Cardboard Boxes

Skiddaw1

If you use a removal company they'll usually supply them for you (along with all the accessories you need). More cost effective overall I think.

SadieO

Flugelhorn said:

there seems to be a fairly active "passing on" of moving boxes locally - either through FB groups or other routes I had a large number and they went very quickly to people in batches 

I work for a large institution and our internal chat system always has people asking for or getting rid of boxes. We joke that it's just the one set of boxes being passed around. Which is pretty environmentally friendly I suppose! 

OP, I'd definitely recommend asking around on social media, at your workplace if you have one, or in any groups you are involved in, before buying new boxes. 

Be creative in what you use too. I just scored a huge old suitcase that a family member was about to give to a charity shop. It will fit absolutely loads in it (I might use it for clothes but not necessarily) and then I'll just pass it along to the charity shop when I've moved.

youth_leader

I bought my boxes/tape etc from kite packaging, and splashed out on 'double walled'.  Lucky I did as my daughter sent her possessions over to NI and the company she used specified this box strength.  When I moved in and unpacked I gave mine away to a very nice nurse on a Fb freepage, then had to buy more to pack again when the floors needed replacing.  I'm going to flatten this batch and store in the loft when I unpack.

Deedoodee

We got all of ours from local b&q. They were all flattened but two rolls of packing tape fixed that. One of the staff refused to give us any and directed us to the packing boxes aisle. We just walked to another bit of the store to someone else who gave use loads. 

Nifty_Purse

I work in a convenience size shop that is part of a supermarket chain. We regularly give out cardboard boxes to customers wanting them for house moves.
Yes, all boxes are flattened when emptied, but they are easy to reconstruct with tape. 
Fruit and veg does usually arrive in open topped reusable plastic trays. And crisp boxes are uselessly flimsy.
But there are plenty of other cardboard boxes we get that are a useful size and shape and are clean.
All the shops send their cardboard waste back to their depots for recycling on the lorries that bring their deliveries. So after a delivery has arrived and before the new stock has been put on the shelves there will not be empty boxes available.
Most shops do not have space to store boxes and piles of cardboard are a fire risk whether stored inside or outside.
I suspect that large stores will have lots of customers asking for them and it's easier to just say that they don't provide them.
Your best bet is a smaller shop in a small town with friendly staff that will be happy to give them away as they are more likely to only have one or two deliveries a day on may be five days a week. The large stores will have many more deliveries.

ALARA343

Costco usually has a pile of boxes for customers, and they also sell new ones!

caprikid1

I sell stuff on Ebay and use to regularly raid the recycling bins of halfords. They open a lot of boxes. It is handy to have some smaller boxes for heavier items or packing vases etc singularly or a box in a box.

MalMonroe

I'm quite amazed. 

A couple of months ago we had four large cardboard boxes, ideal for people who were moving, I thought. We couldn't get rid of them for love nor money. We put ads on freegle, freecycle, facebook, gumtree, etc. Not even one enquiry. Maybe nobody was moving then. 

We ended up flattening them and taking them to the local paper recycling place since our home cardboard and paper recycling bin was too small. 

Nobody wanted them. So strange. 

zagubov

Are you hiring professional movers or is all going to be done by you and family/friends?

If you're doing it DIY just make sure you've brightly coloured labels on all sides of the boxes so your mates know which room everything goes to.

If it's big enough to require professionals, they will often send someone the day before to box up everything in your home for a price, and you will find it is worth every penny you spend on it.

trakky14

Our movers provided ours then collected after a week or so so they could be re-used