Calculate the Case Cube of a Box
"Case cube" is a measurement used in wholesale purchasing and shipping. The case cube denotes how much volume, or 3-dimensional space, a case of any given item will take up in your warehouse. The case cube may be measured in cubic feet or cubic meters. In both cases, although the single case cube measurement tells you how much space the case takes up, it doesn't break that information down into 3 dimensions. For example, how long, wide and tall each box is. So knowing the actual dimensions of a case is useful too, and is usually included on any spec or wholesale sheet that lists the case cube.
Steps
- Measure the length, width and height of a single unit in either inches or meters.
- Whichever unit of measurement you use, measure all dimensions in the same unit of measurement.
- You could also measure the unit in centimeters, but converting centimeters cubed to meters cubed (the final measurement) can be very cumbersome. Instead, divide the centimeter measurements by 100 to convert them to meters before you move on.
- The word "unit" refers to whatever quantity the item is being sold/packaged in. So a single bottle, box or bag would be a unit. But if the item in question is being sold as a 3-pack of bottles, you'd have to measure all 3 bottles, as they're packaged together, to get the dimensions for calculating the case cube.
- Multiply the length, width and height of the unit together.
- Divide the result by 1728 if your measurements were in inches. The resulting number is the case cube in feet cubed. If your measurements were in meters, no division is necessary; your result is the case cube in meters cubed.
- Finished.
Tips
- Other information usually included on a wholesale pricing/specs sheet is: unit weight and case weight, case dimensions, unit dimensions or volume, and case pack, or how many units are included per case.
- If the company or distributor you're purchasing from deals in international sales, the spec sheet will probably include the case cube, dimensions, weight and other specifications in both metric and Imperial measurements (cubic meters and kilograms, feet cubed and pounds, respectively).
- Knowing the case cube for a given product is most useful if you're warehousing cases, instead of opening the cases and storing or stocking units individually. But it's also of use when you're calculating shipping costs, or the amount of room a certain number of cases take into a given shipping container.
- All additional padding or other necessary packing/shipping materials must also be taken into consideration.
- Most wholesalers offer discounts when you purchase by the case. But that won't do you any good if you don't have room to store the product because of its size, or if you incur extra shipping costs because of the actual room the whole case takes in the shipping container.
