Wholesale corrugated buying comes down to three decisions that each move the per-unit price: how much board is in the box, how the box is printed, and which freight lane you use. Get all three right and the same box can cost meaningfully less without becoming a worse box.
Flute: the board decision
| Flute | Approximate thickness | Where it fits |
|---|---|---|
| E | About 1/16 inch | Retail-facing mailers and printed boxes where surface detail matters |
| B | About 1/8 inch | Light to medium shipping, better crush resistance than E |
| C | About 3/16 inch | General shipping cartons and heavier contents |
| BC double wall | Two fluted layers | Heavy, dense or stacked freight |
Over-specifying flute is the most common quiet waste in a corrugated order. If your product is light and travels in a parcel network, moving from C to E can cut material cost and dimensional weight at the same time. Background is on what is flute in corrugated.
Print: the second decision
Direct flexo print on kraft liner is the cheapest way to brand a shipping box, and one or two colors of line art usually carries a brand fine. A laminated litho sheet gives photographic quality on the outside and costs more. If the box is a shipper that nobody photographs, spend the money on the board instead of the ink. Plates are included either way, so the choice is about the print process, not about tooling charges.
Freight lane: the third decision
Turnaround is quoted per product across three lanes. Rush combines expedited production with air freight and adds roughly 7 to 25 percent depending on the job. Standard moves by air. Cost saver moves by sea. For a wholesale corrugated order with a predictable annual volume, the sea lane is where the real saving is, because corrugated is bulky and freight is a large share of its landed cost. Production starts from about 7 business days plus 2 to 5 days for delivery, and specialty imported items can run up to about 12 weeks.
Sizing for volume buyers
At wholesale quantities, an inch matters. Reducing a dimension can change how many boxes fit on a pallet, how many pallets fit in a container, and what your carrier charges by dimensional weight. Send us the product dimensions rather than the box dimensions you have always used and let the dieline be drawn fresh. Design support is included. For the common footprints see corrugated box dimensions.
What is included and what the minimum means
The minimum is 100 boxes per size and artwork. That is per size: three sizes is three hundreds, not one. Included at no charge are the cutting die, the printing plates, design support, US shipping and a digital proof before anything prints. Manufacturing runs at West Chicago in the US and Guangzhou in China, and your quote names which plant and which lane so the speed and cost tradeoff is visible before you commit. If you want to see the board in hand before committing to volume, raise it during the quote conversation.
Send your sizes, annual volume and target date to the quote form for a written per-unit price. Related: custom corrugated boxes and how to reduce packaging costs.
