Used gaylord boxes, asked for by spec

Four things decide the box

A gaylord is described by what it stands on, what its sides are made of, how its bottom closes and how worn it is. Get those four right and a used box does the job of a new one at a lower grade. Get one wrong and the box splits at the first lift.

Types and wall counts

Octagonal gaylords, or octabins, are for resin, regrind and produce: see octabins and the seasonal harvest bins. Lids and liners that match a footprint are on their own page, lids and liners. By wall count: two-wall, three-wall, four-wall and five-wall.

Who buys, and from where

Plastics processors in Lawrence and Woburn, parts shops in Lowell and farms outside the ring buy most of the used boxes. They are listed on the industries page by trade. The boxes come from docks along the same roads: Chelsea produce houses, Marlborough distributors and the Taunton warehouses.

Send the spec and a need-by date so the request is complete.

How a purchase request is read

A request to buy starts with the load, because the load decides everything else. Resin pellets in bags, cartoned freight on a pallet and loose metal parts all ask different things of a box, so the first line of a good request says what will go in it and roughly how heavy a full box gets. From that, the wall count and bottom style follow: a heavy dense load points toward four or five walls and a full flap bottom, a bagged light load can ride in a two-wall with a partial flap and a slip sheet.

The second line is the footprint, the third the quantity, and the fourth the date the boxes are needed. A request that gives all four can be answered in one reply. A request that says only "gaylords, as soon as possible" has to be asked the same questions again, which is why the form puts the questions in front of you.

What used means here

Used does not mean tired. A box that came off a dry dock after a single trip, with square corners and unmarked flaps, is a Grade A box, and for most loads it performs like a new one. The grades guide sets out the five levels, and the single trip guide explains why one-trip boxes are the easiest to find. When you ask for a grade, say what you are prepared to accept, not just what you would like: a request that accepts Grade B is easier to fill than one that insists on Grade A.

Things that are decided in the reply

Availability, price, minimum quantity and delivery are not stated on this site and cannot be, because they change with every load. The reply to your request carries them. Until then the useful work is to describe the box you need clearly, and the table above is the vocabulary for doing that.

Used, reconditioned or new

Three kinds of box are in circulation, and it helps to know which one a reply is offering. A new box has never held anything and is the benchmark for the maker's rating. A used box has been filled at least once and is graded by what that left behind. A reconditioned box has been inspected and repaired, with flaps retaped or a bottom reinforced, so that it returns to service. Each suits a different job, and the right choice depends on how tightly your load is tied to the rating.

Matching the box to the route

A box that travels a short distance on a dock is a different proposition from one that rides a trailer to another state. Vibration, humidity and stacking in a truck punish weak board. If your load travels far, lean toward a higher wall count and a better grade, and say so. If it moves from one end of a plant to the other, nearly any sound box will do.

Common buying mistakes

The most frequent are ordering by outside dimension when the load needs the inside, forgetting that a partial flap bottom needs a slip sheet or liner, and ignoring the pallet. A request that names the pallet, the load weight and the stacking height avoids all three. Another is asking for a grade without saying what it is for. An A that is overkill for scrap is wasted, while a C that is fine for scrap can be a mistake for food.

A well-formed purchase request, in a single line, reads: footprint, height, wall count, bottom style, grade, quantity and date. That line is all a reply needs to start from.

Worked example: a first-time buyer

Suppose a small food maker has never bought gaylords and needs to ship product on a pallet. The maker weighs a filled carton stack, finds it near 900 pounds, notes a standard pallet and asks for a three-wall box in the 48 x 40 footprint with a partial flap and slip sheet. That request is specific, reasonable and easy to answer, and it came from measuring one real stack.