Most of what we sell is a matched size run: one size, one grade, counted and bundled. Pricing that is straightforward. Mixed loads are different, and the way they get priced is the single biggest source of misunderstanding between used-box suppliers and their customers.
What 'mixed' actually means
Three different things, which is where the confusion starts.
- Mixed sizes, consistent grade. Several known sizes, all graded B, counted separately.
- Mixed grades, consistent size. One size, a stated distribution of A, B and C.
- Genuinely mixed. Unsorted material where neither size nor grade has been established.
Those three have very different values and are routinely described with the same word. The first thing we do on any mixed enquiry is establish which one we are talking about.
The pricing method
We price mixed loads as a sorting job with a material credit, not as a discount off a matched-run price. The arithmetic runs the other way from what people expect.
| Component | Matched run, one size | Genuinely mixed, nine sizes |
|---|---|---|
| Grading and sorting labour | 0.30× | 1.00× |
| Counting and bundling | 0.18× | 0.38× |
| Board acquisition cost | 0.22× | 0.22× |
| Freight (same lane) | 0.30× | 0.34× |
| Total relative cost | 1.00× | 1.94× |
The board costs the same. The freight is marginally worse because mixed sizes nest badly. Everything else is labour, and labour roughly triples.
The part that makes people wince
A mixed load is often more expensive per usable box than a matched run, not less. Customers expect mixed to be the budget option because it sounds like leftovers, and sometimes it is — but only when we sell it unsorted and let you do the sorting.
You can buy sorted boxes or you can buy sorting labour. You cannot avoid paying for it; you can only decide who does it.
When buying mixed genuinely makes sense
- You have cheap labour available at your own dock and somewhere to do it.
- Your application tolerates size variation — scrap collection, in-plant totes, internal moves.
- You are buying by weight for a conversion process rather than for containers.
- You want a one-off clearance lot and the price reflects that it is one.
When it does not
- Anything feeding a pack line. A line that stalls while somebody hunts for the right size costs more per hour than the entire saving.
- Anything customer-facing.
- Anything going into racking, where consistent dimensions are a stacking requirement.
- Any situation where you are measuring cost per shipped unit rather than cost per box.
What we will not do
We will not blend grade C material into a grade B pallet and call the result an average. If you want mixed grades, we will quote mixed grades with a stated distribution. The moment a supplier starts averaging quality silently, the grade scale stops meaning anything and every subsequent conversation is guesswork.
How to get the best mixed price
Tell us what you will actually accept. 'Any size between 14 and 24 inches, grade B or better, no print restrictions' is a specification we can fill efficiently from stock that is otherwise awkward for us. 'Mixed, cheap' is not a specification and will get you a cautious number.
Our pieces are written by the people who do the work rather than by a content agency, which is why they contain more numbers and fewer adjectives than is fashionable. If a figure here does not match your experience, we would genuinely like to hear about it — two of our published coefficients have changed that way.