Custom Archive Banker Boxes
Custom archive banker boxes from 100 — corrugated record storage boxes sized for letter and legal files, with a lift-off lid, hand holes and double-thickness ends, printed with your mark and a label panel for the contents, the owner and the destruction date.
Boxes that sit on a shelf for seven years
- Board
- Corrugated: C or B flute single wall; double-thickness ends; acid-free on request
- Sizes
- 15 × 12 × 10 in letter/legal; letter, check and oversize boxes
- Lid
- Lift-off overlapping lid
Get a price for Archive Banker Boxes
Send the size and quantity — we reply the same working day with a price, a dieline and a date. Artwork optional at this stage.
- Free dielineThe flat drawing comes with the quote, before you commit.
- Proof before pressNothing is printed until you have seen it laid on the dieline.
- Die kept for reordersTooling is paid once. Every reorder skips straight to press.
- Quoted in four marketsUS, UK, Canada and Australia, in the delivery currency.
The standard size, and why
The 15 × 12 × 10 in box is the standard because it takes both letter and legal folders, and it fits the shelving that records centers use.
| Letter and legal | About 15 × 12 × 10 in inside: letter files front to back, legal side to side |
|---|---|
| Letter only | About 12 × 10 × 10 in; smaller and lighter when full |
| Check and invoice | Long, narrow boxes for check stubs and small forms |
| Oversize | For drawings and large-format documents |
Stacking for years
Records rooms stack banker boxes several high, and a full box of paper is heavy. The walls carry that load for years, in a room that may be humid. Double-thickness ends and a lid that overlaps the walls add stacking strength; a higher board grade prevents the bottom box in a stack from bowing over time.
Reading the box from the aisle
- A printed label panel on the end: department, contents, date range, destruction date.
- The same panel on the opposite end, so it reads whichever way the box is shelved.
- A box number large enough to read from a step away.
- A color band per department or year, for quick sorting.
Assembly without tape
Banker boxes fold up from flat with locking tabs, so staff assemble them in seconds without tape or tools. Hand holes in the ends, with a flap on premium boxes, make a full box easier to lift. The lid lifts off and stays with the box. Our regular slotted boxes for bulk storage are the cheaper option where lids and hand holes are not needed.
Archival board
Standard corrugated is fine for business records with a set retention period. For documents kept permanently — historical records, photographs, deeds — an acid-free, lignin-free board slows the yellowing of the paper inside. Tell us if the boxes are for permanent archives and we specify the board accordingly.
Archive Banker Boxes — specification
The rows that are specific to this build first, then what applies to every job we run. Anything not listed is a question, not a limit — send the brief.
This build
- Board
- Corrugated: C or B flute single wall; double-thickness ends; acid-free on request
- Sizes
- 15 × 12 × 10 in letter/legal; letter, check and oversize boxes
- Lid
- Lift-off overlapping lid
- Handles
- Die-cut hand holes; flapped on premium boxes
- Label panel on both ends, box number, color band, logo
- Assembly
- Tab-locking, no tape
- Minimum
- 100 boxes
On every job
- Print process
- Flexo in one to four colors straight onto the liner; litho-lamination where the box needs full color or a photograph.
- Color
- Flat colors on kraft. Full color needs a white top liner or a laminated sheet, because brown shifts every color warm.
- Tolerance
- Cutting plus or minus 1.5 mm. The flute compresses, so corrugated runs wider than folding board.
- Tooling
- No die on a regular slotted box, which is cut on a slotter. Die-cut mailers and trays need one, made once and kept.
- Food contact
- Food-grade liners and a vented build where the box carries hot food.
- Sustainability
- High recycled content through liners and flute as standard, and the box recycles whole if it is sealed with paper tape.
- Artwork
- Vector PDF or AI, 3 mm bleed, 4 mm safe area, fonts outlined. We check every file and send a proof before press.
- Dieline
- Supplied free with the quote, before you commit. Yours whether or not you order.
- Sample
- A plain unprinted sample at the finished size on request, for fit and construction.
- Reorders
- Skip the tooling and go straight to press at a lower unit price.
- Lead time
- Quoted with the price against your fill date rather than promised before we have seen the spec.
- Markets
- United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia — priced in the delivery currency, freight included.
Boards and films we build archive banker boxes on
Corrugated is a fluted sheet glued between two liners, and the flute decides nearly everything: how it prints, how it dents, how high it stacks. These are the grades we run.
E flute
About 1.5 mm. Prints well and folds crisply; dents under a stack. Retail boxes, mailers and light shippers.
1.5 mm, single wallB flute
About 3 mm. The working default for parcels — takes print reasonably and stacks reasonably. Most shipping boxes are B.
3 mm, single wallC flute
About 4 mm. More cushioning than B, slightly less stacking strength per weight. Common on grocery and produce cases.
4 mm, single wallBC double wall
B and C glued together, about 7 mm. Heavy or fragile goods, pallet stacking, anything over roughly 15 kg.
7 mm, double wallKraft liner
Brown, strong, absorbent. One or two flat colors flexo print well on it; photographs drink into the brown and go muddy.
Outer and inner linerWhite top liner
A bleached outer liner for full-color print on corrugated. Costs more and marks more easily than kraft.
Outer liner onlyRecycled-content corrugated
High post-consumer fiber through liners and flute. The default for shippers; a slightly grayer brown and no loss of strength at grade.
All flutesCoated and water-resistant
A coating or a wax-free barrier liner for damp stores and cold chains. Check the recycling stream before printing a claim on it.
B and C fluteNot sure which? Say what goes in it and where it is sold — the material follows from that. Our notes on recycled, recyclable and compostable cover which claims each stock can honestly carry.
- 01
Send what you have
A dimension, a photograph beside a ruler, or the product itself. No technical drawing needed — that part is ours.
- 02
We quote and draw
A price, a dieline and a date come back together. If a different build would suit the product better, that is in the reply too.
- 03
Approve the dieline
The flat drawing is yours to check: which panel is the front, where the folds fall, how deep the cavity really is.
- 04
Artwork on the dieline
You place your design on the flat we sent, or we place it for you, and you see a proof before anything goes to press.
- 05
A sample if you want one
A plain unprinted sample at the finished size shows fit and construction — the things a drawing cannot.
- 06
Cut, printed, shipped
The die is cut once and kept, so every reorder skips the tooling and goes straight to press at a lower unit price.
Format
Vector PDF or AI where possible. Raster artwork at 300dpi at final size, in CMYK.
Bleed
3 mm past every trim line, so a fraction of drift on the cutter never leaves a white edge.
Safe area
Keep type and anything important 4 mm inside the cut and away from every fold.
Color
Convert to CMYK before sending. Uncoated stock prints lighter; a spot color is the only exact match.
Fonts
Outline them or supply the files. A missing font substitutes silently and the proof will not match.
Barcodes
On a light, matte, unvarnished patch with the quiet zone clear — a code on gloss fails the scanner.
Not set up that way? Send it anyway — fixing a file is a short conversation, and we check every one before press. Our guide to preparing print files covers each point.
Corrugated takes fewer finishes than folding board, and the ones it takes it takes well.
Flexo on kraft
One or two flat colors straight onto brown. Cheap, fast, honest.
Litho-lamination
An offset sheet glued to the flute: full color and photographs on a shipper.
Aqueous varnish
Scuff resistance with no film, so the box still recycles whole.
White top print
Full color flexo on a bleached liner; brighter, and it marks more easily.
Inside print
A second pass on the inner liner — the panel a customer sees first.
Printed tape seal
The brand applied at the last moment, on paper tape that recycles with the box.
Not sure which suits the shelf it sells from? Say where the product is sold and we suggest one — our notes on specialty finishes show them on real boxes.
Sizing a corrugated box against the carrier, not the catalog: archive banker boxes
Corrugated is cut to your internal size, so the box goes round the product rather than the product going into a stock size. That is where the money is: a box 20 mm smaller each way is often a whole postage band cheaper.
- Internal dimensions
- Length, width and depth of the space you need. Board thickness is added outside that, and the flute is thicker than people expect.
- Clearance and void fill
- 5–10 mm a side for a rigid product. Size it properly and you need no void fill at all, which is cheaper and better received.
- Stacking
- Tell us how high the boxes stack on a pallet or a shelf. Edge crush grade is specified from that, not guessed.
- Weight
- The contents weight sets the flute and the liner grade. Over about 15 kg we move to double wall.
- Score allowance
- Corrugated needs more room at the folds than boxboard. The dieline accounts for it; a box drawn from flat dimensions comes out tight.
- Cutting tolerance
- Plus or minus 1.5 mm on corrugated, wider than folding board because the flute compresses.
Not sure your numbers are right? Send the product dimensions rather than the box dimensions and we work the box out — the full method is in our guide to measuring for a box.
Interactive · five steps · no sign-up
Build your Archive Banker Boxes in 3D
Pick a shape, type a size, choose a board and a finish. The preview on the left redraws as you go, and the spec lands with us exactly as you set it.
Frequently asked questions
Got a question about archive banker boxes? The answers below cover what we get asked most. If yours is not here, send it with a brief, message us on WhatsApp, or call +1 503-461-4788 — we reply the same working day.
What size is a standard banker box?
About 15 × 12 × 10 in inside. It takes letter files front to back and legal files side to side.
How many boxes can be stacked?
Several high when full, depending on the board. Tell us your stack height and we specify the grade.
Do banker boxes need tape?
No. They fold up with locking tabs.
Can the label panel be printed?
Yes, on both ends, with fields for contents, dates, department and destruction date.
Do you make acid-free archive boxes?
Yes, in acid-free, lignin-free board for permanent archives.
Can you add hand holes?
Yes, die-cut in the ends, with a flap on premium boxes.
Can each department have its own color?
Yes, with a printed color band on the ends.
Do you make letter-only boxes?
Yes, a smaller box that is lighter to lift when full.
Can the boxes be numbered?
Yes, printed in sequence or with a large number field to write in.
Do banker boxes arrive flat?
Yes, bodies flat and bundled with the lids bundled separately, ready to fold without tape.
What is the minimum order for banker boxes?
100 boxes. Letter, legal and check boxes are counted per size.
How long do archive boxes take?
Standard corrugated is quickest; acid-free board may have to be sourced for the run. We give a date with the quote.
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