Tools break packaging in a way that most products do not. They are dense, they have hard corners, and a cordless kit puts a heavy battery next to a moulded charger inside one carton. So the useful spec conversation starts with weight and ends with dimensions, not the other way around.
Give the loaded weight, not just the size
Two cartons with identical dimensions can need completely different board. A carton holding foam and a carton holding a bench vice are the same die and a different specification. Tell the supplier the loaded weight of one pack, how the packs will be stacked, how high, and for how long in storage. Board construction, from single wall through double wall, follows from that. Our comparison of single wall against double wall covers where the step up is worth making.
Dimensional weight, in plain terms
Parcel carriers charge on the greater of the actual weight and a volumetric figure calculated from the outside dimensions. The carrier publishes the divisor it uses and changes it from time to time, so check the current one on your own rate card rather than working from a number you read somewhere. The practical consequence is simple: with dense goods like tools, empty space inside the carton is paid for on every shipment. Right-sizing a tool carton is one of the few packaging changes that shows up directly on a freight invoice.
Pallet arithmetic
The US grocery-style pallet footprint is 48 x 40 in, which is 1,920 square inches. Case footprints that divide cleanly into that number leave less air on the pallet. These are straight divisions of the footprint and ignore overhang, underhang and the pattern you actually interlock, so treat them as a planning check rather than a load plan.
| Case footprint | Area | Cases per layer on 48 x 40 in |
|---|---|---|
| 24 x 20 in | 480 sq in | 4 |
| 20 x 16 in | 320 sq in | 6 |
| 16 x 12 in | 192 sq in | 10 |
| 12 x 10 in | 120 sq in | 16 |
If your case is 13 x 11 in because that is what the tool happened to measure, you may be paying to ship air on every pallet for the life of the product. Nudging a die to a footprint that tiles is usually free at the design stage and expensive to change later. For the full picture see how many boxes fit on a pallet and what a pallet pattern is.
Inside the box
Hard corners want a barrier between the tool and the wall, usually a corrugated pad, a moulded pulp tray or a foam block. Kits with several components want cells, so the socket set does not travel into the charger. And if the pack doubles as the retail display, the front panel has to survive being handled by customers who will pick it up by the least supported part of the box.
Ordering and lead time
Minimum order is 100 boxes. Pricing starts from about $0.48 per unit at bulk volumes and is confirmed on your written quote, with the die, the plates, design support, US shipping and a digital proof included. Production lanes are rush (expedited production plus air freight), standard (air) and cost saver (sea), running from about 7 business days, plus 2 to 5 for delivery. Specialty imported constructions can run up to about 12 weeks. We build at two plants, West Chicago and Guangzhou.
Send the loaded weight, the three internal dimensions and how the cases stack, and a quote can come back with a board specification rather than a guess.
