Custom Cardboard Boxes
Custom cardboard boxes cut to your internal size in E, B or BC flute, plain or printed, from 100. Tell us what goes in the box and how it travels; the dieline and the price come back the same working day.
The box everyone means when they say "just a cardboard box"
- Board
- Single wall E or B flute; double wall BC; kraft or white top liner
- Builds
- RSC, die-cut mailer, HSC tray, full overlap
- Sizing
- Cut to internal dimensions; clearance added per product
Get a price for Cardboard 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.
Cardboard is three things, and the price depends on which
In the trade, "cardboard" covers folding boxboard, solid board and corrugated. A shipping box is almost always corrugated: a fluted sheet glued between two flat liners, which is what gives a light board its stiffness. Choose the flute from the job, not the catalog.
Below about 150 mm a side the decisions change enough that small boxes are their own problem.
| E flute (1.5 mm) | Prints well, folds crisply; dents under a stack. Retail boxes and light shippers. |
|---|---|
| B flute (3 mm) | The working default for parcels. Takes print reasonably, stacks reasonably. |
| BC double wall (7 mm) | Heavy or fragile goods, pallet stacking, anything over about 15 kg. |
Send the internal size, not the box you have now
A stock box is sized to a stock list, not to your product, which is why so many parcels are a third air and a bag of void fill. We cut to the internal length, width and depth you give us plus a few millimeters of clearance, and the board thickness is added outside that.
That matters at the carrier. A box that is 20 mm smaller in each direction is often a full band cheaper to post, and over a year the postage saving usually exceeds the cost of the boxes. Our note on dimensional weight pricing shows the arithmetic.
Regular slotted, die-cut, or a mailer
For a plain shipper, RSC. For anything a customer opens at home, a mailer, because the flaps meeting cleanly is most of what "looks premium" means on corrugated.
- Regular slotted container (RSC) — four flaps top and bottom, taped shut. Cheapest to make, no die needed, the standard shipper.
- Die-cut mailer — one piece, folds up without tape, self-locking. Better presentation, a cutting die is made once and kept.
- Half-slotted (HSC) — an RSC with no top flaps, used as a tray or with a separate lid.
- Full overlap — outer flaps meet across the whole width for double-thickness top and bottom.
Printing on brown board honestly
Kraft liner is brown and absorbent. One or two flat colors printed flexo look exactly right on it — a logo, a line of text, a pattern. Photographs do not: the board drinks the ink and the brown shows through every light area. If you need an image, we print on a white top liner or litho-laminate a printed sheet to the board, and the quote says which.
Inside print on a mailer costs little on a short run and is what people photograph. Ask for it on the same quote.
Where cardboard boxes fail in transit
Not usually on the walls — on the score lines and the corners. A box crushed at the corner was under-specified for the stack, or packed with room to move so the contents hammered one corner all the way. The fix is the right flute and a tight pack, in that order, and a plain sample at the finished size will show you both before a run is cut.
Cardboard 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
- Single wall E or B flute; double wall BC; kraft or white top liner
- Builds
- RSC, die-cut mailer, HSC tray, full overlap
- Sizing
- Cut to internal dimensions; clearance added per product
- Flexo 1–2 colors on kraft; full color on white liner or litho-laminated
- Strength
- Edge crush grade specified against contents weight and stacking
- Delivery
- Shipped flat, bundled; mailers fold without 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 cardboard 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 greyer 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: cardboard 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 Cardboard 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 cardboard 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 is the difference between cardboard and corrugated?
Corrugated is the fluted board with a wavy middle layer; it is what shipping boxes are made of. "Cardboard" is the everyday word for it, and also covers the thinner flat board used for retail cartons.
Can you make a box to my exact size?
Yes. Send the internal length, width and depth of what goes inside, and we cut to that plus clearance. There is no size list to choose from.
Which flute should I use?
E flute for light retail boxes that need to print well, B flute for most parcels, BC double wall for heavy or fragile contents and pallet stacking.
Do I need a cutting die?
Not for a regular slotted box, which is cut on a slotter without tooling. A die-cut mailer needs a die, made once for the size and kept for every reorder.
Can you print in full color on a brown box?
Not directly with a good result. Full color goes on a white top liner or a litho-laminated sheet. One or two flat colors print well straight onto kraft.
What is the minimum order?
100 boxes, plain or printed.
How strong is the box?
Strength is set by the flute and the liner grade, chosen against what you put in it and how high it stacks. Tell us the weight and we specify the board rather than guessing.
Do the boxes come assembled?
No. Corrugated ships flat and bundled, which is a large part of why it is cheap to store and freight. Mailers fold up by hand without tape.
Can I get a plain sample first?
Yes. A plain, unprinted sample at the finished size is available on request so you can check the fit and the pack before the run.
Is the board recyclable?
Plain corrugated is one of the most widely recycled materials there is. Print and a water-based coating do not change that; a plastic laminate would.
Will you send a dieline?
With the quote, before you commit, and it is yours whether or not you order.
Can you ship to the UK, Canada or Australia?
Yes. We quote in the delivery currency with freight included, for all four markets.
How do I stop items moving around inside?
Size the box to the contents first; that removes most of the movement. Where there is still room, a corrugated insert or divider is cheaper and cleaner than loose void fill.
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