Why the RSC is the top corrugated cardboard box

I tend to deal with images a lot in my job. Social media posts, powerpoint graphics for our sales team, blog posts, the Packsize website—they all need images, and I tend to be the guy that provides them.

We try to use original photography whenever possible, but for the sake of time, I end up using a lot of stock photography.

Today, as I was yet again browsing endless stock pictures of corrugated cardboard, trying to find the right one to use, I came to a realization: these pictures all look the same!

And I don’t mean that in the sense that the models were bland or that the composition of the shots were uninteresting, because it’s stock photography. Of course that’s the case.

I mean all the boxes were literally the same.

FEFCO officially lists around 150 different styles of corrugated cardboard box, but as far as I could tell, only one is used in stock photography—the Regular Slotted Container, or RSC.

Come to think of it, the RSC is probably the the first box you think of when you think of a corrugated cardboard box. It’s the one you’ve had delivered to your door the most. The one you’ve depended on when you needed stuff moved. The one your cat is playing in right now.

How did one box become so ubiquitous? Here are four reasons why:

1. It’s easy to to manufacture. If you take a look at what an RSC looks like before it’s folded, you’ll see it’s made from just a few simple cuts and scores. Almost no corrugated waste is produced when an RSC is cut from a sheet of corrugated, making it a very efficient design for large scale box manufacturing.

2. It’s easy to assemble. The image below shows an RSC next to a specialty One Piece Folder. Take one look and tell me which one will be easier for you to fold and assemble. The RSC is nearly idiot proof.

3. It’s extremely versatile. The RSC can package just about anything. Many of the other FEFCO box variants were designed to protect and package oddly shaped or specific materials, while the RSC will fit just about anything in it.

4. It’s easy to scale to whatever you need. The RSC is also one of those box designs that that can be made into just about any size you need. It can package anything from a golf ball to a golf bag.

With that, it’s no wonder the Regular Slotted Container is the world’s go-to box when it needs something packaged. But it’s only one of many box styles that Packsize’s On Demand Packaging^® machines can produce.

If you’d like to learn more about what Packsize’s On Demand Packaging^® can do for you, fill out the form below and contact us today with your questions!