Box too big? Here's how to make it fit without compromising sturdiness
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by Verpakkingdeals.nl
6 min reading time
A box that is two sizes too large costs you filler, volume, and risk. Here's how to shorten a box without it losing its strength – and how to know when it's better to buy a different size.
You have three box sizes in stock, and today an order comes in that falls exactly between two sizes. Too big for the small box, half empty in the large one. You stuff some paper in, tape it shut, and hope for the best. That usually works, but it costs you a little something every time: extra filling, extra volume, and a package that can shift during transit.
Adjusting a box isn't a last resort—it's a skill. Below is how to make an oversized box fit without losing its integrity, and just as importantly: when it's better not to.
Why an oversized box costs you money every time
A box that's too large costs you in three places at once. First, filling material: the empty space needs to be filled, otherwise the contents will shift. Second, volume—for larger shipments, carriers look not only at weight but also at the dimensions of your box. Third, risk: a product that moves around in a half-empty box is more likely to arrive damaged.
Calculate it for one month. If you use a box that's two sizes too large fifty times a month and fill it with bubble wrap, you'll go through a considerable amount of a 500 mm wide roll of bubble wrap (from €12.95) that you wouldn't have needed.
Shortening the box: the method that remains sturdy
The most common situation is that a box is correct in length and width but far too high. You solve this by shortening the side walls and creating new flaps. Here's how:
Place the product in the box and press it down. Measure from the bottom to just above the top of the product, plus about one centimeter of clearance.
Mark that height all around on all four side walls. Use a ruler or a straight board—a crooked line results in a crooked box.
With a utility knife (from €1.95), make a vertical cut on each of the four corners up to that line. Do NOT cut through the side walls themselves.
Fold the four top edges inwards. You now have four new flaps that overlap.
Seal the flaps with packing tape and also secure the four cut corners with a strip of tape.
That last step is most often forgotten and is precisely the most important. A cut corner has become the weakest point of the box: it's exactly there that the walls normally absorb the pressure from other packages stacked on top. A strip of tape over each corner restores a large part of that.
If you're working with a thin blade, replace it more often than you think. A dull knife tears the cardboard instead of cutting it, and a torn edge doesn't fold neatly. A set of 8 utility knives costs from €4.95, so you don't need to be stingy with them. Handy at the counter is the 2-in-1 ink eraser with utility knife (from €5.95), which you can keep in a breast pocket.
Shortening without cutting
For a box that is only a few centimeters too high, you can skip cutting. Don't fold the top flaps shut, but inwards, flat against the side walls. You lose two to three centimeters in height and you get a double wall at the top—which is actually sturdy. Disadvantage: the box looks messier on the inside, so it's less suitable for a package where the customer needs to have a certain impression.
A second variant is to reduce the width of the box: fold both long side walls inwards to the desired size and secure them with tape. This only works with light contents. The cardboard is not creased at that spot, so the fold is never as strong as a real crease line.
When to simply buy the right size
Adjusting takes time, and time at the packing table is more expensive than cardboard. Roughly: if you adjust more than three or four boxes a day, an extra size in stock is cheaper.
Also, do not cut a box in these cases:
Heavy or stackable. Above a few kilograms, the risk of collapsing increases too much.
If it needs to go through the letterbox. The height is then decisive and must be exactly correct; for current maximum dimensions, check the customer service page of your carrier, for example postnl.nl. A real recycled letterbox box A6 of 180 x 115 x 28 mm (bundle of 100, from €17.95) is made for this; the A5+ size of 255 x 160 x 28 mm costs from €24.00 per 100 pieces.
If the box is your business card. A trimmed box never looks like a new one. For small items, ready-made flat boxes such as the red shipping box of 13.5 x 8.7 x 2.6 cm (from €1.99) are faster and neater.
Cutting too tight. Without that centimeter of play, the flaps bulge and the tape pulls. The package then arrives with an open seam.
One strip of tape over the seam. With an adapted box, the load is distributed differently than with a factory box. Tape in an H-shape: over the seam AND over the two short sides.
Forgetting the corners. Again: the four vertical cuts are now the weakest point. Four small strips of tape take you five seconds.
And the biggest gain is elsewhere: measure the ten items you send most often, write down the dimensions, and compare them to your box sizes. Often, it turns out that one extra size makes half of your adjustment work unnecessary. For larger shipments, a moving box of 480 x 430 x 330 mm (from €3.50) is a cheap standard; for compact shipments, a white cube box of 15 x 15 x 15 cm (from €1.99) does the same job.
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