this post was submitted on 12 Aug 2023
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Just cleaned out mt garage, closet, and attic. No clue why I kept every single box of anything electronic/tech based in the last ten years. I just tossed boxes for phones I haven't had in years, old CPU and heat sync boxes, boxes for 100mbps nics, old modems I don't have anymore. I've never needed any of these and have brought them with me through too many house moves.

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[–] CameronDev@programming.dev 23 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Get a load of this shill for "big warranty", trying to get us to throw away our boxes so we can't RMA defective devices... /s

I am still hoarding actual 100mbps nics, but they don't have boxes, not sure which of us has the bigger problem :D

[–] slippery_salmons@lemmy.today 1 points 1 year ago

The last time I shipped something for warranty repairs I couldn't find the box because I had way too many. And it was fine!

[–] keeb420@kbin.social 12 points 1 year ago (3 children)

only kept my monitor box in case i need to move. first world problems of owning a super ultrawide.

[–] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 1 year ago

I moved last year and tossed a bunch of boxes. But those that I kept and used in the move were for my most expensive electronics and I'm glad I did. As usual, the packaging that can withstand shipping halfway around the world was a perfect match against the somewhat incompetent movers that I hired. Mistakes were made, but none of my gear was damaged.

[–] director@some.institute 2 points 1 year ago

This is the big reason. I keep the boxes to make future moves easy, learned the lesson the hard way.

Other good reasons are the box keeps all the accessories in one place while saying what they are for (psu boxes, looking at you) or the box is great at storing that type of item, like the box my NAS drives came in, perfect foam insert for other drives

[–] slippery_salmons@lemmy.today 2 points 1 year ago

That's totally fair.

I recently bought a house and felt like I could toss my TV boxes. I still kept my 4k monitor boxes.

[–] steebo_jack@kbin.social 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I keep it in case i have to sell it as it has more value with the box. Same goes with collectibles and such...

[–] slippery_salmons@lemmy.today 5 points 1 year ago

I said the same thing years ago and then was too lazy/never got around to selling anything.

I had the start of a hoard going, was good for me to get rid of it.

[–] dingus@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 year ago

I feel attacked.

[–] krayj@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 year ago

I sell most of my old/used but still functional tech on ebay/craigslist. For very low resale value items (under $40) it makes no difference; but for more expensive resale value items, having the original box/packaging/manuals/accessories increases the resale value significantly. My auctions routinely sell for $30 more than comparable items.

It pays (literally) to keep the original box.

[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 year ago

But I need every box and every manual for everything!

[–] Jiirbo@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago

I didn’t realize this is a thing. I thought it was just me. 😊 I found my people.

[–] DeltaTangoLima@reddrefuge.com 3 points 1 year ago

Lol - I had the same problem for many years, until I finally decided to clean them out like you did.

My policy now is to keep them for a month or so before tossing them. That's arguably when they're most likely to break down and I'd still need to ship/take them somewhere in their original packaging.

[–] echo64@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago
[–] SpaceCadet@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Well, I for one am sad I threw out my 90s hardware years ago, including things like a Voodoo 2, Voodoo 3, AWE32, AWE64, SB16 ... those things are really hard to find nowadays if you want to build a retro PC.

[–] whyNotSquirrel@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I was confused to, but OP just talked about the boxes, not the thing itself

[–] SpaceCadet@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 year ago

Oh... I definitely misread that.

[–] Steveanonymous@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

I cut the information off the box and throw the rest of the box away

Now I have a thick ass file folder full of cardboard bits

[–] thejodie@programming.dev 1 points 1 year ago

I usually don't keep boxes past the retail return window.

However, I am keeping the box for my ultrawide monitor until such time that I no longer have said ultrawide.