Posts Tagged ‘Shipping Boxes’

With the holidays right around the corner and an over abundance of packages in the shipping stream, make sure you’re packing your gifts and merchandise correctly. The right packaging technique and materials will help protect contents from breaking during shipment.

There are a couple of factors to consider when purchasing a shipping box to ship your products/items. They are Measurement and Box Strength.

Measurements:   Corrugated cartons are always measured L x W x H (D), with L (length) being the longest side of the box, W (width) being the adjacent side, and H (D) (height/depth) being the height of the box. Please note: dimension listed are inside dimensions.

Box Strength: Shipping boxes come with different wall strengths depending on the weight of your contents.  Here is a guideline on the different wall strengths and the weight of the product they will hold.

Contents:                            Choose:
Up to 65 lbs.*                     200#/ECT-32 Single-Wall Corrugated
66 lb. – 95 lb.*                   275#/ECT-44 Single-Wall Corrugated
96 lb. – 100 lb.*                 275#/ECT-48 Double-Wall Corrugated
*These are only guidelines and weight must be distributed evenly.

In addition, there are different types of boxes to choose from depending on your needs. Here is a list of the most popular shipping boxes and the uses for them.

Fixed Depth Shipping Boxes

• Meets most mailing and shipping carrier requirements.
• 200#/ECT-32 Single-Wall Corrugated
• Strong, durable corrugated fiberboard
• Contains a minimum of 30% recycled content.

Heavy Duty Shipping Boxes

• Heavy-duty boxes are ideal when additional stacking strength is needed.
• Available in heavy-duty 275#/ECT-44 Single-Wall Corrugated
• Heavy-duty construction provides greater protection and stacking strength
• Boxes are 40% stronger than standard shipping boxes.

Multi-Depth Shipping Boxes

• Customize the depth of your boxes to meet all your shipping needs.
• Prescored to allow easy height adjustment for a perfect fit.
• 200#/ECT-32 Single-Wall Corrugated

 Moving Boxes and Kits

• The complete moving solution for packing any room of your house/office.
• Heavy-duty boxes provide added protection to ensure that your shipments arrive safe.
• Deluxe Moving Boxes feature special “flap tabs” that hold flaps down and out of the way, making packing easier.
• Deluxe Moving Boxes feature preprinted handling instructions.
• Contains a minimum of 30% recycled content.

Finally, now that you found the right box for your shipping requirements, don’t forget about the other shipping supplies necessary to ship your items!

Cushioning:  For contents requiring extra cushioning, allow 2”-3” around all sides of the product for void fill such as Bubble Wrap® or loose fill. Allow 2”-3” extra above and below the contents.

Sealing Tape: Use a carton-sealing tape at least 2” wide. Tape must extend at least 2” over the edge of the box.

In our third Packing Tip Episode we review how to properly pack items into a shipping box. We also review the box-in-box packing method for fragile items. Enjoy!

In our second Packing Tip Episode we review How Shipping Boxes are Measured.  We hope this helps everyone choose the box that best fits their needs.  Enjoy!

While using a single corrugated box to ship items is possible in most instances, there are many situations when a single box just isn’t enough.  Why?  Because many single boxes endure sorting impact, over-the-road vibration, and other kinds of package handling situations that transfer directly to the fragile contents.   The Box-In-Box packing method is an effective way of protecting fragile items such as electronics, glassware or pottery from damage by packing the item in one box and placing the packed box in another box.

1. Wrap your product(s) individually with at least 2″ thickness of bubble wrap or foam material to fit snugly inside a corrugated box.
2. Place your wrapped product(s) in a box and make sure to restrict the movement inside the box using void fill like crumpled kraft paper or packing peanuts.
3. Close and tape the inner box to prevent accidental opening.
4. Use a second, outer container that is at least 6″ longer, wider and deeper than the inner box.
5. Choose the wrap or fill method to cushion the inner box inside the larger sturdy outer container.
6. Wrap the inner box with at least 4″ thickness of bubble wrapping material or use at least 3″ of packing peanuts or other cushioning material to fill the spaces between the inner box and outer container on the top, bottom and all sides.
7. Fill any void spaces with more cushioning material.
8. Seal your package with carton sealing tape and place the shipping label on the box.  Don’t forget a fragile label.

Lastly, even the best of packing jobs can end up getting damaged; therefore, we do recommend insuring your packages with your carrier.

Shipping Boxes are the most commonly used shipping supply in the packaging industry and are available in hundreds of different sizes.  That said, we would like to review how boxes are measured and share a few best practices.

Box measurements are always listed using interior dimensions.  The first dimension is the length; the next is width, and the last is height.

For Example:  If a box is listed as 12 x 10 x 8″ the dimensions would be in a 12 Length (L) x 10 Width (W) x 8″ Height (H) format as follows:

When choosing the best size box to ship an item, make sure to allow room for adequate padding around the contents.  For maximum protection make sure the item is centered in the box with 2 to 3 inches of packing material used for protection.

Here are a few best practices for packaging your item(s):