Minimum order quantities on custom crates are one of the more frustrating things to get a straight answer about, because the number depends on which kind of custom you mean. There are three, and they have very different thresholds.
Custom means three different things
A standard crate, printed or coloured. Low threshold. Colour is a resin choice and printing is a secondary operation. Small runs are possible, though unit cost is higher because setup is spread across fewer units.
An existing tool, modified. Moderate. If the change is within the existing mould – a different vent pattern, a modified handle – the tooling cost is an insert or an edit rather than a new tool, and the minimum drops a long way.
A brand new mould. High. A crate mould is a serious piece of tooling and it is amortised over the units produced. Below a certain volume the tooling cost per crate is larger than the crate, which is why new moulds have high minimums.
Why the minimum exists
It is not a sales tactic. Injection moulding has a long setup: the tool has to be fitted, the process brought to stability, and the first hundred shots are scrap or near-scrap. That cost is fixed whether you make five hundred crates or fifty thousand. On a short run it dominates.
Anyone who tells you otherwise is either absorbing the cost or hiding it in the unit price, and it is fair to ask which.
What to do below the minimum
Three options, in order of how often they are the right answer. First: use a standard crate. Most of the time a standard size fits, and the money saved goes further than the dimension you wanted to change.
Second: modify an existing tool. If what you need is a different vent layout or a handle change, this often lands under the new-tool minimum.
Third: accept a higher unit price on a short run. Sometimes worth it for a trial before committing to volume.
What a supplier needs to quote it
Dimensions, target fill weight, crop, vent requirements, colour, whether it needs printing, annual volume and how quickly you need the first delivery. Annual volume matters more than first order – a supplier can be flexible on the opening order if the repeat is real. We covered sizing in what size crate you need for 20 kg of tomatoes, which is the usual starting point.
What tooling actually costs, and who owns it
Worth asking directly, because it affects the whole deal. A crate mould is a substantial piece of steel and the price varies with size and complexity. Some suppliers quote the crate price with tooling amortised into it and some quote tooling separately.
Either can be fair, but ask two follow-ups. Who owns the tool – you or the supplier – and what happens if you want to move production later. A tool you have paid for and do not own is a tool you cannot take elsewhere, and that is worth knowing before rather than after.
Also ask about tool life. A mould has a finite number of shots before it needs refurbishing, and on a long-running crate that cost will come round.
What we can do
We make PP fruit and vegetable crates and we will tell you which of the three routes applies before quoting. Send us what you need and your volumes and we will say plainly whether a new mould is justified – and usually, at moderate volumes, it is not.