How to Measure for a Pallet Cover or Box Liner

June 21, 2022

Determining the size of your polyethylene bag as a pallet cover or box liner is quite simple. All that is needed is some basic geometry skills.

Pallet Cover

To figure out the size of a pallet cover, whether it is hard plastic, cardboard, thermal, or custom, you need to know the dimensions of the load. (length X width X depth). Once the load dimensions are known, the following steps can be taken to determine the size of the pallet cover:

  1. To start you should consider your width as the larger of the dimensions. (width or depth)
  2. If a pallet load is 48” wide X 42” deep X 36” high you take the 48 inches and add 4 inches as you do not want a cover that’s too tight. The bag width will be 52 inches.
  3. Now we will add another 2 inches to the depth (42) to get the gusset. The bag thus far is 52 X 44.
  4. To determine the length we need to take the height (36) and add half the depth since the bag has a seal that will fall in the middle of the top of the pallet. We take our depth of 42 and divide it in half to get 21. Now we add 21 +36 = 57. We also typically add another 2 inches so that the load has some extra coverage.
  5. The final cover dimensions are 52 X 44 X 59.

BOX LINER

Determining appropriate box liner dimensions is similar to determining that the pallet covers dimensions except now the bag will sit inside the box rather than covering a pallet.

Let’s take a box that’s 14” length X 12” depth X 21” high.

  1. Add 2” to the width (14”) to give us 16” wide.
  2. Then add another 2” to the depth (12”) to give us 14” depth. Our first dimensions of the bag is 16” X 14”. This represents the bag width and gusset.
  3. Now the tricky part is determining the length of the bag. We are going to take the box depth of 12” and add that to the height of 21” to get 33”. Now add 6 more inches so the bag can be tied and closed properly when filled inside the box.
  4. Our final bag dimensions are 16 X 14 X 37.

These are the basic rules, but some Pallet covers and box liners require some adjustments in size depending on the applications.

If you need assistance, just send us your box or load size and we will help with the calculations for your pallet cover or box liner. You can also contact us when you are in need of these products for your business.