six fields above with a quote request.
