"Paper box" is one of those phrases that covers a lot of ground, so this guide starts by narrowing it. In practice it almost always means a folding carton: a printed paperboard box that arrives flat and is erected on a packing line. To order, go to paper boxes.
Board, explained in the units your quote will use
Paperboard thickness is quoted in points. One point is one thousandth of an inch, so 18pt board is 0.018 inches thick. Heavier stock means a stiffer box and a more substantial feel, and it also means a larger shipping volume when flat.
| Caliper | Feel | Typically used for |
|---|---|---|
| Around 14pt | Light and flexible | Small, light contents. Cosmetics singles, sachets, light retail items. |
| Around 16pt to 18pt | The everyday middle | Most retail folding cartons, where it needs to stand up on a shelf |
| Around 20pt to 24pt | Stiff and substantial | Heavier contents, premium positioning, larger panel areas that would otherwise bow |
Then the board family:
- Bleached white board. White through and on both faces. The best print surface, the cleanest interior, the most expensive.
- Recycled board with a coated white face. A white printing surface over a grey or brown back. Cost-effective and carries recovered fibre well. The grey interior is visible when the box is open, which may or may not matter.
- Kraft. Unbleached, natural brown, strong for its weight. Ink behaves differently on it: colours shift toward the substrate, and white ink needs a separate pass to read properly.
The style families
- Tuck end cartons. Straight tuck (both flaps open the same way, clean front panel) and reverse tuck (flaps nest, cheaper on board). The workhorses.
- Auto bottom. The base pops up square as the carton is erected, which is faster on a line and holds more weight.
- Seal end. Glued at both ends, tamper-apparent, common in food and pharmaceutical work.
- Sleeves and trays. A printed sleeve over a plain tray lets you version graphics without re-tooling the tray.
- Rigid boxes. Not folding cartons at all: wrapped greyboard, arriving assembled, for premium goods. Heavier to ship and slower to make.
What paperboard will not do
It has no flute, so it has very little compression strength compared with corrugated. A folding carton is a retail pack, not a shipper. If the box has to survive a carrier network on its own, or be stacked on a pallet, you want corrugated instead, and the sizing method is on sizing a corrugated shipping box. A common and sensible arrangement is a printed folding carton inside a plain corrugated outer.
The five things a quote needs
Internal dimension in length x width x depth (marked internal), the box style, the board family and caliper if you know it, the print and finish, and the quantity. If you do not know the caliper, send the weight of the contents and we will suggest one. Design support is included, so a sketch or a photo of an existing box is enough to start, and a digital proof goes out before anything prints.
Minimums, price and lead time
The minimum is 100 boxes and pricing starts from about $0.48 per unit at bulk volumes, confirmed on your written quote. The die, the plates, design support, US shipping and a digital proof are included, so an internal size cut to your exact product costs no more to tool than a near-standard one. We make in West Chicago in the US and Guangzhou in China, and turnaround 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. Specialty imported constructions can run up to about 12 weeks.
Order at paper boxes. If recovered fibre content is part of your brief, read what recycled content means before you write a claim on the pack.
Send your dimensions, contents weight and quantity through the quote form and we will come back with a board recommendation, a style and a written price.
