Containers look interchangeable and are not. Four questions separate a range that works from one that generates daily problems.

Is the lid on the quote?

Base and lid are separate items with separate lead times.

If they are not paired on the quote, they will drift apart in the storeroom.

What is the nest ratio?

How tightly the empties stack into each other.

It is a rent bill you pay every day your stock is on a shelf.

What is the stack load?

How much weight a full container’s lid carries before the one beneath deforms.

This is what a delivery bag’s contents look like on arrival.

Microwave or oven?

Two different ratings, routinely blurred into one.

Ask which applies, per material, and refuse a vague answer.

Then talk about print

Colour, coverage, finish — all safely secondary to the four above.