Custom Regular Slotted Containers
Custom regular slotted containers — the RSC, the box that every other shipping box is a variation of — cut to your inside dimensions, from 100 units. All four flaps the same depth, the two outer ones meeting in the middle, a board grade chosen for the load and the stack, and print if you want it.
The box that is nearly always the right answer
- Board
- Single wall 32/44 ECT, double wall 48–71 ECT, triple wall; C, B or E flute
- Style
- FEFCO 0201: four flaps top and bottom, outer flaps meet at the center
- Sizes
- Any inside dimension from 4 in to 48 in on the long side
Get a price for Regular Slotted Containers
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.
Inside dimensions, length by width by depth
An RSC is specified by its inside dimensions in the order length, width, depth — the length is the longer of the two opening dimensions, the depth is the distance the flaps are from each other. The outside is bigger by the board thickness on each face, which matters when the box has to fit a pallet pattern or a carrier band. We measure the product, add the clearance the cushioning needs, and give you both sets of numbers; the method is in our guide to measuring a box correctly.
| Square-ish, all three sides close | Strongest for stacking; the least board per volume |
|---|---|
| Long and low (D small) | Flaps are shallow; the manufacturer's joint carries more; check the ECT |
| Tall (D large) | Walls bow under load; add a divider or step up a grade |
Board grade, by what the box has to survive
Corrugated is graded by edge crush test — ECT — or by the older bursting test. 32 ECT single wall is the standard for a box under about 40 lb stacked a few high; 44 ECT for heavier or higher stacks; double wall from 48 ECT for anything that goes on a pallet bottom or holds over 80 lb; triple wall for industrial loads. The flute — C for most, B for print and thinner walls, E for a retail-facing box — is chosen after the grade. A box that fails in the field almost always failed on grade, not on construction.
The certificate stamp on the base — the round mark with the ECT or burst rating — is what a carrier looks at when a claim is made. We print it on every box.
Sealing, and the gap in the middle
- The outer flaps meet edge to edge, so a single strip of tape down the center seam closes the box — the H-tape pattern adds strips along the two end seams for a box that will be handled roughly.
- The inner flaps do not meet, which leaves a gap in the floor; a pad or the contents' own carton covers it, or the full-overlap style closes it.
- A self-locking bottom is possible but is a different style; the RSC is taped.
- The tape we supply for it is on our carton sealing tape page for printed rolls.
Print, from a stamp to a full wrap
Most RSCs are printed one color flexo — the logo, the certificate, the arrows — because the box is seen by a warehouse, not a customer. Where the box reaches the customer, two or three colors on a white liner cover most needs, and a fully printed litho-laminated outer is possible and rarely worth it on a box that is taped shut and thrown away. If the box is opened by the customer, the ear-lock or tuck-top mailer styles print better and open cleaner.
Regular Slotted Containers — 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 32/44 ECT, double wall 48–71 ECT, triple wall; C, B or E flute
- Style
- FEFCO 0201: four flaps top and bottom, outer flaps meet at the center
- Sizes
- Any inside dimension from 4 in to 48 in on the long side
- Closure
- Tape, center seam or H pattern; manufacturer's joint glued or stitched
- One to three colors flexo; certificate stamp on every box
- 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 regular slotted containers 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: regular slotted containers
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 Regular Slotted Containers 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 regular slotted containers? 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 does RSC stand for?
Regular slotted container — the standard shipping box, with four flaps top and bottom where the outer flaps meet in the middle.
How do I specify the size?
Inside dimensions, length by width by depth. We give you the outside dimensions too, because carriers and pallets go by the outside.
Which board grade do I need?
32 ECT for under about 40 lb stacked a few high; 44 ECT for heavier or higher; double wall for pallet bottoms and over 80 lb. Tell us the load and the stack and we choose.
Why is there a gap in the bottom?
The inner flaps of an RSC do not meet; only the outer ones do. A pad covers it, or the full-overlap style closes it entirely.
How should I tape it?
One strip down the center seam for most boxes; an H pattern with strips along the end seams for rough handling.
Can it be printed?
Yes — one color flexo is standard, up to three on a white liner. Litho-laminated full color is possible but rarely worth it on a box that is thrown away.
What is the certificate stamp?
The round mark on the base showing the board rating. Carriers check it on a claim; we print it on every box.
Kraft or white?
Kraft for a warehouse box; white for one that reaches a customer or carries a color print.
Does it ship flat?
Yes, glued at the manufacturer's joint and folded flat. It squares up and tapes in seconds.
What is the minimum order?
100 boxes per size. Corrugated is cut on a slotter, so there is no die for a plain RSC and the set-up is small.
How long does production take?
Corrugated runs fast. We give a date with the quote once we know the size, grade and print.
Will you send a sample?
An unprinted box in your size and grade, so you can pack, tape and drop it before the order.
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