Gaylord lids and poly liners

Lids and liners are accessories that change how a gaylord behaves. A lid is a flat top that fits over the box, so the next box sits on a flat deck. A poly liner is a bag inside the box that keeps a load clean and a little drier. Neither is part of the strength rating, but each affects how a stack lives.

Lids

A lid helps a stack because it spreads the load of the box above across the sleeve walls, not just the top flaps. It also keeps a moving stack aligned on a dock. For an unheated dock, a lid that sheds a drip is worth having; it does nothing for condensation inside the box.

Liners

A liner is for the load, not the box. Fine powders, pellets and food-adjacent goods keep better in a liner. If a liner tears, the stack above does not fail; the load does. Ask for a liner when you buy the box, and say what the load is. A liner does not make a used box food-safe; food-contact reuse depends on the buyer's own rules.

• Heated warehouse: a lid is optional, a liner depends on the load.
• Unheated dock or trailer: lid yes, liner if fines.
• Cooler or freezer: a liner helps against condensation on the load.

Also see full and partial bottoms and the liner guide.

Three questions before you add either

• Does the load need to be kept clean on top? A lid keeps dust and dropped debris out and gives the next box in the stack a flat surface to sit on.
• Does the load shed fines or take on moisture? A poly liner holds fines in and keeps a damp floor from wicking up into the product, but it does nothing for the board once the outside is wet.
• Will the box go to recycling afterward? A loose liner is easy to pull out; one taped or heat-sealed into the box is not, and it changes which grade the box can be sold as.

Lids and liners are cheap relative to the box, so the useful habit is to ask for them on the first request instead of discovering the need on the first delivery. Say which you want, and for how many boxes, and the request reads cleanly.

Ordering them together

Lids, liners and boxes are most often ordered as a set, and the set should match: a lid cut for the footprint, a liner cut for the height. When they are bought separately they tend to arrive in sizes that almost fit. Send the footprint and the height once, and ask for all three.

Used liners

We do not offer used liners. A liner is cheap and a reused one can carry contamination into a clean load. Where a box arrives with a liner already in it, take it out before filling, and say so on the request if you want a different one fitted.

Questions, answered