Supplier of Cheap Boxes for Moving

nik_k

We are in the process of buying a house, and are getting ready to pack up our current house.

In the past, when we moved into this house, we borrowed some plastic tea-crate boxes, which were great and swallowed up most of the stuff we needed to transport. However, this time round, we don't have access to those boxes, and are therefore looking for alternatives.

Someone mentioned getting cardboard boxes from the local supermarkets. This is OK in principle, but I doubt we will find enough of the right size/strength boxes necessary.

I have looked into tea-crate rental, but, due to our location (West Wales), the delivery/pick-up costs involved are exorbitant.

I have also looked on the Net to see if there are companies selling suitable boxes, and was surprised to see what a big market this now is, and also surprised to see what stupid prices these businesses are charging for bits of cardboard!

SO...my question to you all is, does anyone have any suggestions as to where I could get the right boxes at the right price? Preferably rigid plastic crates, but cardboard would also be OK I guess.

Bargain_Rzl

One word - Freecycle.

www.freecycle.org

I've got rid of lots of boxes that way

pieceoffluff

i'm moving soon found ebay to be the cheapest trying typing 'moving boxes' etc into the search box

olive84

My OH works next to a Rymans, and they gave him loads of boxes for free. Do you have any markets near you? We also got hundreds of boxes from our local market. If you go down at the end when they are all leaving there are usually loads of boxes left behind. I could never bring myself to pay for boxes, but you can usually find some around. The boxes I have sitting empty (!) at my house at the moment look strong enough for me.

Doozergirl

Yup, a second for freecycle.org! It must be Bargain Rzl giving me their boxes! Seriously, if you ask for boxes, you get people who have used professional movers and so you get the most perfect boxes. I've struck lucky in my last two moves.

Supermarkets are rubbish these days as a lot of the boxes are rip boxes, which makes them next to useless.

Bookshops apparantly have very good boxes but my local little one don't have enough left over but the manager there did say to try larger branches in shopping centres etc.

KatrinaC_2

I'd third Freecycle. If that gives you no joy, my local Morrisons and Asda tend to keep their fruit boxes on the shop floor and dispose of them in batches. We got dozens of really strong, stackable banana type boxes which are ideal for heavy things and especially books. Having moved house twice in 6 months, I must have got dozens of boxes from both stores and they were quite happy to help me take them back to the car even if I hadn't bought anything during the visit.

Kat

rosysparkle

I was going to say banana boxes but Katrina beat me to it! If you ask in stores, they are often very helpful.

My best tip is go for more small boxes rather than lots of large boxes. Larger boxes are heavier and more of a chore to pack/unpack.

Poundshops or places like Netto and Aldi often have those foldable plastic crates.

bylromarha

I 4th freecycle!

Our friend bought some boxes from access, they went through them, us, and 2 more families before they were freecycled by me in good condition (though lots of writing on!)

nik_k

Thanks for all the replies and suggestions. I had never used Freecycle before, but have now posted some requests on there. Not sure how successful I'll be, coz West Wales seems to be a bit on the quiet side in terms of people offering stuff, but it's definitely worth a try