The American Robert Gair invented the corrugated cardboard box in 1890, consisting of pre-cut flat pieces manufactured in bulk that folded into boxes. Gair's invention, as with so many other great innovations, came about as a result of an accident: he was a Brooklyn printer and paper-bag maker during the 1870s, and while he was printing an order of seed bags a metal ruler normally used to crease bags shifted in position and cut the bag. Gair discovered that by cutting and creasing cardboard in one operation he could make prefabricated cartons. Extending this to corrugated cardboard was a straightforward development when the material became available. By the start of the 20th century, corrugated cardboard boxes began replacing the custom-made wooden crates and boxes previously used for trade.

The corrugated case was initially used for packaging glass and pottery containers, which are easily broken in transit. Later, the case enabled fruit and produce to be brought from the farm to the retailer without bruising, improving the return to the producers and opening up hitherto unaffordable export markets. (There had previously been a great deal of waste when, for example, oranges were craned out of the hold of a ship, having been bulk loaded into it.)