How to Palletise Boxes: Stack, Square Up and Wrap a Pallet

To palletise boxes, build flat layers of same-size boxes that stay inside the pallet edge, with the heaviest boxes at the bottom, then wrap the stack to the pallet with stretch film. Palletised boxes travel well when the stack is square and tight before any film goes on, because wrapping pallets only holds a good stack together and does little for a bad one.

This guide covers the part that comes before the film: which box sizes tile on a standard UK pallet, when to stack in columns and when to interlock, how to deal with overhang and mixed loads, and which roll to use when you wrap a pallet by hand. We sell the boxes and the pallet wrap. We do not sell pallets, strapping, corner boards or wrapping machines, and we say where those come into it.

Quick picks for palletising boxes

Three stock items cover most hand-built pallets: a stackable box, a roll of film for the full load, and a narrow roll for bundles.

Best box for stacking

Double Wall Cardboard Boxes

Double wall board has two layers of fluting, so it is stronger than single wall and stacks better.

• 11 sizes from 9 x 6 x 6" to 24 x 24 x 24"
• Sold per box, flat packed
• Minimum 5 boxes for most sizes

From £0.59 ex VAT (£0.71 inc VAT)

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Best for wrapping the load

Clear Pallet Wrap

Clear hand stretch film that clings to itself and lets labels and barcodes show through.

• 400mm and 500mm wide rolls
• 20 or 23 micron
• Sold per roll, minimum one roll

From £4.00 ex VAT (£4.80 inc VAT)

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Best for bundling boxes first

Mini Handy Pallet Wrap 100mm x 150m

A narrow roll for tying a few cartons into one unit before they go on the pallet.

• 100mm wide x 150m long
• 17 micron, clear or black
• Fits the HW38 dispenser

From £2.50 ex VAT (£3.00 inc VAT)

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What does it mean to palletise boxes, and when is it worth doing?

Palletising boxes means stacking them on a pallet and fixing them to it so the whole lot moves as one unit on a pallet truck or forklift. It is worth doing once you are sending more boxes to one address than a parcel courier will sensibly take, or when the boxes are heavy enough that you would rather they were lifted by a machine than carried one at a time.

For a handful of light boxes going to one customer, you may not need a pallet at all. Two or three cartons can be bundled together with a narrow roll of film and sent as parcels, which we cover in our guide to handy wrap and mini pallet wrap for bundling. Ask your haulier and your parcel carrier for a price on both before you decide.

Which box sizes tile best on a 1200 x 1000mm pallet?

The box sizes that tile best are the ones whose length and width add up to just under the pallet's 1200mm and 1000mm sides, leaving a small margin and no big gaps. The common UK pallet footprint is 1200 x 1000mm, so a good layer measures somewhere near that without going over. Other pallet sizes exist, so measure yours before you order boxes.

Our double wall cardboard boxes come in 11 sizes, from £0.59 ex VAT (£0.71 inc VAT) per box. The table below is plain arithmetic on the listed outside dimensions: how many boxes of each size fit flat in one layer on a 1200 x 1000mm pallet, and how much of the pallet that layer covers. A filled box can bulge by a few millimetres, so treat the footprints as a guide and do a dry run with your own stock.

The 23 x 12 x 15" box uses the long side of the pallet most fully, at 1160mm of the 1200mm. The 18 x 12 x 11" box gives you an almost perfectly square 914 x 915mm layer, which makes it easy to interlock. The two largest sizes are awkward on this pallet, because they are made as large removal boxes for bulky, light things, and they suit a van floor better than a pallet.

If you are choosing a box for a product that will always ship on pallets, work backwards from the pallet. Pick the size from the table that holds your product with its padding, then check the layer count against how many you send. Our cardboard box sizes chart lists every size we stock in inches, mm and cm if you need to compare against single wall boxes too.

Best for pallet loads

Double Wall Cardboard Boxes

Two layers of fluting make a stiffer box that copes better with boxes stacked on top of it.

• 18 x 12 x 11" sits 6 to a layer on a 1200 x 1000mm pallet
• 23 x 12 x 15" sits 6 to a layer and covers 1160 x 915mm
• Sold per box, with the price per box falling as you buy more

From £0.59 ex VAT (£0.71 inc VAT)

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Should you stack boxes in columns or interlock them?

Stack in columns when the boxes are heavy or the stack is tall, and interlock when the boxes are light and the stack needs help staying together. Column stacking puts every box directly on top of the one below, corner over corner. Interlocked stacking turns or offsets each layer, like bricks in a wall, so every box sits across the joins beneath it.

Columns carry weight better because most of a corrugated box's stacking strength is in its four vertical corners and edges. In a column, corners sit on corners and the load runs straight down through the board to the pallet. In an interlocked layer, corners land on the middle of the panels below, which is the weakest part of the box top. The trade-off is that columns are only held together by the wrap, while interlocked layers grip each other.

You can only interlock if the turned layer still fits. With our sizes, the 18 x 12 x 11" box does this cleanly: two lengths (914mm) match three widths (915mm), so a layer of six turned a quarter turn covers the same square. The 12 x 9" boxes do the same in the 12-per-layer layout, where three lengths (915mm) match four widths (916mm). The 23 x 12 x 15" box does not, because its 1160mm side will not fit across the 1000mm side of the pallet.

A common middle route is to column stack most of the load and turn only the top one or two layers to tie the columns together. The bottom boxes keep their corner support where the weight is greatest, and the top of the stack is locked before the film goes on. If the contents are fragile or the boxes are part full, stay with columns all the way and rely on the wrap.

How do you stack boxes on a pallet, step by step?

Stack boxes on a pallet by starting with a sound pallet, laying the heaviest boxes as a full flat first layer, and building straight up with every layer the same size and inside the pallet edge. Do the stacking properly and the wrapping takes a few minutes.

1. Check the pallet. Look for broken or missing boards and nails standing proud. A box corner sitting over a gap in the deck has nothing under it. We do not sell pallets, so use a sound one from your own supply or your haulier.
2. Pack and seal every box first. Fill each box so the top is flat and supported from inside, then tape it shut. A part-empty box crushes under the layers above. Standard brown tape does this, from £4.50 ex VAT (£5.40 inc VAT) for a pack of 6.
3. Sort by weight. Put the heaviest boxes to one side for the bottom layer and the lightest for the top. If the boxes are all the same, skip this step.
4. Lay the first layer. Start at one corner and work across, pushing each box tight against the last. Follow the layout from the table above and centre the layer so any spare margin is shared between the sides.
5. Build up layer by layer. Finish each layer before you start the next. Keep the sides vertical: stand back every couple of layers and look down each face of the stack.
6. Keep the top flat. Finish on a complete layer where you can. A flat top lets the film pull down evenly and lets the haulier see at a glance whether anything can go on top.
7. Stop at the height your haulier allows. Include the pallet itself when you measure. If you run out of height, start a second pallet instead of adding a loose layer.
8. Wrap it straight away. An unwrapped stack should not be moved. Wrap it where it stands, then move it.

Heavy boxes go at the bottom because they keep the centre of gravity low, which makes the pallet harder to tip. It also keeps heavy weight off lighter boxes, which are usually the first to crush. If a single box is much heavier than the rest, put it in the middle of the bottom layer instead of on an edge.

Gaps inside a layer let boxes shift, and shifted boxes loosen the wrap. If your layout leaves a gap, as the 14 x 14 x 14" and 24 x 18" sizes do, close the boxes up to one side so the gap is a single strip, and fill it with something firm such as flattened cardboard stood on edge. Leaving the gap in the middle of the stack is the worst option, because the boxes around it lean inwards once the film tightens.

Do a dry run before a regular product goes out on pallets for the first time. Build one full pallet, wrap it, and leave it overnight. If the bottom layer has bowed or the stack has settled to one side by morning, change the box, the pattern or the height before you send a load to a customer.

How do you keep the load inside the pallet edge, and what about mixed box sizes?

Keep the load inside the pallet edge by choosing a layout whose footprint is smaller than the pallet and centring it, so no box corner hangs over the side. An overhanging box has part of its base, often a corner, sitting on nothing. That corner is where the box is strongest, so overhang throws away the support the box needs most, and it leaves the box exposed to the next pallet or the side of the truck.

Mixed box sizes are harder to stack well, so avoid them where you can. If you have to mix:

• Group same sizes into layers. One size per layer gives each layer a flat top for the next one to sit on.
• Largest and heaviest first. Big, heavy boxes make the base. Small, light boxes finish the top.
• Bundle small boxes into blocks. Wrap three or four small cartons together so they behave like one large box. The mini handy pallet wrap is made for this: 100mm wide, 150m long, 17 micron, from £2.50 ex VAT (£3.00 inc VAT) a roll.
• Never build a pyramid. A stepped top gives the film nothing square to grip and the top boxes work loose.

The HW38 handy wrap dispenser holds the mini roll so you can go round a bundle in one pass without gripping the film. It costs from £2.50 ex VAT (£3.00 inc VAT) and the rolls are sold separately. It only takes mini handy rolls. A full pallet needs full width film, and the HW38 is too small for that job.

How do you wrap a pallet once the boxes are stacked?

Wrap a pallet by fixing the film to the pallet base, winding several turns around the base so the film grips the pallet and the bottom layer together, then spiralling up to the top and back down with each turn overlapping the last. The full method, with the common mistakes, is in our step-by-step guide to wrapping a pallet. The short version is:

1. Tie or tuck the end of the film to a corner of the pallet.
2. Wind the first turns low, so the film catches the pallet as well as the bottom boxes.
3. Work upwards, keeping the film under tension and overlapping each turn by roughly half its width.
4. Go over the top edge of the stack, then work back down to the base.
5. Tear the film and press the tail flat against the load. It clings to itself, so it needs no tape.

The step people skip is the second one. If the film only goes around the boxes, the stack is wrapped to itself and can slide off the pallet as a block, so those first turns have to catch the pallet too.

For the film, our clear pallet wrap starts from £4.00 ex VAT (£4.80 inc VAT) a roll and comes in four rolls. Black pallet wrap starts at the same price and comes in three. Both are hand stretch film sold by the single roll.

Clear film lets labels, barcodes and the boxes themselves show through. Black film is opaque, so the load cannot be seen, which adds a little security. With black film, put the address label and any paperwork on the outside of the wrap, because nothing underneath can be read. A documents enclosed wallet keeps the delivery note with the pallet, from £15.00 ex VAT (£18.00 inc VAT).

If you are unsure whether 20 or 23 micron suits your load, our guide to pallet wrap grades and gauges explains what the numbers mean. If someone has told you to shrink wrap the pallet, they almost certainly mean stretch wrap. The difference is covered in shrink wrap vs stretch wrap.

Shop pallet wrap

How many boxes and rolls should you buy, and how do they get to you?

Buy boxes by the layer and pallet wrap by the roll: work out how many boxes one pallet takes, multiply by the pallets you send, and add a roll or two of film to start. Both have volume pricing, so the price per box and per roll falls as the quantity goes up, and the tiers are shown on each product page.

For boxes, the sum is boxes per layer times number of layers. An 18 x 12 x 11" box is 279mm high and sits six to a layer, so four layers is 24 boxes and stands 1116mm tall before you add the pallet. How many layers you can use depends on your haulier's height limit and on what the bottom boxes will take, so confirm both. Double wall boxes start from £0.59 ex VAT (£0.71 inc VAT) per box, with a minimum order of 5 boxes for most sizes and 90 boxes for the 24 x 24 x 24" size.

For film, we cannot give you a figure for how many pallets one roll will wrap, because it depends on the height of the load, how many turns you put on and how hard you stretch the film. The practical way to find out is to wrap three or four pallets from a new roll and weigh or measure what is left. Clear and black pallet wrap both start from £4.00 ex VAT (£4.80 inc VAT) per roll, the minimum order is one roll, and the longest rolls are 250m.

Royal Mail Tracked 48 delivery is free on every order with no minimum, and orders placed by 2pm Monday to Friday leave our Manchester unit the same working day. Click and collect from Cheetham Hill is free and usually ready within 2 hours. If you are within 10 miles of Cheetham Hill, we also run same-day van delivery, which suits bulky box orders. Larger orders by van are covered in our guide to bulk and pallet packaging orders in Manchester.

If you palletise every week, a trade account is worth setting up, and every order comes with a VAT invoice. You can browse all cardboard boxes and packing tapes online, or call 0161 706 1246 or use the contact page if you want to check a box size against your pallet before you order.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best way to palletise boxes?

The best way to palletise boxes is to use one box size that tiles inside the pallet footprint, put the heaviest boxes on the bottom layer, and build flat, complete layers with vertical sides. Column stack heavy loads so the box corners line up, and turn the top layers if the stack needs tying together. Then wrap the stack to the pallet with stretch film, starting low enough that the film catches the pallet.

How many boxes fit on a standard UK pallet?

The number of boxes that fit on a 1200 x 1000mm pallet depends on the box size. Going by outside dimensions, a 12 x 12 x 12 inch box fits 9 to a layer, an 18 x 12 x 11 inch box fits 6, an 18 x 18 x 18 inch box fits 4 and a 9 x 6 x 6 inch box fits 30. Multiply the layer count by the number of layers your haulier's height limit and your boxes allow.

Is column stacking or interlocked stacking stronger?

Column stacking is stronger under load, because each box corner sits directly on the corner below and the weight runs straight down to the pallet. Interlocked stacking is more stable before wrapping, because the layers tie each other together, but the corners rest on the weaker middle of the boxes underneath. Use columns for heavy or tall loads and interlocking for light, short ones.

Can boxes overhang the edge of a pallet?

Boxes should not overhang the edge of a pallet if you can avoid it. An overhanging box loses the support under its corner, which is the strongest part of the box, and the corner is exposed to knocks from other pallets. Some hauliers refuse or surcharge overhanging loads, so check their current rules before you build the pallet.

Which pallet wrap should I use for a pallet of boxes?

For a pallet of boxes wrapped by hand, a 400mm wide roll of clear pallet wrap in 23 micron suits regular use, and the 400mm x 250m roll has an extended core that is easier to hold without a dispenser. The 500mm x 250m roll covers more height with each turn on tall loads. Choose black pallet wrap if the contents should stay out of sight. All of these start from £4.00 ex VAT (£4.80 inc VAT) per roll at Pack Solution.

Shop for This Job

• Cardboard Boxes
• Pallet Wrap
• Packing Tapes

Related Guides

• How to Wrap a Pallet: Step-by-Step with Pallet Wrap
• Pallet Wrap Grades and Gauges: Micron, Thickness and Heavy Duty Pallet Wrap
• Single Wall vs Double Wall Cardboard Boxes: Which Should You Use?

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