What's the differences between "carton" & "box"? I didn't know which word to choose when using express to send samples.
From the Internet, some say that carton is a smaller box, and some say that cartons are made of paper/boxes can be any kinds of materials. I'm confused if these are correct. Please clarify for my reference.
Thank you!
Merriam-Webster's first definition for box is 'a rigid typically rectangular container with or without a cover', but 'box' is also commonly used for 'cardboard box', which is probably what you are packing the samples in.
The reason we ever felt compelled to say 'cardboard' before 'box' is that the word actually derives from the box tree, suggesting that boxes are made of wood.
box (n.) Old English box "a wooden container," also the name of a type of shrub, from Late Latin buxis, from Greek pyxis "boxwood box," from pyxos "box tree," which is of uncertain origin.
Carton, on the other hand, derives from a word meaning 'paper':
carton (n.) 1816, from French carton "pasteboard" (17c.), from Italian cartone "pasteboard," augmentative of Medieval Latin carta "paper" (see card (n.)). Originally the material for making paper boxes; extended 1906 to the boxes themselves. As a verb, from 1921.
Dictionary.com defines 'carton' as 'a cardboard or plastic box used typically for storage or shipping'.
So a 'carton' is a type of 'box', but as your own research has shown you, boxes can be made of harder materials than those typically used to make cartons. I wouldn't insist that you use one word or the other, but sometimes the slight difference in their meanings can be useful.
In shipping large quantities of packaged items (smaller boxes) within one large box, you might choose to differentiate between the contents and the container by saying that you are packing a number of cartons (less durable boxes) into a box (suitable for shipping).
A carton is a container out of which something (solid or liquid) is dispensed or otherwise distributed. a box is for storage or transport of units of items. If a box is being used for storage and transport and will have items dispensed/distributed out of it then it is called a BOX-Carton. Eg. packup 1000 teddy bears (tB) for Fred-is-My-Teddybear Ltd. for stock at their inventory warehouse. They are sold in BOXES of 25 units each (1 tB = 1 unit). shipping 40 boxes of 25tB would be a recipe for a lost shipment so the BOXES are packaged into BOX-CARTONS for more efficient & safer shipping - 2 boxes per carton...4 boxes per carton.....what have you....
I think carton means the cardboard before it is made into a box.the cardboard comes flat and then a person or machine forms it into a box
I work in the packaging world. Cartons of milk come in a case. Cartons can be decorated for point of purchase or not. They don't have the squiggly material that defines cardboard. Cases are usually made from cardboard. Sometimes wood. never paperboard.
