Sizes & specs · library
Five references we got tired of explaining twice a week.
- Guides
- 5, all free
- Written by
- The people who grade
- Updated
- When we learn something
Ask a spec question
If the answer is not in a guide, ask. Good questions have a habit of becoming the next page.
Why these five
Each one exists because a customer lost money.
Measuring inconsistently produces a quote for the wrong box. Ignoring how stacking ratings decay in storage collapses a stack. Pairing a good box with a bad pallet destroys the box. Choosing a square container for flowing material wastes product at every discharge. Storing corrugated damp undoes every other decision at once.
None of these are exotic. All five happen weekly, somewhere, at scale — and all five are avoidable in about ten minutes of reading.
How to measure a gaylord box
Inside versus outside dimensions, where to put the tape, what to do with a box that is not square, and the three measurements that decide whether a quote is usable.
Guide · 7 min
OpenStacking & load ratings
Edge crush, box compression strength, safety factors, and why a rating that was honest on day one can be half as good after ninety days of humid storage.
Guide · 10 min
OpenPallet compatibility
Overhang, deck board gaps, four-way entry and stringer orientation — the two-dollar decision that quietly destroys twenty-dollar containers.
Guide · 8 min
OpenOctabin vs gaylord
The cube penalty against the discharge benefit, with the break-even worked through for resin, powder and granulate operations.
Comparison · 9 min
OpenLiners & moisture control
How much strength corrugated loses as it takes on water, how fast it happens, and which liner and storage choices actually stop it.
Guide · 8 min
Open
The short version of all five
If you read nothing else on this site.
Each of these is the single most consequential sentence from its guide. They are collected here because they cover most of what goes wrong.
- Measuring
- State whether you are quoting inside or outside dimensions, every single time — the other party will assume the opposite, and on a five-wall box the gap is an inch and a half.
- Stacking
- Published compression figures are laboratory numbers. Multiply down for storage time, humidity, grade and alignment, and the multipliers compound.
- Pallets
- Measure five of your pallets with a tape. Anything under 47¾ × 39¾ is currently destroying every box you put on it.
- Octabins
- The 21% cube penalty almost never decides anything. Residual product left in square corners does, and on valuable material it dwarfs everything else.
- Moisture
- Corrugated loses roughly half its compression strength between 50% and 90% relative humidity, and nothing about it looks or feels different.
- All five
- None of these are exotic. All five happen weekly, somewhere, at scale — and all five are avoidable in about ten minutes of reading.
How to use the library
Which guide answers which question.
A routing table, because the titles do not always make it obvious where an answer lives.
| If you are asking… | Read |
|---|---|
| What size do I actually need? | The size chart, then the capacity calculator |
| Is the supplier's dimension the same as mine? | How to measure a gaylord box |
| Can I stack these three high? | Stacking & load ratings |
| Why do my boxes only last one trip? | Pallet compatibility, then stacking |
| Should I use a round bin or a square box? | Octabin vs gaylord |
| Why did a stack that was fine in winter fail in July? | Liners & moisture control |
| What gauge liner do I need? | Liners & moisture control |
| What does 2A actually mean? | Grades 1A – 5A explained |
| What is ECT and do I care? | Wall types & board strength |
| How many fit on a truck? | Capacity calculator, then the loading article |
Specifying something unusual?
Send the drawing, the load and the handling. We have probably seen it — and if we have not, we will say that too.