Plastic crates and bulk containers, by type

Hand-held or pallet-footprint

Start with how the load moves. If a picker, line operator or field crew carries it, you want a hand-held container: stacking crates, nest-stack totes, attached-lid containers, euro containers or produce crates. These are sized to divide a pallet, so several sit side by side in one layer, and they ride on conveyors, carts and shelving.

If a forklift or pallet jack carries it, you want a pallet-footprint container: collapsible bulk containers, rigid bulk bins or macro bins. The container is its own pallet, with a base that takes forks from two or four sides. Many programs use both sizes, with totes loaded inside a bulk unit for the long haul and pulled out at the line.

Rigid, collapsible or nesting: the empty trip

A full container earns its freight. An empty one is mostly air, so the return leg decides a lot of the cost. Rigid boxes come back at full height. Collapsible boxes fold their walls down onto the base, and makers state the gain as a return ratio: one ORBIS 48x40 sheet lists 2.7:1, which means close to three folded units in the space of one standing unit. Nesting totes drop inside each other when you turn them 180 degrees or open the lids.

None of these is better in general. Rigid bins carry heavy, wet or abrasive loads with fewer moving parts. Folding walls pay off when the empty run is long. Nesting is the cheapest way to send hand-held totes back, but nested totes must be turned or closed again before they will stack full. Tell us your lane and how far the empties travel, and we will point to the family that fits.

Vented or solid, and what is under it

Vented walls let cold air and water through, which matters for fruit, vegetables and anything washed or hydro-cooled. Solid walls keep small parts in and dust, drips and fingers out. The deck follows the same logic: a solid deck holds powders and fasteners, a vented or drain-hole deck sheds rinse water. Some bulk units offer either deck on the same footprint.

Then look at the base. A picture-frame base has a continuous rim at the bottom that spreads the weight on conveyors and racking. Runner and foot designs suit floor stacking and forklift handling. If the container will sit in pallet rack, say so, because the base style decides whether it rests safely on the beams.

Read every sheet for four more numbers: outside dimensions, inside usable height, tare (the empty weight, which counts against truck payload) and rated capacity. Resin matters too. High-density polyethylene shrugs off cold-room impacts; polypropylene tends to be stiffer and lighter. Ask about temperature range if the box goes into a freezer, a washer or a hot trailer in July.

Matching the family to the load

• Small parts on a line, fixed size, stays in a closed loop: stacking crates or euro containers.
• Order picking and store delivery with tamper evidence: attached-lid containers.
• Field harvest or packhouse with cooling: vented produce crates, or macro bins for bulk fruit.
• Automotive and industrial parts shipped between plants: collapsible bulk containers on the 48x45 footprint.
• Heavy scrap, meat trim or wet product: rigid bulk bins with a solid wall and deck.
• Mixed loads that need protection inside the box: add dunnage and lids to any of the above.

The ten families side by side

New, used and refurbished in every family

Every type on this page can be quoted new from a maker's sheet, used from a surplus lot, or refurbished. Used containers carry a grade: A for clean, sound boxes with light wear, B for working boxes with scuffs, labels or minor repairs, C for boxes that still hold a load but look it. ORBIS says it grades its own returned containers A, B or C by condition rather than retiring them by age, and we use the same plain scale.

If you are not sure which family you need, describe what goes in, how it is handled, and where the empties go. See container sizes by footprint for the dimensions, or send it straight to a quote.