Custom Half Slotted Containers

Adding a Lid

Pair a half slotted container with a lid and you have a full telescope box. The lid can be a shallow tray that sits over the top few centimetres, or a full depth lid that slides right down to the base for double wall thickness all round. Telescope boxes are popular for long or awkward items, archives, garments and anything that needs to be opened and closed often, because the lid lifts off with no flaps to fight.

A second half slotted container, made slightly larger, can also act as the lid. This is a neat way to build a strong two-part shipper for heavy goods, and it lets you vary the overall height by how far the lid slides down. Archive sets that need a matching lid are listed as cardboard boxes with a separate lid.

Half Slotted Containers: Board Choices and Strength

Single wall corrugated suits lighter stock, shelf trays and display bins. Double wall corrugated gives much more stacking strength and puncture resistance, which matters when containers are loaded with metal parts or stacked several high on a pallet. For very heavy industrial contents, triple wall board is available on request.

The flute direction also matters. Corrugated board is strongest when the flutes run vertically in the walls, which is how we make HSCs by default, so they resist crushing when stacked. If you plan to stack full containers, tell us the weight in each one and how many go in a column, and we will choose a board grade that copes with the load in a cool warehouse or a damp loading bay. The grades are compared in our guide to board and card types, including triple wall.

Printing on Half Slotted Containers

Many HSCs are left plain, but printing adds real value in some settings. In a shop, a printed shelf-ready tray carries the brand straight to the customer without a separate display. In a warehouse, a printed part number, a colour band or a simple icon helps pickers find the right bin quickly. One or two colour flexo printing on brown kraft is economical and hard wearing, while full colour on white board suits retail displays.

Remember that an open-top box is seen from the front and from above. Put the key branding on the front wall at eye level, and consider a printed inner face if customers will look down into the container. The free proof shown from the front and above makes it clear which panel a shopper actually sees.

Measuring, Dividers and Pallet Fit

Always give internal dimensions in length, width and height, in that order. Length is the longer side of the opening, width is the shorter side, and height is the depth from base to rim. If the container will sit on a particular shelf or inside a larger outer case, measure that space too, and allow for the thickness of the board, which is around 3 to 4 mm for single wall and 6 to 7 mm for double wall.

For shelf-ready trays, the front wall is often cut lower than the sides so shoppers can see and reach the product. We can also add hand holes to the short sides for heavier bins, which makes them much easier to carry.

An open container becomes far more useful once you divide it. Slotted card partitions turn one large bin into a grid of small cells for bottles, jars or boxed parts, which stops items knocking together and makes counting stock quicker. Partitions slot together without glue and can be lifted out when the container is reused for something else.

If containers travel on pallets, plan their footprint around the pallet. A UK standard pallet measures 1200 x 1000 mm, so containers sized to divide neatly into that area, such as 600 x 400 mm or 400 x 300 mm, sit flush to the edges with no overhang. Overhanging boxes are crushed at the corners when pallets are wrapped and moved, while boxes that sit inside the edge waste space on every lorry.

Finally, think about how the containers will be handled when empty. If they are collapsed and reused, a taped base is easier to flatten than a glued one, and a lock-bottom base can be folded down and set up again many times. Heavy parts that will be stacked high go into double wall corrugated boxes for stacking with the same open top.

Give the Internal Size and the Stack Height, Not the Outside

A half slotted container is quoted from its internal dimensions in the order length, width, height, where length is the longer side of the opening, and from how it will be stacked. State the internal size of what goes in plus 5 mm each way, and then say how many containers will sit on top of each other and whether they are filled when stacked, because that decides single, double or triple wall far more than the contents alone. If a lid is wanted, say whether it should be a shallow cap or a full-depth telescope. Containers that need flaps on both ends, for closed shipping, are the full overlap containers with meeting flaps.

Email the sizes, board, stacking plan, quantity and any print, and a custom quote comes back within one working day, followed by a free proof showing the dieline. Containers are made in 4 to 7 working days once approved and delivered flat, free and tracked, on the UK mainland in 2 to 3 days. Containers that arrive crushed or misprinted are replaced or refunded when reported within 10 days.