This way up (two arrows)
The box must travel and be stored with the arrows pointing up: the side the arrows point to is the top.
Who puts it on the box
The sender or packer prints or sticks it on, usually on all four upright sides, because the contents would spill, leak or break if the box were laid on its side or turned over.
How to read it
Keep the arrows pointing to the ceiling when you carry, stack or store the box. When you open it, open the top the arrows point to. ISO 780:1997 put the arrows near the top left corner of all four sides, and closer to the corner than the glass when both marks are used; the 2015 edition still fixes where and how many.
What it does not promise
It does not promise the box stayed upright: parcel conveyors, chutes and delivery vans turn boxes over, and a mark cannot stop them. It does not promise the contents are a liquid or a dangerous good either — that is what the red or black orientation arrows of the dangerous-goods rules and the hazard labels are for.
A mark on a parcel is the sender’s statement about what is inside and how it should be handled. It is not a certificate that the parcel is packed safely, that anyone handled it as marked, or that your carrier accepts it: for what you may send, read the carrier’s own terms.
- What it looks like
- Two parallel arrows pointing up, standing on a short horizontal bar, printed in black near the top corner of the box sides.
- Standard
- ISO 780:2015, symbol No. 13 — This way up
- Kind of mark
- A handling symbol from ISO 780, the international standard for handling marks on distribution packages. ISO 780 marks are always black; they say how to handle the package, never that its contents are dangerous.
- Also called
- Up arrows; This side up; Keep upright
Related
Other marks with the same shape
Sources
Each document was fetched and read on the date shown. Written in our own words; quotations are the documents’ wording.
- Symbol list — IBJ / bravecroc (graphical-symbol file vendor): ISO 780 EN Symbols (2015-12): the 17 ISO 780:2015 symbols with their numbers and titles — Lists ISO 780 symbol No. 13, “THIS WAY UP”, with a reference drawing, in the 2015 numbering. Checked 2026-09-27.
- Standard (preview pages) — ISO (preview pages published by iTeh Standards): ISO 780:2015 Packaging — Distribution packaging — Graphical symbols for handling and storage of packages, 5th edition 2015-12-01 (preview: foreword to Table 1) — Foreword: the 17 symbols of the 2015 edition; clause 3.3: symbols are black, never red, orange or yellow (to avoid confusion with dangerous-goods labels); 3.4: normally 100, 150 or 200 mm tall; 3.5 and 3.6: how many and where are fixed for symbols No. 1, 2, 3, 8 and 13; the introduction: “The use of graphical symbols does not provide any guarantee of satisfactory handling”. Checked 2026-09-27.
- Standard (preview pages) — ISO (preview pages published by iTeh Standards): ISO 780:1997 Packaging — Pictorial marking for handling of goods, 4th edition (preview: clause 2 and part of Table 1) — Clause 2.4.1 b): “This way up” goes in the same position as “Fragile” (top left corner of all four upright sides) and nearer the corner when both are used. Checked 2026-09-27.