- Grades
- New, A, B, C, recycle only
- Top used grade
- Grade A: single trip, clean, dry
- Past reuse
- OCC
The grade sheet
| Grade | What it is | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| New | Never filled; flat-packed or assembled straight from the maker, full rated strength. | Anything that needs the full rating printed on the stamp, and loads that cannot touch a worn board. |
| Grade A (like-new, single trip) | Used once, clean and dry, flaps and bottom intact; close to new. | Backup packs, export lanes and dense parts where the box should behave like a new one. |
| Grade B (good, multi-use) | Visible wear, minor creasing or scuffs, old labels or print, but no structural weakness. | Internal moves, returns, scrap and most one-way shipments that are not stacked high. |
| Grade C (functional, cosmetic wear) | Heavier creasing, some taped or reinforced repairs, fewer trips left; for one-way internal use, scrap collection or non-stacked storage. | Collecting scrap, film or textiles, and one-way internal use where nothing is stacked on top. |
| Recycle only (Grade D) | Wet, torn, crushed or missing a bottom; structurally compromised and worth its fiber as OCC rather than reuse. | Nothing as a box. It goes out as OCC. |
What changes the value of a box
Grade comes first. A single-trip box is the closest to new and holds most of its rating. A Grade B box has wear that does not touch structure. A Grade C box has creasing and repairs, so it makes sense only where nothing is stacked on it. A box that is wet, torn, crushed or missing a bottom has no reuse value as a box, only as fiber.
Size comes next. The common sizes, 48 x 40 x 36 and 48 x 45 x 40, are the easiest to place because more buyers need them. A short or tall box, or an odd footprint, may be harder. Wall count follows: a five-wall box carries a heavier load than a double-wall one and serves different jobs.
Quantity and condition of the stack matter too. A clean dock of two hundred matched boxes is a different job from ten mixed ones in a corner. Say how many, whether they stand built or knocked down, and whether they are under a roof.
How to grade your own boxes
- Look at the bottom first. Flaps intact, no crushing, no pallet-nail punctures: it can still be Grade A or B.
- Check for damp. Press a corner at the bottom. Soft board is a recycle-only box, or at best Grade C.
- Check the corners and the walls for creasing. A crease along a wall means lost stacking strength.
- Find the stamp. If you can read it, tell us what it says.
- Count and note how they are stored: built, knocked down, indoors or out.
Printing and old shipping labels do not lower a grade. See selling gaylords with print or labels.
Corrugated boxes lose about half of their compression strength when humidity goes from 50% to 90%, and a box held under load in humid conditions can lose nearly 45% after 90 days. A box that sat outside is not what its stamp says. See used vs new gaylords for the long version.
- Container Exchanger, new and used gaylord boxes
- Paper Index Academy, corrugated and humidity
- AICC, corrugated in cold weather
- US EPA, paper and paperboard data