Glossary
The vocabulary, demystified
Bulk packaging has an unusually dense jargon for an industry that mostly sells folded paper. All 62 terms, defined in plain language — from backhaul to wet strength.
62 termsNo jargonLinks to the real pages
At a glance
- 01Quote request
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- 02Fulfilled by
- Partner suppliers
- 03Requests from
- Across the US
- 04Pricing
- By written quote
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A to W
B
- Backhaul
- A return load that fills an otherwise empty leg. Matching one can lower the cost of a lane.
- Bale
- Compressed and banded block of recovered fiber, typically 1,000–1,400 lb for OCC.
- Basis weight
- Weight of paper per unit area, used to specify liners and medium in a corrugated board.
- BCC
- Triple-wall flute combination — B, C and C layers — the standard construction for heavy-duty gaylords.
- Bridging
- Free-flowing product arching across a container's corners instead of settling, usually caused by a flat liner.
- Bulge
- Outward deformation of a wall under internal pressure from free-flowing contents.
- Burst strength
- Mullen test result measuring puncture resistance of board; a legacy carrier metric.
C
- Caliper
- Thickness measurement of board, and the gauge used to take it. The only reliable way to confirm wall count.
- Chain of custody
- Documented path of material from origin to end use. Honest claims on recovered fiber are rare — ask who holds it.
- Combined board
- Finished corrugated board after liners and medium are glued together.
- Corner post
- Vertical reinforcement, usually V-board, protecting the edge that carries stacking load.
- Cross-lamination
- Bonding two sheets with flutes at ninety degrees for stiffness in both directions.
- Cube
- Volume a container occupies in a trailer or rack. Paying for unfilled cube is the most common bulk packaging waste.
D
- Dead score
- A crease that has lost its memory and no longer folds cleanly — a common reason to downgrade a unit.
- Delamination
- Separation of liner from medium, usually from impact or moisture. Feels hollow under thumb pressure.
- Detention
- Accessorial charge when a driver waits beyond the free time at a dock.
- Die-cut
- Board cut to a shape with a steel rule die rather than a straight knife.
- Drop-and-hook
- Carrier leaves a loaded trailer and takes an empty, removing the live-load wait entirely.
- Dunnage
- Material used to brace or fill space in a load. Wooden dunnage falls under ISPM-15 for export.
E
- ECT
- Edge Crush Test. Pounds per linear inch a board edge withstands before crushing; the best predictor of stacking strength.
- Equilibrium moisture content
- The moisture level board settles at for a given humidity — the mechanism behind humidity strength loss.
F
- FEFCO
- European Federation of Corrugated Board Manufacturers; its numbered codes are the international standard for box styles.
- Fines
- Small particles in a product stream, and the short fibres generated during repeated recycling.
- Flexo
- Flexographic printing, the standard process for printing corrugated. One or two colours is typical for bulk.
- Flute
- The wave-shaped medium glued between liners. Letter designations (A, B, C, E) describe thickness and count per foot.
G
- Gaylord
- A bulk corrugated container sized to a pallet footprint. Named after the Gaylord Container Company of Gaylord, Michigan.
- GMA pallet
- The 48×40 inch Grocery Manufacturers Association pallet; the dominant North American footprint.
- Gusset
- A folded side panel in a liner that lets it open to the box footprint instead of bridging across corners.
H
- Hoop stress
- Circumferential pressure from contained material. Octagonal containers distribute it better than square ones.
I
- Interior dimension
- Usable space inside the container. Always confirm which dimension a quote states.
- ISPM-15
- International standard for heat treatment of wood packaging in export, evidenced by a stamped mark.
K
- Knocked down
- A container collapsed flat along its original score lines for storage or return freight. Abbreviated KD.
L
- Layer pad
- Flat board placed between product layers inside a bulk container. Also called a tier sheet.
- Liner
- The flat facing sheets of corrugated board; also the polyethylene bag placed inside a bulk box.
- Live load
- Driver waits while the trailer is loaded or unloaded, as opposed to drop-and-hook.
M
- Mullen
- The burst test. Measures puncture resistance; a legacy carrier metric rather than a stacking predictor.
N
- Nested
- Empty containers stacked inside one another to save space. Keep nested stacks low so bottom scores are not crushed.
O
- OCC
- Old Corrugated Containers. The recovered fiber grade generated by used boxes, and among the most recycled materials in the US.
- Octabin
- An eight-sided bulk fiber container used for free-flowing solids; distributes hoop stress more evenly than four sides.
- Overhang
- Container extending past the pallet deck. Removes corner support and causes most bottom-score failures.
P
- Pallet cap
- A corrugated cover placed over a loaded pallet or box to protect contents and enable stacking.
- Partial overlap
- Bottom flap style where flaps overlap partly rather than fully. Carries less weight than full flap.
- Post-consumer content
- Share of a product's fiber recovered from material that already reached an end user.
- Post-industrial content
- Material recovered from manufacturing before reaching a consumer. Distinct from post-consumer.
R
- Rack load
- Weight a pallet can carry unsupported between beams — always lower than its floor load.
- Reconditioning
- Trimming, corner rebuild, flap replacement and relabelling that returns a failed unit to service.
- Reverse logistics
- Moving packaging and product back up the supply chain, including collecting empties for reuse.
S
- Score line
- A pressed crease that defines where board folds. Intact scores are what make a used box reusable.
- Slip sheet
- A thin kraft or plastic sheet used in place of a pallet, handled with a push-pull attachment.
- Spot market
- Buying freight capacity on the day rather than on contract. Punishing for light, high-cube loads.
- Stringer
- Longitudinal member in a wooden pallet. A replaced stamped stringer voids ISPM-15 compliance.
T
- Takeback
- An arrangement where the supplier collects empties on a schedule and documents the diversion.
- Tare
- Weight of the empty container, subtracted to find net product weight.
- Telescoping lid
- A lid that slides down over the outside of the box body rather than sitting inside it.
- Tier sheet
- A flat board placed between product layers inside a bulk container. Also called a layer pad.
- Tier sheet
- See layer pad — flat board between product layers.
- Triboelectric charging
- Static generated when dissimilar materials rub and separate; why resin needs antistatic liners.
- Triple wall
- Three layers of flute and four liners. The default construction for gaylords carrying over 1,200 lb.
V
- V-board
- Right-angle laminated corner protector that shields vertical edges from strapping and forklift contact.
- Void fill
- Material used to occupy empty space so contents cannot shift. Usually unnecessary in properly sized bulk containers.
W
- Wax coating
- Moisture-resistant treatment that makes board unrecyclable in the OCC stream. Keep it out of your bales.
- Wet strength
- A board's ability to retain integrity when damp; standard corrugated has very little, which is why moisture is a disqualifying defect.
Most of these terms get used properly in the articles and the flute & wall guide.
Where the words are used
The reference tables behind the vocabulary
| Construction | Thickness | Typical max weight | Stacking | Typical use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single wall C | 5/32" (4.0 mm) | 65 lb | Not for bulk | Lids, layer pads, dividers |
| Double wall BC | 9/32" (7.1 mm) | 900 – 1,200 lb | 1 high loaded | General bulk under 1,200 lb |
| Double wall CC | 5/16" (7.9 mm) | 1,000 – 1,300 lb | 1 high loaded | Slightly better cushioning than BC |
| Triple wall BCC | 7/16" (11.1 mm) | 2,200 – 2,500 lb | 2 high loaded | The bulk workhorse |
| Triple wall ACC | 1/2" (12.7 mm) | 2,400 – 2,700 lb | 2 high loaded | Dense product with cushioning need |
| Five wall AAC | 5/8" (15.9 mm) | 3,000 lb+ | 3 high, matched pallets | Castings, stampings, export |
| Measure | Imperial | Metric | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard footprint | 48 × 40 in | 1,219 × 1,016 mm | The GMA pallet that standardised US distribution. |
| Triple wall thickness | 7/16 in | 11.1 mm | Takes about 7/8 in off interior width across both walls. |
| Typical capacity | 2,200 lb | 998 kg | Triple wall BCC, evenly distributed, matched pallet. |
| Container cube at 36" | 33.3 ft³ | 0.943 m³ | Outside dimensions, before board thickness. |
| OCC bale | 1,000 – 1,400 lb | 454 – 635 kg | Typical bale from a horizontal baler. |
| Trailer capacity, knocked down | 400 – 600 units | — | 53-foot dry van; cube limited, never weight limited. |
| Moisture ceiling for OCC | 12% | 12% | Above this you are selling water at a penalty. |
| Gauge | Style | Product | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 mil | Flat | Dry, light, non-abrasive goods | Bagged or boxed contents inside the container. |
| 3 mil | Flat or gusseted | Light powders, dry components | Usually the lowest gauge suited to free-flowing product. |
| 4 mil | Gusseted | Pellets, produce, general purpose | The default specification for most applications. |
| 5 – 6 mil | Gusseted | Heavy, sharp-edged or dragged product | Specify when discharge involves dragging the liner. |
| 4 mil antistatic | Gusseted | Resin pellets and polymer powders | Performance falls in very dry air; rotate stock. |
| Foil barrier | Gusseted, sealable | Hygroscopic powders, long storage | Seal above the fill line, never against the board. |
Keep reading
The blogRelated reading
How Used Gaylords Are Graded
A, B, C and D are not vibes. Here is what a careful grader looks at, in what order, and what gets rejected outright.
Read →Choosing Liners for Bulk Boxes
Gauge, gusset, grade and antistatic: the four decisions behind a small part that prevents big failures.
Read →ECT, Burst and Stacking Strength
A plain-language guide to the three numbers printed in the box maker's certificate — and which one to actually use.
Read →What Is a Gaylord Box, Really?
The container named after a Michigan paper company that became the standard bulk box of American warehouses.
Read →Next step
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FAQ
Terms people ask about most
What does ECT mean in bulk packaging?
Edge crush test, a measure of how much load corrugated board carries on its edge in pounds per inch. It is the main figure used to compare box constructions for stacking strength.
What is the difference between a flute and a wall?
A flute is the corrugated wave between liners, with A, B, C and E profiles. A wall is one layer of fluted board, so double wall has two layers and triple wall has three.
What is OCC?
Old corrugated containers, the traded recovered-fiber grade that failed boxes are baled into. It has a published price index and a seasonal rhythm.
What is an octabin?
An eight-sided bulk bin used for free-flowing solids such as resin pellets, grain and powders. The octagon spreads hoop stress more evenly than a four-sided box.
What does ISPM-15 refer to?
The international standard for treating and stamping wood packaging, such as pallets, for export. A pallet without the stamp can hold up an ocean container at the port.