Buy gaylords by walls, bottom, footprint and grade

A gaylord is bought four ways at once. Walls set what it can carry. The bottom style sets whether the load stays in. The footprint sets how it sits on a pallet and in a truck. The grade sets how much of its original strength is left. A listing that gives you one of those and not the others leaves you guessing, so this desk asks for all four, plus the one that most buyers forget: where the boxes will stand.

Start with the type

Most buyers want a 48 x 40 rectangular box and the rest is detail. A few loads want something else: an octabin for dense, flowable material, a sleeve-and-tray box that returns knocked down (KD), or a plastic corrugated gaylord for a closed loop. The main used-box page explains how used boxes are graded.

Then the wall count

Wall count is the first clue to stacking strength and not a rating. Two boxes with the same walls can differ in board weight. Triple wall (TW) is the classic heavy gaylord, often marked 1,100# TW. Container Exchanger gives common heights of 30 to 36 in for 2‑wall, 34 to 40 in for 3‑wall, 36 to 41 in for 4‑wall and 36 to 46 in for 5‑wall boxes.

Then the bottom

A full flap bottom closes the base. It is the answer for powders, small parts and heavy loads. A partial flap bottom leaves the middle open, so the box rides on a slip sheet or a pallet; it is common for resin and produce, and it costs you a slip sheet under every box. The comparison page draws both. Lids and liners follow the same logic: a poly liner keeps fines in and moisture out, and a lid keeps the stack square.

Then the grade

Grades run from New to recycle-only, and every one of them stacks differently. A Grade A box that stayed dry is close to new. A Grade C box is a one-way, short-term box. The grade hub shows how many high each one stands in a heated warehouse, on an unheated dock and in a cooler.

How a buy request works

1. Send the request with the footprint, the wall count, the bottom style, the grade you can live with and the quantity.
2. Add where the boxes will sit and for how long. A heated warehouse and an unheated dock past a month are two different boxes.
3. A request is easiest to match when it gives those four choices and the storage. Where the load is heavy for the box, the usual answer is a stronger wall count or a different grade.
4. If the boxes are for a harvest, put the need-by date on the request; produce bins have to be on site before the first pick.

What you can order, by size

The standard footprint is 48 x 40 in, matched to a standard pallet. Nelson Company also lists 48 x 48 and 48 x 45 in footprints, with sidewalls usually 24 to 50 in high. The size hub has a page for each standard size, with a top-view drawing of how it sits on a pallet.

One request, four answers

Whichever route you take above, the request that follows carries the same four answers: the wall count, the bottom, the footprint and the grade, plus where the boxes will stand. Missing any one of them is not a problem; say so.

Nothing on this page is a price or a stock list.

Questions, answered