I have always had good luck with the boxes that reams of paper come in. They are fairly sturdy, and have removable lids to boot. Most offices that go through alot of paper will let you have them if you ask nicely.
I’ve found that 20 or 25lb tomato boxes (the kind with the lid, not open-topped) have always worked best for moving books. They’re sturdy and usually hand-holes in the sides. They don’t get enormously big and awkward like a larger box of books.
My moving supplies are usually (clean) boxes from produce stores and supermarket produce departments - apple boxes, banana boxes and tomatoes.
What Jeff said. Whoever got (and perpetuated) the notion of paying for boxes to move house should’a been shot. They’re free and available for the asking.
Gawd, I thought everyone went to the liquor store for boxes!
No. We go there for booze. The boxes are an added attraction.
If you’re packing your own boxes to be moved by professional movers then you should use standard moving cartons. They are sized to stack w/o collapsing and they are the same dimension as, the tops of, most bureaus, chest of drawers, etc. They are also made of heavier grade cardboard than many cartons that you might get at the grocery, liquor store, etc. The standard “book carton” is 1.5 cu. ft. and sized to accomodate most books w/o being too heavy. When I was in the moving business, and ran across people who used odd flimsy cartons, I would notate “substandard carton, packed by owner” to protect myself from claims.
You can often purchase used cartons from a local moving company for half, or less, the cost of new cartons.
The liquor and food boxes are nice and sturdy and all, but it seems that most liquor and grocery stores cut the tops off the boxes. It’s hard to stack boxes without lids cleanly and to keep the contents clean and dust-free during the move. That’s why I always liked bookstore boxes (even before I owned a bookstore) and office supply boxes.
Wine boxes. I found a wine shop near my old apartment in Walnut Creek that not only didn’t cut the tops off the boxes, they seemed happy to give me lots of wine boxes.
It’s not clear how far the OP is moving, but if www.rentacrate.com is in your area, and you are moving local, rent.
You won’t have to fold and unfold all the bankers boxes style crates. They will also rent you a couple of dollies custom sized for the crates.
I got bunches and bunches of boxes from Craig’s list. Lots of people move and don’t want to deal with the boxes afterward. If you are lucky enough to get somebody who had a professional move, the moving companies use boxes specific to books.
I’ll fifth or sixth the liquor store option, though last time I did this, I found a lot with cut-off tops and no top-flaps to close.
I’m packing and moving now, I got all my books in boxes that once held Little Debbie snack cakes. I found a huge pile near a storage area that some local guy parks his Little Debbie truck near.
Another vote for corporate paper boxes, too. Very strong.
Get a dolly to move your boxes, worth every penny and not really very expensive for a basic one from Home Depot.
I’ve used the copy paper boxes (looks like that one’s unanimous) and liked them. Can’t vouch for the liquor boxes, but they sound good. If it can’t get enough of them, and you can set aside the idea of roach eggs, I’ve always had good luck scavanging bulk french fry boxes from the recycling areas of fast food joints.
They’re not too big, so the box doesn’t get too heavy. Usually there’s no handholds, but the lightness makes up for it. They’re short, but long, so large books will fit.
Our town was dry, so we got our boxes from the grocery store. But it’s the same general idea.
When we moved from California to Pennsylvania, othe than the couch, the biggest thing we had to move was our books. Fortunately, I worked in a printing shop, so I had lots and lots of paper boxes.
22 of them to hold all of our books. They were perfect, and also good for other things (clothes, kitchen stuff, etc.). But the handles and workable size made them IDEAL for books.
For books, copy paper boxes are good for hardbacks, but the weird 20-beer Bud boxes are ideal for paperbacks. Booze boxes are good for everything. No roaches, odorless, very sturdy, and give the new neighbors something else to gossip about.
We move a LOT. 15 moves in 13 years. I’m an amazing mover – full big house, 3 days to pack, one big Uhaul, 2 days to unpack. Granted, we don’t generally take every single thing with us every time, but I pack at least a large apartment full for each move. We like our stuff, and want to be with it.
I got cranky a few moves ago, while leaving a teensy town without a liquor store, and started accumulating those rubbermaid tubs (18 or 20 gallon sized? The medium big ones in Target & Walmart that go on sale for $5 or $6 each), but beer and copy paper boxes are best for books. The plastic tubs are too heavy for me to lift when full of books, and their sides are sloped, so the books don’t fit exactly.
Flaps are good, lids are better, and perforations suck. Go make nice-nice with your local liquor store clerk.
When I moved what most of my friends referred to as my private branch of the Chicago Public Library a little over a year ago, a friend who worked at Jewel started saving boxes for me. The boxes for Pepperidge Farm cookies are perfect for both hardcovers and paperbacks; fully packed they are not too heavy to carry, they stack nicely, and I’m not aware of any roach egg problem with them. I also had a lot of bookstore boxes left over from my previous book business.
And then break them down and store them somewhere for the next move.
I’ve used the same boxes from Staples over the last 10-15 years. They break down flat and I stick them behind the bookcases. When I need to move, I pull them out and re-assemble them. They’ve gone thousands of miles and don’t eventually smell (like some of the beer/liquor boxes I used to use), and unlike copy boxes, they break down and have handles. I think it’s well worth the investment if you know you’re moving again.
Go to a produce store and get banana boxes. They will hold ALOT of weight and they have handles (and a nice hole in the top to view the contents). If the produce stores in your area are anything like my store, they’ll be more then happy to give you as many as you can take.