Different size boxes for lateral flow tests

[Doireallyneedaname]

Just received our weekly packs for myself and partner and each box is a different size. Surely they’re meant to be exactly the same? They also have a label stating they’ve been made in China.

I think it’s general paranoia but this makes me feel nervous.

Has anybody else had this?

Have you considered the fact that maybe there's more than one factory producing these?
We've had the ones with 1 test and 3 tests. We can pick up a box with 7 tests at our local library.

This isn't like trying to work out if your new handbag from eBay is a genuine or fake. As long as the swabs etc are sealed and you got them from an official source like a testing centre then no need to be paranoid.

Having opened I dont know how many boxes of the bulk tests kits (25/box) yes, there are slight variations in the contents. But ours were all legitimate boxes, delivered directly by the NHS, and all made in China.
If you are expecting both boxes, it's just differences - like the milk sometimes comes in slightly different shapes boxes.

I would have thought these things go through some form of QC and would therefore all be the same size.

I would not expect the boxes to go through QC. It's a global pandemic - as long as the boxes survive transporting and have the correct info on it, there's no need to waste time on QC for the box.

I get boxes of 7 online and from work and ds gets boxes of 3 from school. Both are made in China as the irony amused us.

so long as they’re safe

I'm sorry, what could be unsafe about a box and the tests inside? They're not transporting Covid from China.

Dh & DD get theirs from their schools. They come in blue boxes and sit neatly on shelves looking like books. Their solutions come measured out in individual tubes. Not sure how many they contain. Maybe 7? DH does nasal and throat swabs, DD does nasal only.

My NHS ones come in a large khaki cubic box, I measure out the testing solution myself and I'm still on my first box - started testing 2x a week at the start of Feb. I only do a nasal swab.

I think how it's actually packaged us the last if your problems here, OP

I can't actually believe that I am reading this.

We've got boxes of 7, 3 and 1. All different sizes boxes.

What's made in China for to do with anything?

The amount of bloody packaging pisses me off but it has never occurred to me to be nervous about different sizes boxes!

Is this for real?

I have the pleasure of two work places insisting they give me LFTs, despite knowing the other is doing it - I've come to an arrangement with one I won't use them but will use them for the benefit of my family. I read an article that the packs of 25 in white and green boxes were monitored and those that were 100% accurate.

There's complicated supply chain issues at every step of manufacture and packing. Maybe one box supplier has different standard size boxes from another. Maybe because of the volume of tests being manufactured and shipped the company just had to use whatever boxes are available from whatever supplier has stock.

I get boxes of 7 from the school I work in, DC get boxes of 3 from their school, DH got a box of 7 from the left testing centre but box looked different to mine. I
They all have the same contents.

Half the stuff we have in this country is made in china. Why would that be concerning?

Millions if not billions of these tests are being churned out each day, they are not all made in the same factory, there will be slight differences but at the end of the day, the important bits are all the same. Who cares what the box looks like?

We have a range of boxes that are mine, DHs and the DCs. They are all blue and white.

I have not thought to measure them against each other to see in one box is slightly smaller.

I don’t think I will now.

This is a non-issue. Hope you’re reassured Op.

@Doireallyneedaname

My son and I are both testing now. Our test cassettes are different sizes and styles, our swabs are different sizes. Our boxes are very different...