Gaylords for parts and metal around Boston

The box a parts shop uses

A 48 x 40 x 24 is the short box for dense loads, and four-wall or five-wall boards hold a full flap bottom to its job. Shops in Lawrence, Lowell and Woburn ship castings, fasteners and fabricated parts and receive the same.

One-way is normal

Automotive packaging is generally one-way; PCA offers expendable triple-wall corrugated in place of returnable containers, and parts to service centers usually go one-way. A box that carried parts once is a single trip box.

The request

Buy for heavy boxes, sell for sound empties; include the load and the wall count.

Dense loads and short boxes

Metal parts, castings and fasteners are heavy for their volume. That is why the shorter 48 x 40 x 24 exists, and why parts shops often prefer four-wall or five-wall boxes with full flap bottoms. A tall box with a heavy load is hard to handle and unsafe to stack. If your dock handles dense product, say how heavy a full box is.

Empties that carried oil

Some metal parts arrive oiled, and the boxes show it. An oil-stained box is not a reuse candidate for most buyers and is not clean OCC. Say how many of your boxes are stained and how badly, and the reply will tell you which stream they belong to.

Stacking and storage

Parts shops tend to run tight floors, and tall stacks of empties are a hazard as well as an inconvenience. Knock boxes down when you can, and keep them away from walkways. A neat stack of flat boxes on a pallet is easier to inspect, easier to pick up and safer to leave than a column of standing ones.

Oil, rust and what the box held

Oil and rust marks are common on the bottoms of boxes that carried machined parts. Say how many of your boxes are marked and how far up the walls the marks reach. Light marks may not matter to a buyer of scrap boxes; heavy marks usually do.

Mention whether boxes are stacked under a roof or in a yard, since weather damage shows up fast on board.

Mention burrs or sharp edges that could cut board.