Why it's called a gaylord

A company name that stuck

Gaylord Container of St. Louis made the first bulk bins. In 1955 it was acquired by Crown Zellerbach of San Francisco, and by then the name had left the company: buyers and sellers were calling any pallet-sized corrugated bulk box a gaylord. Trade names do that when a product is first and the generic term is awkward.

The 1930s and the 1950s

The corrugated gaylord was introduced in the 1930s. By the 1950s it carried everything from plastic resin to watermelons, and the two jobs are still the ones the box is best at, which is why octabins and harvest bins are the best-known types.

Other names for the same box

Bulk bin, skid box, pallet box and bin box are all in use. The octagonal version is the octabin. In writing and in searches, "gaylord" remains the usual word, and it is the word on every page here. See what a gaylord box is.

A name that outlived the company

Brand names often become the word for a thing, and the gaylord is one of the more complete cases. People who have never heard of the company that made the first bins use the word every day. The box has also collected nicknames that vary by trade: bulk bin, skid box, bin box, pallet box. In Boston docks the word gaylord is still the one most people reach for, and it is the one buyers and sellers search for.

Using the word today

It is a plain technical term in packaging, and this site uses it that way: a corrugated bulk box on a pallet. Nothing in the site, the form or the pages relies on the word meaning anything else.

What the history tells a buyer

The history is more than trivia. It explains why the box has so many names: it was invented as a product, copied by competitors, and renamed locally by each trade that adopted it. A grower may call it a bin, a plant manager a gaylord, a trucker a skid box and a recycler a bulk bin, and all four are right. When you search for or describe a box, use two names if you can; a request that says "gaylord box (bulk bin)" is understood anywhere.

Where the name still appears

You will see it in supplier catalogs, in job postings for dock workers and in the daily chatter of warehouse floors. In the Boston area it turns up on produce docks, in plastics plants and at the back doors of distributors, which is the part of the market this site is written for.

In the Boston market today

No one in Boston needs the history to ask for a gaylord. The word is understood on the dock, and the specifications that follow it are the same everywhere. What the history gives you is context and a few alternative search terms.

If you meet an older tradesperson who uses a different word, ask what they mean; the box is the same.

A few companies still use trade names for similar generic items; the pattern is common in packaging.

Etymology aside, the word has become a standard noun in the trade.

St. Louis and San Francisco both appear in the company history above.