Straight Answers to
Your Packaging Questions.

Custom corrugated boxes and POP displays, made in St. Louis by a family business founded in 1860.
Here are the questions buyers ask us most.

Last updated October 2026
1860
Family-Owned Since
5–10
Business-Day Lead Times
In-House
Design & Prepress
98.2%
On-Time Delivery
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Working With Us Concept to Container Materials & Construction Print & Design Sustainability & Recycling Ordering & Delivery
WORKING WITH US

Getting Started with Wunderlich

Six generations, one plant in St. Louis and a team that answers the phone. Here’s what to expect when you work with us.

One team, one plant and straight answers. Wunderlich has been in business in St. Louis since 1860 and is now in its sixth generation. Structural design, prepress, die-cutting and gluing happen under one roof, so you get 5–10 business-day lead times, a 98.2% on-time delivery rate and a single point of contact who knows your project, without hand-offs between vendors.

Not at all. We work with local growers, startups and family businesses as well as national brands. Plain flexo boxes are practical in smaller quantities, and many basic box styles need no cutting die, which keeps start-up costs down. If your product needs a box or display that works, we want to talk.

Yes. Call 314-231-1488, Monday through Friday from 8AM to 4:30PM, and ask for shipping. Our shipping team can give you delivery status, schedule a release or pickup, and answer questions about receiving hours and pallet requirements. The same number reaches our customer service and sales team here in St. Louis.

Custom corrugated packaging, designed and built in St. Louis: shipping boxes and shippers, die-cut boxes and mailers, POP displays (counter, floor, pallet and club store), retail and produce packaging, and our Pop & Go® floral boxes. Structural design, prepress, die-cutting and gluing happen in our own plant. We also supply shipping and protective packaging. See Solutions & Products.

Send us the details and we’ll quote it. Use the Request a Quote form or call 314-231-1488 with your product’s size and weight, the quantity, your print needs and how the box ships or sells. Easier still, send us the box you use now. For new designs, we build a free structural sample so you can confirm the fit before paying for tooling.

CONCEPT TO CONTAINER

How Our Process Works

From the first conversation to the loading dock — here’s how we make packaging that actually performs.

01

Discovery

Tell us about the product, how it ships, where it sells and what it needs to cost.

02

Structural Design

Our designers build the structure in CAD, to your product rather than the nearest stock size.

03

Free Sample

We cut a structural sample on our own sample table. Pack it, stack it, test it.

04

Graphics & Prepress

We prepare your artwork on the exact dieline and send you a .pdf proof. Nothing prints without your approval.

05

Print & Convert

Printing, die-cutting on our Marumatsu and United die cutters, and gluing on our Emba, Tanabe and J & L gluers.

06

Ship

Delivered on schedule. Our on-time delivery rate is 98.2%.

The basics: your product’s size and weight, how many go in each box, the quantity and how often you reorder, how it ships and is stored (pallets, cold storage, stacking height) and where it sells. Artwork or brand guidelines help too. Don’t have it all? Send what you have, or the box you use now, and we’ll ask the right questions.

Yes. We build an unprinted structural sample in the board grade we recommend, at no charge, so you can pack your actual product, stack it and test it before you pay for tooling. If it isn’t right, we adjust the design and cut another. We’d rather you find a fit problem on our sample table than on your loading dock.

Simple structures usually take 2–3 business days. Our designers build the structure in CAD and cut the sample on our own sample table here in St. Louis, so we aren’t waiting on an outside vendor. Complex displays take longer, and timing also depends on when we have your product in hand, since we build the display around it. We’ll give you a time frame when we start.

Yes, usually in 3–5 business days. We can produce a sample with your actual artwork printed digitally on the actual structure, so you can see the finished look, show it to buyers or test it on a shelf before committing to a full run. You work with one team from structure to finished sample. There’s a small sample fee. If the project goes into production, it’s rolled into your quote; if not, it’s billed on its own.

Yes. Bring us the box or its specifications and we’ll match it, or show you where it’s over-built and costing you money, or under-built and costing you damaged product. We’ll make a structural sample for a side-by-side comparison and quote it, with no obligation.

Rarely. We build packaging to fit each product exactly, so a die made for one packaging project seldom fits another. However, many boxes need no die at all: our Emba flexo folder-gluers slot, fold and glue basic styles (RSC, FOL and HSC) inline, in the exact size you need. Some die-cut styles can also run on stock partial cutting dies. Send us your inside dimensions, and we’ll recommend the best option.

Yes. We design and build counter, floor, pallet and club store displays here in St. Louis. Our designers engineer each display around your product so it ships efficiently, sets up quickly in the store and holds up on the sales floor. One display can combine flexo, litho, top sheet and digital printing, and a free structural sample comes first. See examples in our gallery.

MATERIALS & CONSTRUCTION

What Goes Into Your Box

Knowing how corrugated is built helps you spec the right box — and trust that you’re getting what you need.

Corrugated has a wavy, fluted layer glued between flat liners; “cardboard” usually means a single thick sheet, like a cereal box. People use the words interchangeably, but those arches are what give corrugated its strength, cushioning and stacking performance. That’s why shipping boxes and displays are corrugated, while lightweight retail cartons are often paperboard.

Most shipping boxes use C-flute, which balances stacking strength and cushioning. B-flute is thinner and die-cuts crisply for displays and canned goods. E-flute is thin and smooth for retail boxes and mailers that need sharp print. Double wall, such as BC, handles heavy or tall-stacked loads. We’ll recommend a flute based on your product, how it ships and how it needs to look.

ECT (Edge Crush Test) measures how much force board takes on its edge before crushing, which predicts stacking strength. 32 ECT single wall is the most common shipping grade. The Box Maker’s Certificate is the round stamp on the bottom flap that states the board’s rating and who made the box. Carriers and retailers use it to confirm a box meets spec.

The number of fluted layers. Single wall has one fluted layer between two liners and handles most shipping and retail needs. Double wall adds a second fluted layer for heavier products, tall pallet stacks and long supply chains. The extra wall adds strength, fiber and cost, so we recommend it only when your product needs it.

Measure the inside, in this order: length × width × depth. Length is the longer side of the opening, width is the shorter side, and depth is the height. Inside dimensions make sure your product fits, while outside dimensions matter for pallets and freight. If you’re not sure, send us your product’s size and we’ll work out both.

It can, with the right spec. Plain corrugated loses strength as it absorbs moisture, so coolers, produce and humid warehouses need a heavier board grade built to hold up. Tell us about cold storage and humidity when you request a quote, and we’ll spec the board to match.

Yes. Our St. Louis, Missouri plant holds a Kiwa ASI Certificate of Compliance for Current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) in food packaging, rated Superior with a 96% score in our October 2026 audit. We make secondary and tertiary packaging, such as shipping cases, trays and displays, for food and beverage companies under those documented practices. See our Certifications page for the certificate.

PRINT & DESIGN

Packaging That Commands the Shelf

Great packaging protects your product. Great printed packaging sells it. Here’s how we make both happen.

Flexo, top sheet, litho and digital, all from one source. Flexo prints directly on corrugated, either on our flexo folder-gluers or on our rotary die cutter, which prints multiple colors and die-cuts in one pass. It’s the cost-effective choice for shippers and displays. Top sheet and litho give photo-quality retail graphics, and digital handles short runs and multiple versions without plates. We’ll recommend the method that fits your quantity, graphics and budget.

Usually, yes. Digital printing doesn’t use printing plates, so it’s often the most economical way to print short runs, test markets, seasonal versions or several SKUs at once. Digital pricing doesn’t drop much with volume, so flexo or litho usually costs less per box for large runs. Many projects mix methods: one display might combine flexo, litho, top sheet and digital. We’ll match each piece to the right one.

Yes. Give us your Pantone colors and we’ll match them as closely as the print method allows. For flexo, you’ll approve each ink on a drawdown, a test print on a liner similar to your board, before production starts. Brown kraft board makes colors look darker and warmer than white board, so if exact color matters, we’ll recommend white board, top sheet or litho. Production proofs for top sheet and litho are available for a fee.

Vector AI (Adobe Illustrator) or PDF files at 100% of final size, with fonts outlined, images at 300 dpi and spot colors called out by Pantone number. Build your art on the dieline we send you, so every graphic lands on the right panel. Our Art Prep for Flexo guide covers everything in detail. Not sure your files are ready? Send them anyway, and our prepress team will tell you what needs fixing.

Either works. If you have finished artwork, our prepress team sets it on your dieline and prepares it for press. If you’re starting with a logo and an idea, our design team can help develop the graphics, while our structural designers engineer the box itself. Either way, you’ll see a PDF proof, and nothing prints without your approval.

SUSTAINABILITY & RECYCLING

Honest Answers About a Circular Material

Real numbers, cited, and what they do and don’t mean for your packaging.

69–74%

U.S. cardboard recycling rate, 2024

Source: AF&PA, 2025
35.8%

Recycled fiber in our corrugated sheets (32.2% post-consumer)

Source: supplier recycled-content letter, 2024
~7×

Times corrugated fiber can be recycled

Source: Fibre Box Association
94%

Of Americans can recycle corrugated in their community

Source: AF&PA Access to Recycling Study

Yes. Our corrugated boxes and displays go in standard recycling. Corrugated is the most recycled packaging material in the U.S. The American Forest & Paper Association puts the 2024 cardboard recycling rate at 69–74%, and 94% of Americans can recycle it in their community. Flatten boxes and keep them dry. Tape, labels and printing are fine, because mills screen them out.

Our corrugated sheets average 35.8% recycled fiber, including 32.2% post-consumer fiber. The exact figure varies by board grade. If you need a number for a specific box or a retailer requirement, ask and we’ll document it for your grade. The rest is fresh fiber, which keeps boxes strong.

About seven times, according to the Fibre Box Association. Each cycle shortens the paper fibers, so mills blend in fresh fiber from managed, replanted forests to keep new boxes strong. Used boxes are collected, baled and pulped at the mill, made into new containerboard, and then converted by companies like ours into your next box.

Wax-coated boxes, common in produce and meat, usually aren’t accepted in standard recycling. Boxes soaked with oil, grease or chemicals, and very wet or moldy boxes, should stay out too. Everything else, including printed boxes with tape and labels, can be recycled. Check your local program for specifics.

No. We’re an independent converter: we buy corrugated sheet from established U.S. mills and convert it in St. Louis. If your procurement team requires certified fiber, tell us up front and we’ll source board from SFI- or FSC-certified mills and provide the mill’s documentation. Because we don’t hold our own chain-of-custody certification, we can’t put an FSC or SFI label on the box.

Yes. Our flexo printing uses water-based, low-VOC inks that don’t interfere with repulping, which matters to the mills that turn used boxes into new board. Printed Wunderlich boxes go in the same recycling bin as plain ones. You can read more about our approach on our Sustainability page.

ORDERING & DELIVERY

Timelines, Logistics & What to Expect

Our 98.2% on-time delivery rate is the number we’re most proud of. Here’s how ordering works.

There’s no single minimum. It depends on the box style, the print method and the tooling. Plain or one-color flexo boxes are practical in smaller quantities, and some die-cut styles can run on our stock partial cutting dies instead of a new custom die. Custom die-cut and multi-color work costs less per box at higher volumes. Tell us your annual usage and how often you reorder, and we’ll quote the best total cost.

Most orders ship in 5–10 business days once the structure and artwork are approved. New custom designs take longer, because the structural sample comes first. Reorders of an existing item go straight to production. If you have a hard date, tell us when you request a quote and we’ll tell you honestly whether we can make it.

Your quote lists the charges up front: the box price, freight, and any one-time tooling a new item needs (a cutting die, printing plates or both). Custom corrugated runs can come in slightly over or under the ordered quantity, and your quote shows that tolerance. If you’d like to pay by credit card, let us know and we’ll tell you the exact card fee before you order.

For a few customers, yes, but it’s rarely needed. We make and ship to order, and most orders ship in 5–10 business days, so you can order close to when you need boxes instead of planning months ahead. Reorders of an existing item go straight to production, and your boxes arrive fresh rather than aging in a warehouse. If you think you need storage, ask us and we’ll talk through the options.

Almost anywhere. Our plant at 821 Clinton St. in St. Louis, Missouri, sits near the center of the country. St. Louis-area orders go out on a dedicated local delivery fleet, and trusted freight carriers handle the rest. Being central means shorter transit times and lower freight costs across the Midwest and beyond. We quote freight up front, so you’ll know the delivery cost before you order.

Call us right away at 314-231-1488. Take photos of the damage and keep the boxes and packing material, since the carrier may need them for a claim. Our quality checks are designed to catch problems before anything leaves our plant, but if something slips through or is damaged in transit, we’ll work with you to make it right quickly.

From Napkin Sketch to Loading Dock — We’re With You Every Step.

Free structural samples. 5–10 business-day lead times. In-house design and prepress. A St. Louis family business since 1860.

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