The California Association of Flower Growers&Shippers (NORCAL) is boxing with the idea of standardized box sizes in an effort to save money and time.

The association’s transportation committee released a study in June,
recommending standardized sizes for flat boxes and hampers for floral shipping.

The study said standardized box sizes would help lower
transportation costs and reduce transit times. “The adoption of
box-dimension standards will create cost savings in both loading of
trailers, which are giant jigsaw puzzles to load, and in inventory
requirements by growers, shippers and box makers,” the committee wrote
in the study.The cost of boxes could go down, as well, as manufacturers
could mass produce the same size boxes for several companies.

NORCAL’s study recommends using pallet sizes as the standard for box
dimensions. Not all flowers are shipped in pallets, which are typically
40 inches by 48 inches, but Mike Crosby, key account sales manager of The Sun Valley Group in Arcata, Calif., and NORCAL board member, said there is a clear trend of growers using boxes that conform to pallet dimensions.

“This makes creating a standard possible,” now, Crosby said, noting
difficulties in the past.“Because there were so many box sizes being
used and there was no concept to base standardization on, box
standardization was a big puzzle and considered unsolvable.”

Richard Armellini of Armellini Express Lines
is quoted in the study as saying that pallet-friendly boxes “translate
into faster loading times with less difficulty,” even if those boxes
are not palletized in transit.

Wholesaler Eric Levy of Hillcrest Garden, Inc. in Paramus, N.J.,
told E-brief standardized boxes would allow trucking companies to know
how many boxes would fit in a container, and give more accurate freight
pricing to buyers.

“All cut-flower buyers at wholesale level and all dispatchers at
shipping level would love standardized box sizes,” Levy said. “The
growers, on the other hand, would probably have some airspace that is
unused inside some of their boxes, and this would force them to raise
their prices on some items. You would hope that over time they would
figure out how to pack the boxes, to maximize the airspace in the box.”

Trucking companies have reported as many as 1,000 different box
sizes in use by California growers (though some of those boxes are only
“different” on paper — a 40 x 16 x 8 box is the same size as one listed
as 16 x 40 x 8).

The study is recommending seven different flat box dimensions —
all 40 or 48 inches long — and four different hamper footprints, in
five different heights. The study recommends that 44-inch-long boxes be
eliminated.

The next stage of the study will consider which box sizes will be
best for gerberas, gladiolas, orchids, plants, bales and some greens,
which would not fit easily into the recommended sizes.

NORCAL is accepting public comments about box standardization
through July 15. Final recommended standards will be announced on Aug.
11. To see the study, go to www.cafgs.org. To comment about box
standardization, contact Chris Johnson, NORCAL director of
transportation at (760) 533-5580 or e-mail chris@cafgs.org.