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Moving means planning and completing a number of steps. One of the most overlooked steps is finding the best place to buy moving boxes. While some people may be able to source some spare boxes from a friend or from work, these boxes have typically already been used, reducing their durability and effectiveness.
Instead of secondhand or even third-hand boxes, consider the recommendations below to learn where to buy moving boxes. One of these retailers can help you to find cheap moving boxes for one-time moves, thick and durable moving boxes for repeated use, or even custom moving boxes to store precious keepsakes, flat-screen TVs, or fragile kitchenware.
1. Walmart
Price Range: $ to $$
Return Policy: Return eligible items in store, by mail, or through a scheduled pickup within 90 days of purchase.
Top Products: Pen+Gear Large Recycled Moving and Storage Boxes (25 Count)—$51.50 and uBoxes Medium Cardboard Moving Boxes (20 Pack)—$39.98
Founded in 1945, Walmart didn’t actually open its first official store until 1962. The retailer sought out to find lower-cost suppliers so it could sell its products at low prices and generate high-volume sales. Now one of the fastest-growing companies in the world, Walmart continues to offer products at a lower price than many competitors, making it a popular choice for shoppers on a budget. Its inventory includes a wide range of boxes for moving in various sizes, shapes, and thicknesses. Find specialized boxes to pack up fragile glassware or simply invest in a bulk pack of medium and large moving boxes to fit a home’s entire contents.
2. Amazon
Price Range: $ to $$
Return Policy: Most items shipped from Amazon.com can be returned for a full refund within 30 days or purchase. However, return policies of individual sellers may vary.
Top Products: Large Moving Boxes with Handles (12 Pack)—$40.99 and Bankers Box SmoothMove Classic Moving Boxes (20 Pack)—$59.99
Getting its start in 1994, Amazon was originally called Cadabra, Inc., but the company quickly changed its name when it was mistaken for the word “cadaver.” Amazon initially focused on selling books online, but as the website rapidly grew in popularity, it also increased its product offerings, transitioning into its current incarnation. Now a multifaceted online publisher, video-streaming service, and shipping company, Amazon remains one of the most successful online retailers, selling an impressive variety of products, from groceries to appliances.
Amazon’s widespread notoriety and popularity have helped draw many manufacturers and smaller retailers to the online retail giant, where they use the online space to sell their products. This wide-ranging marketplace gives consumers looking for moving boxes many options from which to choose, including the size, style, and even the specific manufacturer, so they can invest in a high-quality product to help them move.
3. Lowe’s
Price Range: $ to $$
Return Policy: Eligible products can be returned in store or online (with a free return label) within 90 days of purchase.
Top Products: Classic Large Cardboard Moving Box with Handle Holes—$2.34 and Large Cardboard Wardrobe Moving Box with Handle Holes—$16.98
Despite coming in second behind The Home Depot in the big-box home improvement store space, Lowe’s started in the retail business back in 1921, long before The Home Depot was founded in 1978. Additionally, Lowe’s has a business model similar to The Home Depot’s, providing a wide range of tools, outdoor furniture, appliances, packing supplies, and more.
Lowe’s may not have the largest selection of moving boxes in the current retail market, but the products it does offer are high quality. Shoppers can pair them with a variety of packing supplies that Lowe’s also carries, such as packing tape, heavy-duty plastic wrap, packing paper, moving blankets, packing foam, and dish or glass kits for fragile glassware.
4. U-Haul
Price Range: $ to $$$
Return Policy: New merchandise in its original packaging can be returned via mail to a U-Haul warehouse within 30 days of purchase. Contact the company to start the return process. Moving boxes are covered by U-Haul’s box buy-back guarantee and can be returned in store at any time for a full refund with receipt.
Top Products:Medium Moving Box (20 Pack)—$32.60 and 3-4 Bedroom Household Kit—$348.89
Back in 1945, U-Haul got its start as a trailer rental business that expanded through franchising with gas stations. The company started with a $5,000 investment, and operated out of a garage owned by the founder’s in-laws. Within 10 years, the company had grown exponentially, with more than 10,000 U-Haul trailers nationwide.
Since its inception, U-Haul has continued to grow, even becoming a temporary resource for UPS, USPS, and FedEx during December—when holiday shipments are at their peak. The company specializes in moves, so it’s no surprise that U-Haul offers a range of moving box products, including small, medium, large, and extra-large box sizes; glassware boxes; TV moving boxes; wine-shipping kits; and wardrobe moving boxes.
5. Office Depot
Price Range: $ to $$$
Return Policy: Unopened office supplies are eligible for in-store or online returns within 90 days of purchase. The return window varies by product type, however, and may be as short as 14 days. Office Depot brand products (aside from ink and toner) have no return window limit if they are new and unopened.
Top Products: Heavy-Duty Large Corrugated Moving Box—$8.49 and Bankers Box SmoothMove Classic Moving Boxes (5 Pack)—$15.99
This popular office supply retailer was founded in 1986 with a small store in Lauderdale Lakes, Florida. Since its founding, Office Depot has merged several times and acquired additional properties, including Office Club, Viking Direct, and OfficeMax—expanding well beyond American borders to become the international company known as the ODP Corporation.
Office Depot produces and sells a wide variety of office supplies, including moving box products to store sensitive office documents and other materials safely. Office Depot’s moving boxes typically have thick cardboard bases and sides to help prevent the boxes from collapsing or sustaining damage during a move.
Shop Office Depot moving boxes
6. Staples
Price Range: $ to $$
Return Policy: Return new and unopened products with a receipt in store or by mail. The eligible return window varies by product type, but office supplies are eligible for a return at any time.
Top Products: Bankers Box SmoothMove Moving Boxes (5 Pack)—$13.99 and Bankers Box SmoothMove Classic Moving Boxes Kit (12 Pack)—$38.88
Founded in 1985 to meet a need for office supplies, Staples grew rapidly, expanding to the Canadian market just 6 years later in 1991 and becoming a Fortune 500 company in 1996 as sales surpassed $3 billion.
Staples offers a range of products that fall into the office, school, and business niche, including a modest variety of packing and moving supplies. Shoppers can pick up safety gloves, furniture straps, wardrobe hanging bars, furniture pads, and an assortment of moving boxes.
7. UsedCardboardBoxes
Price Range: $ to $$
Return Policy: Unopened “shipping modules” are eligible for a return if the company is contacted within 3 business days of delivery. A 20 percent restocking fee and return shipping costs will apply.
Top Products: 3 Bedroom Moving Kit (64 Pack)—$209.95 and Medium Moving Boxes Kit (20 Pack)—$54.95
Founded in 2006 with a goal of creating $1 billion in net savings for its client base while generating revenue and reducing waste nationwide, UsedCardboardBoxes (UCB) purchases Gaylord totes, produce bins, and shipping boxes at a higher price than recycling rates. This slight increase encourages companies to sell their “waste” to UCB, where the company scans it into its WATER (Waste Analytics and Tracking for Environmental Reporting) system. UCB then tracks the materials through returns, reuse, resale, recycling, and waste-to-energy processes to reduce waste to zero.
This system helps large corporations reduce costs and waste, while UCB uses a portion of the supplies to assemble environmentally friendly moving kits to sell to consumers. Shoppers can purchase individual boxes, moving box packs, or full moving kits, including a range of boxes, packing paper, tape, and more.
Shop UsedCardboardBoxes moving boxes
8. Uline
Price Range: $ to $$
Return Policy: Most products are eligible for a refund within 30 days of purchase. Shipping charges may apply.
Top Products: Cube Corrugated Boxes—$0.34+ and FOL Side Loading Corrugated Box—$19.99+
A family-owned and privately held company since 1980, Uline began in the basement of its founders, Liz and Richard “Dick” Uihlein, to address the need for a local shipping supply distributor. Over the next 20 years, the company expanded across the United States, and in the early 2000s, it began to move into Mexico and Canada.
The company offers moving boxes in various sizes, shapes, and formats, including specialized boxes for golf bags, wardrobes, standing lamps, TVs, wall hangings (mirrors/artwork), glassware, mattresses—and even bicycles.
9. The Home Depot
Price Range: $ to $$$$
Return Policy: Return eligible merchandise in store or online for a full refund within 90 days or purchase or delivery.
Top Products: Heavy-Duty Extra-Large Moving Box with Handles (50 Pack)—$331.93 and Heavy-Duty Large Adjustable TV and Picture Moving Box with Handles—$29.98
The Home Depot was co-founded in 1978 based on an idea: to create superstores that carry home improvement products. The co-founders were specifically interested in developing a bigger home improvement store than anything the competitors had to offer. Currently, The Home Depot is the largest home improvement retailer nationwide.
While The Home Depot provides a large range of appliances, home improvement products, and even installation services, the company also sells high-quality moving products with a reputation for lasting durability. The prices may be a bit higher than other suppliers, but if packed properly, the heavy-duty moving boxes from The Home Depot shouldn’t fail midway through a move.
Shop The Home Depot moving boxes
10. Target
Price Range: $ to $$
Return Policy: Target accepts most items for an in-store or online return within 90 days of invoicing.
Top Products: Scotch Mailing, Moving & Storage Box—$4.19 and Duck Heavy-Duty Moving/Storage Boxes—$14.18
Target is a retail superstore that offers everything from clothing to home decor, electronics, and even groceries. The first Target stores were opened in Minnesota in 1962 with the same bullseye logo that is so easily recognized today. In 1966, the company started expanding and opened its next set of stores in Colorado. Today, Target has brick and mortars in each of the 50 states—for a total of more than 1,900 stores in the country—and also offers simple online ordering.
If you’re shopping for moving boxes, Target has a wide assortment of sizes and styles to choose from, including smaller bankers boxes with handles to large, heavy-duty moving and storage boxes. Most of the moving boxes are available either for in-store pickup or to have shipped to your location.
11. Ace Hardware
Price Range: $ to $$
Return Policy: Most items in new and unused condition are eligible for a return within 30 days of purchase with receipt.
Top Products: Duck Cardboard Moving Box—$2.99 and Cardboard Corrugated Box—$7.69
Ace Hardware uses a different business model from many other large home improvement stores. Most of the 5,000 Ace Hardware stores are independently owned and operated by local community members, rather than a large corporation. This gives the company more of a small business feel and helps customers feel that they can get personalized advice and attention when they choose to shop there.
While Ace Hardware’s selection of moving boxes isn’t as extensive as some of the other retailers on this list, they do offer a wide enough selection to meet the needs of most. Take note: most of the boxes on Ace Hardware’s website are not available for shipping and will need to be picked up at your local store.
Shop Ace Hardware moving boxes
How We Chose the Best Places to Buy Moving Boxes
Choosing the best places to buy moving boxes was not an easy task and required a lot of time to research and compare numerous retailers. One of the first things we looked at was the product selection. We aimed to include retailers that offered a mix of moving box sizes and quantities to meet the needs of those moving out of a small apartment to those moving a large family across the country and everyone in between.
Price also played an important role in finalizing the list shared above. Finding sturdy and durable moving boxes is important, but it is also important for those boxes to be reasonably priced. The return policy of each retailer was also considered. A favorable return policy is important when making any purchase, but even more so when buying moving supplies. You want to make sure you’re able to have enough boxes on hand to pack up your entire house without having to make multiple trips to the store or online purchases. However, once you’re finished packing and have some leftover boxes, it is nice to be able to easily return the extras instead of simply wasting hard-earned money.
