My Favorite Kinds of Shipping Boxes

More than likely no one would stand around trying to figure out what their favorite kinds of shipping boxes are.  I am doing it because it is my job, and my job involves talking about packaging supplies and shipping boxes.  Somehow, I always come up with more to say on the subject.  This time, I’m talking about my favorites: my favorite shipping boxes, my favorite packaging tape, and my favorite shipping bags.  I will go into each category in greater detail in each respective post.  This post is going to be all about the first group.  And so, without further ado:

• Cereal boxes. You don’t think these qualify as shipping boxes?  Think again!  Why else does cereal come in a box?  The box is just a mode of transportation.  You can’t go to the Kellogg’s factory and get Rice Krispies unloaded right into your mouth!  No way!  It needs to get put in a box so that it can be delivered to a grocery store so that you can go to the grocery store specifically when you want cereal.  It’s pretty genius, if you ask me.  And I know what you might be thinking, but it’s not BS.

• Flat rate boxes. Although this particular subgroup is in direct affiliation with the United States Postal Service (otherwise known as the USPS), I have got to stand up and say that I I love it.  My best friend and her two boys live in California.  I live in Maryland (and we are each on the coast!).  Catch my drift?  We literally live as far away from each other as we possibly can.  So we like to send each other boxes and, as you can imagine, the cost of shipping is immense.  She once mailed me a large box of treats from Trader Joe’s and it cost her forty-something dollars.  Now that’s commitment.  On the other hand, she once mailed me about twenty cans of soup in a flat rate box and it only cost her fifteen dollars.  The convenience of sending anything you want to anywhere in the United States at a locked in price is just too good.
• Recycled boxes. That’s right.  I’m not ashamed to reuse a box.  If I get something from Amazon you can bet I will save that box until I need one just that size.  I can save a lot of money recycling a box I got in the mail instead of buying a brand new one every time.