Banker’s boxes, moving boxes, storage boxes, gift boxes… They all cost so much to buy new!
Why can products be so cheap when the box it comes in would retail for thrice the cost?
I’ve become a hoarder of cardboard boxes and gift bags. It saves money to have extra boxes from the grocery store or other orders on hand to avoid paying for boxes at the post office or from a moving company.
Why are boxes so expensive to buy new?
byu/only_a_jest inFrugal
Posted by only_a_jest
11 Comments
Our local recycling center sells good boxes for 25 cents each.
Go to a restaurant that serves a lot of eggs. Ask them if you can get some of their egg boxes or if they’ll save you some to pick up. They are good-sized and have little handles.
You can buy them online for much cheaper. I mover a family of 4 from a 2,500 sq ft house for around $150 in boxes.
Having uniform sized boxes also helps with the actual moving and stacking. Random boxes are just so much more effort to pack/stack/balance.
Small sized moving boxes from Walmart are like $1 each ( I would link it, but apparently that’s not allowed here). Granted they’re also probably thinner/flimsier than a similar sized box from Uhaul or whatever, but if you pack it right, you won’t notice it.
As for other types of boxes, it’s because of the needs of what the box needs to do and/or space requirements (such as shipping a box through USPS – standard sizes means easier stacking/sorting)
Ask your local fast food joint for empty boxes.
The McDonald’s I worked at would save boxes for people who asked at no charge.
Around here in the US, people offer and ask for moving boxes on FB all the time. Lots of boxes change hands for free.
All you have to do is call Burger King, McDonald’s or another fast food restaurant and ask them to save boxes for you. Food Service boxes are the best. All designed to hold 50 pounds+ and also stack properly for transport.
You mean I’ve been sitting on a gold mine of Amazon boxes that I just gave away to the recycling center.
I got my moving boxes at the liquor store, didn’t have to buy any. They have piles for people to take at most liquor stores.
The gift bags it definitely makes sense to hoard those and I’ve been doing that since well, I was a little girl so that’s a long time now. Buy them on sale after the holiday. If you need one for a specific occasion, the dollar tree has your back for less than $2.
You can also go to the loading dock of places like grocery stores and ask for boxes, they will give them to you. It costs money for the companies to dispose of boxes so they are happy when you take them.
Because even if they cost basically nothing to make they still have to ship them and they take up a ton of space. The bigger something is the more it costs to ship. It takes up space other things could have.
Ask your local grocery store to save boxes for you. They typically will. Banana boxes are nice.