48 x 40 x 48 gaylord box

Light, bulky loads: film, foam, packaging, textiles and similar bulk that fills the volume before it reaches the weight rating. More volume on the same footprint means fewer pallet positions.

How it sits on a pallet

It matches the 48 x 40 deck, so nothing overhangs. The box covers 13.33 sq ft of floor and the deck covers 13.33.

What the rating means

The 1,500 lb figure is one maker's listed capacity for a new box. Spread across 53.3 cu ft, that is 28.1 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

Tall boxes catch more wind and lean more in a stack; keep them to what Stack Check allows, and keep the load low.

Handling

At 48 in tall, this box is the one to check against the dock door and the trailer roof before you order. A forklift mast, a pallet and a 48 in wall add up, and a stack of two may not clear an ordinary trailer. Taller boxes also lean more under a side load, so keep the load low and the stack short.

What fills it

Film, foam, textiles, packaging and other bulky, light material fill this box before they weigh much, which is the point of it: more volume on the same footprint means fewer pallet positions. The weight limit rarely bites with these loads, and the risk is the wall bowing under the load, not breaking.

Three loads, worked through

At 20 lb a cubic foot the full box is 1,066 lb of load. Stack Check gives "two high" 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 1,148 lb and 622 lb respectively. Fill the 48 x 40 x 48 to the brim with something that weighs 35 lb a cubic foot and it holds 1,866 lb, 1,896 lb with the box. As Grade A in a heated bay for 30 days that comes out as "do not use at this load", with 1,148 lb allowed on the bottom box; as Grade B on a dock it comes out as "do not use at this load", with 622 lb allowed. Suppose the material is 50 lb a cubic foot. A brim-full box then weighs 2,695 lb counting the box. Heated bay, Grade A, a month: "do not use at this load" (1,148 lb allowed below). Dock, Grade B, a month: "do not use at this load" (622 lb allowed).

How a used one stands

Below, 3‑wall boxes rated at 1,500 lb filled to the brim with material at 15, 25 and 35 lb a cubic foot, so the loads are 800 lb, 1,330 lb, 1,870 lb. Each is 30 days under load unless the column says 90 days.

What the bottom box is allowed to carry

Read this table as a budget. The bottom 48 x 40 x 48 box has the allowance shown, set by its grade and by where and how long it stands (up to 90 days). Each loaded box above spends part of it; a 1,360 lb box spends 1,360 lb.

Ordering this size

1. Say 48 x 40 x 48 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 1,500 lb figure is one maker's new-box listing, not a promise about a used one.
3. Name the pallet. A 48 x 40 footprint sits inside a 48 x 40 deck, but the pallet still sets how the load is strapped.
4. Weigh one full box. Past 750 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

A buyer pricing freight will ask how many of these fit. For a 630 x 98 x 108 in trailer interior, a 48 x 40 in box gives 30 floor positions at best. Whether a second tier is allowed depends on the roof and on Stack Check.

In the cold

A tall wall bows first. In cold and damp the lower third of a 48 in box softens, and a stack of two tall boxes puts the weight of a full upper box on that soft wall. For tall boxes, we plan more cautiously than for the 36 in size, and a dock is not the place to stack them.

New or used at this size

Used tall boxes are less common, so there is less to choose from. Ask what the box carried: light bulk leaves little mark, while a dense load leaves a bulge that never quite goes back. A bulged wall is a Grade C wall.

Who orders it

Packaging converters, film and foam users, textile sites and light-parts plants. Anyone who ships air in bulk will find the extra height pays, as long as the dock door and the trailer roof allow it.

Against its neighbours

Where a 48 x 40 x 36 would need three trips, the 48 x 40 x 48 may need two. The cost is stability, and the usual fix is a lower stack. If your load is dense, do not use it: choose the 48 x 40 x 24.

Tall boxes reward planning at the dock. Measure the door, measure the roof, and measure the mast of the lift truck that will move it, then add the pallet. A box that is 48 in tall on a 6 in pallet is 54 in off the floor before anything sits on it. If a trailer can only carry one tier, the extra volume may still win, because one tall box carries more than one standard one.

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

Questions, answered