BOXING DAY, the name given in Great Britain to the day after Christmas Day, on which Christmas "boxes," or presents, are given to errand boys, postmen, etc. It is a bank holiday (q.v.).
One of the most important changes in manufacturing and marketing that has taken place within recent years has been the change from bulk goods to packed goods. Consumers have come to know by manufacturers' brands such commodities as tea, coffee, ice-cream, confectionery, cereals, toilet articles, pillow cases, safety razors, medical preparations, rubber goods, fountain pens, pencils, electrical appliances, sporting goods, silverware, stationery, tools—to indicate only a few distinct lines of merchandise.
Consequently, one of the first problems considered in market ing a new product is how it is to be packed. Many manufacturers by packaging their goods are able to trade-mark products that could not otherwise be identified. Thus standard articles and everyday necessities are distinguishable from competitive ones. Products that were formerly just beef suet, tooth paste or silk stockings have become things with various well-advertised trade names.
The demand for attractive paper boxes is constantly increasing. Manufacturers and retailers everywhere realize that pretty boxes are a powerful factor in selling merchandise. Sales prove it. Some hold that the paper box is responsible for 5o% of the sales of merchandise over the counter. There was a time when a box was merely a container—a receptacle for a certain product, and noth ing else. But since manufacturers discovered not only the hygienic appeal of the sealed box, but the value of the surface of the container, all that has been changed. Now, it would be difficult to discover any kind of seasonable gift that is not boxed—and artistically boxed—before it is offered for sale. It is, however, not yet generally appreciated that the paper box can give display value and package protection for one cost.
The modern boxmaker must not only be able to make boxes; he must possess creative talents, selling ability and business expe rience. He must understand art work, colour scheme, designing, engraving and printing—all of which have a material effect upon the success of both his and his customer's business. It is always possible for the creative boxmaker to design a package suitable for a particular product, with proper consideration for the rela tionship between cost of package and price of merchandise.
Some of the methods used by manufacturers in obtaining attrac tive boxes make use of : (1) elaborate art work; (2) embossed effects; (3) many colours; (4) luminous or phosphorescent paints; (5) metallic coated papers, made in gold, silver, aluminium and other shades. Often a clever selection of paper alone has been the means of securing a contract for a box maker, and an infinite variety of tinted effects can be obtained in many grades of paper for the various types of boxes which are now manufactured.
The tendency towards specializing is becoming more and more pronounced in the paper box industry. There has been a tremen dous increase in the use of window and store display material, and among the various kinds of paper board products manufactured are window and counter displays, cut-outs, mammoth sizes of cartons, and advertising novelties of every conceivable size, shape and variety. Cartons form an important branch of paper box manufacture. Comparatively inexpensive, suitably designed car tons serve the purpose of protecting their contents from dust, moisture and germs, and they can be made as effective as the ingenuity of the box maker and the artistic appreciation of his client will allow.
Scoring or bending the cut boards is the next operation, and then, if required, piecing together the box body. Corner cutting follows, and thereafter corner staying to make the box rigid.
Banding or covering the box is an operation which requires careful preliminary planning. Perhaps the greatest cause of irrita tion in the banding department is delay in having the work ready for the girls. This matter depends largely upon good planning, and involves practically all the male operatives. The cutting and scoring control the situation, but the corner cutting and corner staying sections have to work in regular order and sequence or delay in the banding department is the result.
It is not generally realized that lacing can be done at a very high speed in one stroke on an ordinary banding machine. The usual method of fenting and lacing is by hand (for hinged lids) by use of the gluing tray or board and brush. The up-to-date method, however, is by the ordinary banding machine and a small attachment which conveys the calico and lace from the reel. It is interesting to note that the output by glue, board and brush, is about 3o gross per week of 48 hours, while the output by the banding machine method is about 115 gross per week of 48 hours, for one adult and one helper.
By means of a simple attachment to the banding machine, it is possible to band rims with covering paper, and also to affix a glu ing strip in one operation. The rim is secured to the box after leaving block on banding machine, by the helper in attendance. In this way rims can be secured at the rate of 12 to 13 gross per day of 84 hours.
For a hinged lid type of box, a back and strengthening strip are required. The lid goes through the same operations as the box, with the exception of piecing. In the finish of the box, the con tainer itself, after banding, requires a bottom, and the lid requires a plain top or printed label.
Fancy boxes, which include folding boxes of novel shapes, require special treatment. One of the most popular containers recently introduced is a transparent box of celluloid which en ables the buyer to see at a glance exactly what he is buying. The bottom of the box is made of thin, strong cardboard, and this adds considerably to the strength of the container.
Improvements in folding-box manufacture progressed from 1868 to 1882, when the principles of cutting and creasing folding boxes which still obtain were discovered. These consist of an arrange ment of cutting and creasing blades so combined in a die that the contour of the folding-box blank, with its locks and other peculiarities, is sharply cut out by the former and its pliable bents are formed by the latter. These blades are held firmly in posi tion by straight or accurately scrolled wooden blocks conforming to the dimensions of the folding box and its outline. A modern cutting and creasing press operates with velocity and accuracy. Its steel cylinder, which carries the box board over the die form, is made ready to permit the sharp blades to penetrate the board, at the same time giving a counter die reception to the dull creasing blades which form the bents. The cut and creased box-board sheet is held together by minute necks joining the blanks, and the whole is expelled from the slight recess of the dies by the numerous rubber crowns that prevail over its surface. The folding-box blanks are separated by hand and dexterously relieved of waste particles. The final gluing process is accomplished on high speed machines at the rate of from 1 oo,000 to 5oo,000 in nine hours.
The newest German process for making transparent windows or inspection openings in paper and cardboard boxes with the aid of gelatine is characterized by the fact that in a single working process one or more such apertures can be gelatined together with the piece of work itself.
According to data collected at the biennial census of manu factures taken in 1926, the establishments engaged primarily in the manufacture of paper boxes and of decorated and fancy covered metal boxes in the United States, reported for 1925 a total production valued at $281,943,969, an increase of 6.7% as compared with $264,209,159 for 1923, the last preceding census year.
An approximate estimate of the number of workpeople employed in the paper box trade in Great Britain based upon an examina tion of the figures of the 1921 census in comparison with the estimated number of persons insured under the Unemployment Insurance acts suggests that the number of workpeople employed in this trade as defined for trade board purposes in Great Britain is about 31,500, of whom 3,500 are males and 28,000 females. The classifications in the various returns upon which this estimate is based do not, however, coincide precisely with the trade board definition of the paper box trade, and the figure must be regarded as no more than a rough approximation.
The selling value of the production of boxes of paper and cardboard in 1924 was £5,351,000. Boxes and cartons of paper and cardboard exported from Great Britain in the year 1924 amounted in value to £217,000, or about 4% of the value at the works of the ascertained production of such boxes, and the value of the net imports was 161,000. The net output of the factories and workshops to which the above statement applied amounted to £2,972,000, that sum representing the amount by which the total value of the output (L5,482,000) exceeded the cost of the materials purchased and used (£2,486,000) and the value of work given out (£24,000). The net output per head of persons em ployed in 1924 was £153, in 1912 £61 and in 1907 £52.
Minimum rates of wages have been fixed by the paper box trade board (Great Britain) and are dependent upon the "Cost of living" index figures. As from May 1, 1927, the minimum time-rate for male workers per week of 48 hours has been 66s. and for female workers 29s. 6d. (B. W. B.)