5-wall gaylord boxes

Five walls is the top of the range. Container Exchanger puts the commonly cited capacity for the wall count at 2,000 to 3,000 lb, with sidewalls usually 36 to 46 in high, and octabins are commonly built to this standard. It is the box for dense, heavy and flowable loads, and for any stack that has to survive a damp place or a long stand.

What the wall count suits

• Resin, pellets, regrind and powders, especially in octabin form.
• Metal parts and chips in short boxes.
• Produce bins: squash, pumpkins and melons.
• Heavy stacks that have to stand more than a month.

Where it is the wrong box

• Light loads, where the box costs more than the load needs.
• One-way trips where a cheaper wall count would do.
• Anything it cannot be moved with: a full 5‑wall box is heavy.
• Any use as a dangerous-goods box: a used gaylord is not UN-rated.

How a used one stacks

Stack Check starts from the low end of the commonly cited range, 2,000 lb for this wall count, and then cuts it for grade, storage place, days under load and pallet overhang. Below is what comes out for two loads: 1,200 lb and 1,800 lb a box. Read down for grade, across for place.

A box weighs something too

Stack Check adds 30 lb for each empty box, the figure Uline lists for its octagon bin, to the load before it stacks. A 1,800 lb load is therefore a 1,830 lb box, and that is what the bottom box has to carry once for each box above it.

What to put on the request

1. The footprint and height.
2. The wall count and, if it is printed on the box, the maker's mark.
3. The grade you will accept.
4. The weight of a full box and where it will stand.

Ask for the footprint and whether the listing is a rectangular box or an octagon. They are rated differently.

See also the triple wall page, weight capacity, the edge crush test and Stack Check.

Questions, answered