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CHEAP moving boxes are not necessarily used boxes; they can be new too depending on how cheap is cheap. This is an important issue concerning moving boxes because it is directly related to quality: the last nightmare you want is your moving boxes giving away in transit and spilling out their contents.
Why cheap moving boxes: Best-quality moving boxes are available in the United States; so why should the issue of cheap boxes arise in the first place? Well, new moving boxes are considerably more expensive than you can imagine if you haven’t moved before. Since these boxes usually become useless after a move has been completed, it is natural for the moved party to try recouping at least some of the cost incurred in purchasing them. That explains the availability of used boxes at cheap prices.
Another explanation relates to the environmental costs of manufacturing cardboard, hence moving boxes. Social responsibility therefore demands moving boxes be circulated as many times as feasible before being recycled in the factory.
New or used: Let’s classify cheap moving boxes into two categories: ‘discount boxes’, and ‘really cheap boxes’. (Note: ‘Discount boxes’ is an industry term, but ‘really cheap boxes’ is a term we have coined for the purpose of this report).
- Discount boxes: Discount boxes are new boxes. They come10%-25% cheaper than new boxes bought in retail quantities from the regular dealers. The question arises: if these boxes are new and of good quality, how can their suppliers afford to offer discounts? The answer lies in the basic economic principle that bulk purchases work out to a lower unit price of any product or commodity. Suppliers of discount moving boxes buy hundreds of thousands of boxes directly from manufacturers every year; thus, they get their boxes at lower unit price and are able to sell them to their retail customers at discounted prices even after adding their own profit margin.
Another reason lies in the gradual diminution or elimination of the middleman from trade as a result of the Internet. Some manufacturers pull end-customers directly through their websites and the margin that would otherwise have gone to the middleman now goes to the end-customer.
- Really cheap boxes: By this, we mean boxes that come at anything between 40% to 85% lower prices. Usually, these boxes are used. Used boxes must not however be confused with poor quality. You can get used but good quality boxes from the neighborhood store, particularly stores that sell TV, computers, and alcoholic drinks. Wal-Mart too sells off used moving boxes at cheap prices, usually every night. These are boxes that contained the various products and commodities retailed by these stores. Many of these boxes have traveled from places as far as China, hence were manufactured to withstand the rigors of trans-continental shipping. So, though these boxes are technically used, they remain of usable quality for a few more moves.
Of course, the above argument may not apply to cheap boxes you purchased with the knowledge that they have been used before. These are boxes obtained from personal contacts with people who have just moved and who sold you their used boxes at a throwaway price. Many of these boxes may be into their third cycle of use when you get them, but this shouldn’t be an issue since you know they have been used. As long as they are in usable condition, the ‘used’ nature doesn’t really matter – even if they come for free from friends, neighbors, and community web portals like www.craigslist.com.
Summary
Cheap moving boxes may be new boxes or they may have a history of use. It depends on how cheap they have come to you. Discount boxes come 10% to 25% cheaper than regular market prices of individual boxes. Such discounts are possible due to the price advantage of bulk purchases enjoyed by the trade, or by the diminution or elimination of the traditional middleman. Boxes that come cheaper by 40% or more (which we have referred to as ‘really cheap boxes’), have certainly been used before unless the seller is making a stock clearance sale. New boxes or used boxes, does it really matter if they can be used for one more move – that is, the move you are about to make? |
