46 x 38 x 36 octagon gaylord octabin

Resin, regrind, powders, melons, squash and pumpkins: dense or round loads that push on walls. The angled corners hold shape where a rectangular wall bows.

How it sits on a pallet

It sits inside the 48 x 40 deck with 2 in to spare lengthways and 2 in across, so nothing overhangs. The box covers 12.14 sq ft of floor and the deck covers 13.33.

What the rating means

The 2,200 lb figure is one maker's listed capacity for a new box, built from 1,300 lb test triple wall board. Spread across 36.4 cu ft, that is 60.4 lb for each cubic foot. A load denser than that reaches the rating before the box is full; a lighter load fills the box first. A used box is rated by grade and place, not by the new figure.

What to watch

The 2,200 lb is a new-box listing; a used octabin is rated by grade and place.

Handling

An octabin is an eight-sided box with cut corners, 47 x 39 1/8 x 37 1/2 in outside, and Uline lists its empty weight at 29 lb. It sits on a standard pallet with a little room to spare and handles like a rectangular gaylord with rounder corners.

What fills it

Resins, regrind, powders, melons, squash and pumpkins: dense or round loads that push outward on the walls. The cut corners spread that push, which is why the shape is recommended for these loads and a rectangular wall bows under them.

Three loads, worked through

Fill the 46 x 38 x 36 octagon to the brim with something that weighs 20 lb a cubic foot and it holds 728 lb, 758 lb with the box. As Grade A in a heated bay for 30 days that comes out as "three high", with 1,683 lb allowed on the bottom box; as Grade B on a dock it comes out as "two high", with 912 lb allowed. Suppose the material is 35 lb a cubic foot. A brim-full box then weighs 1,304 lb counting the box. Heated bay, Grade A, a month: "two high" (1,683 lb allowed below). Dock, Grade B, a month: "do not stack" (912 lb allowed). At 50 lb a cubic foot the full box is 1,820 lb of load. Stack Check gives "do not stack" for Grade A in a warm bay and "do not use at this load" for Grade B on a cold dock; the bottom box is allowed 1,683 lb and 912 lb respectively.

How a used one stands

Below, 5‑wall boxes rated at 2,200 lb filled to the brim with material at 15, 25 and 35 lb a cubic foot, so the loads are 550 lb, 910 lb, 1,270 lb. Each is 30 days under load unless the column says 90 days.

What the bottom box is allowed to carry

This is the number behind every stack height: the weight a bottom 46 x 38 x 36 octagon box may carry on its top, after the cuts for grade, place and up to a week under load. A box of 940 lb (a 910 lb load and the box itself) needs this much allowance for each box above it.

Ordering this size

1. Say 46 x 38 x 36 in and the wall count; the same footprint is sold in more than one height.
2. Give the maker's mark if the box has one. The 2,200 lb figure is one maker's new-box listing, not a promise about a used one.
3. Name the pallet. A 46 x 38 footprint sits inside a 48 x 40 deck, but the pallet still sets how the load is strapped.
4. Weigh one full box. Past 1,100 lb, the stack height drops quickly.
5. Say where the stack will stand and for how long: the dock or the heated bay changes the answer more than the grade does.

In a trailer

Freight is a large part of what a gaylord costs, so it helps to know how many 46 x 38 x 36 octagon boxes fit. A typical 53 ft trailer is about 630 x 98 x 108 in inside; the arithmetic is below, and the better layout fits 32 on the floor. Check your own trailer and your own pallets.

In the cold

An octagon resists bowing, which helps in the cold, but humidity still cuts board strength. Uline lists 2,200 lb for the new bin, and a used one on a covered-outdoor stack keeps about half of that, or less once grade and time are counted.

New or used at this size

Used octabins are the box growers and resin plants ask for most. Ask what the bin held. Produce leaves moisture and stain, resin leaves dust, and either can matter to the next load. Wet board is OCC.

Who orders it

Plastics and resin plants, produce growers, powder handlers and anyone moving dense, flowable or round loads by the truckload.

Against its neighbours

Compare it with a 5‑wall rectangular box when the load is dense and you buy by the truckload. The octabin wins for flowable and round loads, the rectangle for square, boxed ones. The rating is a new-box figure, and a used octabin is rated by grade and place.

An octabin is a different object from a rectangular gaylord, and buyers sometimes treat it as the same thing with corners. It is not. The cut corners and the heavier board are there to hold a load that leans on the wall. That is why produce and resin growers favour it, and why a rectangular box in a lower wall count is a false economy for those loads.

Back to the size hub, or see the full and partial bottoms, the wall counts and how to compare sizes by load.

Questions, answered