A jewelry store has small boxes in which to wrap the items that it sells. The diagram below shows one of the boxes. The diagram is not to scale. What is the lateral area of the box to the nearest whole number? Use the large 15 cm x 8 cm rectangles on the top and bottom as bases.

To find the lateral area of the box, we need to find the area of each of the four rectangles that make up the sides of the box.

The two shorter rectangles each have a length of 8 cm and a height of 6 cm (since the total height of the box is 12 cm and the 2 cm on the top and bottom are taken up by the bases). Therefore, the area of each of these rectangles is 8 cm * 6 cm = 48 cm^2.

The two longer rectangles each have a length of 15 cm and a height of 6 cm. Therefore, the area of each of these rectangles is 15 cm * 6 cm = 90 cm^2.

Adding up the areas of all four rectangles gives us the lateral area of the box: 48 cm^2 + 48 cm^2 + 90 cm^2 + 90 cm^2 = 276 cm^2.

Therefore, the lateral area of the box is 276 square centimeters to the nearest whole number.