20 May 2026
When a reusable crate beats corrugate
The break-even is usually somewhere between the second and the fifth trip. Here is how to work out where yours sits.
A reusable crate costs several times what a corrugated box costs. It also does the same job somewhere between fifty and several hundred more times.
The break-even depends on three things: how many trips the crate survives, what it costs you to get it back, and what you were spending on disposal.
The number people forget
Return logistics. A crate that nests to a third of its stacked height costs a third of the return-leg space of one that does not, and that difference usually decides whether the whole exercise pays.