Article carrier, shipping carton & package system

A combination of a tertiary carton and a plurality of packages received in the tertiary carton wherein the tertiary carton comprises a bottom panel and a plurality of side and end panels each extending upward from the bottom panel to form side and end walls, the plurality of side and end walls including a first side wall and a first end wall disposed at about a right angle with respect to one another, and a bevelled corner panel hingedly connected by respective fold lines between the first side wall and the first end wall, the plurality of packages comprising a corner package which comprises a secondary carton having a tubular structure and one or more generally cylindrical primary containers each received at least in part in the secondary carton, the tubular structure comprising a pair of opposing carton side panels, wherein the corner package is disposed with a terminal end “e1” thereof facing the inside surface of the first end wall with the tubular axis of the secondary carton thereof extending generally perpendicularly to the first end wall, wherein the secondary carton of the corner package is in contact at one of the carton side panels thereof with the first side wall, and wherein the one or more primary containers of the corner package each is disposed with the cylindrical axis thereof extending generally perpendicularly to the bottom panel, the combination being characterized by the following formula:

• a1≤½d, a2≤½d and a1≤b1,
• where “d” is the maximum diameter (or maximum lateral size) of each of the one or more primary containers, “a1” is the distance between a notional plane containing the inside surface of the first end wall and the fold line “F1” between the corner panel and the first end wall, “a2” is the distance between a notional plane containing the inside surface of the first side wall and the fold line “F2” between the corner panel and the first end wall, and “b1” is the distance between a notional plane containing the terminal end e1 of the corner package and a maximum width point “P1” along an end edge of one of the pair of carton side panels that is adjacent to the corner panel, the maximum width point P1 defining the maximum width of the secondary carton extending between itself and a point on the other of the pair of carton side panels of the secondary carton, wherein the notional plane containing the terminal end e1 is parallel to or contains the inside surface of the first end wall.