Really Useful Boxes is a UK-based company that manufactures plastic storage boxes for homes and offices.
The boxes are mostly made from semi-transparent polypropylene, and have blue or yellow hinged clips to keep the lids shut. Some other colours are available at higher cost – I use black ones to store photographs and negatives, for example.
The boxes are really sturdy and solid, and I appreciate how, well, useful they are. I have nothing to do with them other than being a reasonably satisfied customer.
The main problem I've had with the boxes over the years is sometimes the protruding flange of the box lids can break.
One of the useful things about the product line is stackability. Many of their boxes can stack neatly since they have the same area but different heights. (most other brands of plastic boxes have highly tapered sides, making stacking impractical)
Stackability is super useful for organizing even if you don't physically stack up the boxes. You can standardize your shelves into specific widths and depths, then vary shelf heights to accommodate the appropriate boxes! I do this a lot with the 18L and 35L boxes, for example.
So you want to buy some boxes, and you want to know which ones can stack on which other ones.
Sadly the Really Useful Boxes' corporate website is, to be brutally honest, pretty awful. It’s like something from 25 years ago before people figured out how to make websites. It’s crudely made, and hard to read and navigate. Worst of all they don't tell you what box sizes stack together! Seriously. How are you supposed to know what to buy, without wading through tables of box measurements?
The closest they get is a low-resolution JPEG showing the boxes stacked. It's tiny with nearly illegible writing.
A couple years ago I emailed them with a simple zero-cost suggestion that will help customers and probably sell more boxes - just put up a page listing the boxes in stackable groups. They didn't reply. Oh well.
So I worked out the stacking groups for my own use. And, in case it's useful to you, here is my list. I've grouped them into simple letter groups, from small to large.
The numbers are the capacity in litres, outside dimensions in millimetres, inside dimensions, and weight in grams. XL means a box with a tall lid.
STACKING GROUP A
0.2 L box 120 x 085 x 045 mm 090 x 065 x 032 mm 46g
0.3 L box 120 x 085 x 065 090 x 065 x 055 54g
STACKING GROUP B
0.35 L box 155 x 100 x 040 120 x 080 x 035 67g
0.7 L box 155 x 100 x 080 120 x 080 x 070 90g
STACKING GROUP C
0.75 L box 195 x 135 x 055 150 x 110 x 045 143g
1.6 L box 195 x 135 x 110 150 x 110 x 095 200g
STACKING GROUP D
1.75 L box 245 x 180 x 078 205 x 150 x 060 306
3 L box 245 x 180 x 160 190 x 143 x 120 500
STACKING GROUP E
2.5 L box 340 x 200 x 70 290 x 160 x 50 365g
5 L box 340 x 200 x 125 285 x 160 x 105 540g
5 L XL box 340 x 200 x 150 285 x 160 x 135 570g
8 L open front box 340 x 200 x 175 290 x 165 x 153 590g
STACKING GROUP F
0.8 L box 355 x 100 x 040 320 x 080 x 030 155g
1.5 L box 355 x 100 x 070 320 x 080 x 060 195g
STACKING GROUP G
4 L box 395 x 255 x 088 348 x 220 x 068 700g
9 L box 395 x 255 x 155 335 x 210 x 140 900g
9 L XL box (7" small) 395 x 255 x 205 335 x 210 x 180 1000g
14 L open front box 395 x 255 x 210 336 x 214 x 190 950g
19 L box 395 x 255 x 290 315 x 205 x 270 1200g
19 L XL box (LP small) 395 x 255 x 330 315 x 205 x 310 1300g
25 L box 395 x 255 x 360 330 x 220 x 345 1362g
STACKING GROUP H
6 L box 465 x 270 x 085 400 x 225 x 070 890g
12 L box 465 x 270 x 150 415 x 235 x 140 998g
24 L box 465 x 270 x 290 380 x 230 x 270 1450g
STACKING GROUP J
18 L box 480 x 390 x 200 395 x 335 x 170 1300g
18 L XL box (7" medium) 480 x 390 x 230 395 x 335 x 200 1500g
35 L box 480 x 390 x 310 370 x 310 x 280 2100g
35 L XL box (LP medium) 480 x 390 x 345 370 x 310 x 310 2300g
STACKING GROUP K
20 L box 710 x 440 x 120 610 x 370 x 090 2150g
33 L box 710 x 440 x 165 605 x 370 x 145 2233g
50 L box 710 x 440 x 230 605 x 370 x 200 2700g
64 L box 710 x 440 x 310 605 x 370 x 280 3100g
64 L open front box 710 x 440 x 310 605 x 370 x 280 3100g
84 L box 710 x 440 x 380 605 x 370 x 355 3300g
STACKING GROUP L
70 L box 810 x 620 x 225 710 x 545 x 190 4240g
145 L box 810 x 620 x 430 710 x 545 x 400 5500g
Note that, at one point at least, a different series of boxes was sold under the Really Useful Box name in North America. However these were markedly inferior to the UK ones - they were thinner and generally a bit flimsier, and not compatible size-wise to the UK originals. From what I can tell these crappy boxes have been discontinued and the US-made ones now follow the UK designs.