Gear Boxes: At What Point Is It Considered Hoarding?

Tornado Red

I'd be considered new to this hobby I guess, and I've started collecting the boxes off of the gear I've been buying for resale at some point. And I do get that, and think it's a viable excuse to hang onto them. Although a Monitor 75t box fell on me in my work room one day (just scared the hell out of me) and it discovered the sharp end of a box knife :cheesygrin: As you can see in the picture, I don't have much at this point but it IS taking shelf space away from my daughter come Christmas and she needs a place to stash the grandkid's loot before the big day. BTW, I know it's great for resale to have the original box, but I sold the Yamaha in the pic today, and was quite proud when the guy came over and I opened it to remove each piece. I even had the little plastic bag for the remote. Then he said "I don't want the box, you got a bag I can put this stuff in?" *sigh*

Anyway, I'm just an amateur. I'd love to see some of the box collections you long timers have, so please post a photo! Oh, and try to answer the question...at what point is it hoarding??

Systems

I read once that that you will know when a component is in your system to stay, the day you throw the box away.

txcoastal1

I keep all my gear boxes (drives the wife nuts). If there is any intention of resale then "hoard" them. If I chunk the box I am either keeping it or it will become a hand me down or cheap sale. Maybe it's mental but buyers seem to prefer original boxes.

If keeping boxes makes me a hoarder then I am a "hoarder"....been called a lot worse.

decal

If that's all the boxes you've got, I don't think you have much of a problem !!!!! Maybe you need to buy some more stuff (hint,hint)

nooshinjohn

When I saw "gear box" I thought you were having problems with a manual transmission...

Jhayman

break them down flat for storage then you only need a tape the bottom for resale or whatever your fancy..
I thought you were going to show a pic of lots of gear or something that just looks like a neat garage to me; nothing more.

Tornado Red

Jhayman wrote: »

break them down flat for storage then you only need a tape the bottom for resale or whatever your fancy..
I thought you were going to show a pic of lots of gear or something that just looks like a neat garage to me; nothing more.

Nice idea Jhay, but I like to keep the foam with the box. And it's the laundry room in my basement...garage is a mess

pglbook

I also keep all of the boxes. I keep them not only in case of shipping something if I ever decide to sell it but also to have the boxes in case of needing to move from a house or an apartment. The boxes protect the gear and provides a worry-free move. Unfortunately, I don't have any boxes for the many speakers I have.

BlueFox

I gave up on saving boxes once I ran out of room a few years ago. I paid some guy $200 to take away all the junk in my garage. I save new gear boxes for a month or so in case it breaks. After that the boxes are in the trash. Getting rid of the foam is the hardest part since it takes up so much room in the trash bin.

zane77

I have got an attic full of boxes, I like all of the equipment that I have but if I ever want to resell it I will have something to ship it in. If I am looking for something used, like the amp I just bought, I always like to see that they are going to be shipping it in the original box. Makes me think that the person I am buying it from is as anal,as I am.

cnh

I wouldn't worry about calling a "few" boxes "hoarding". I have an entire area of my basement devoted to boxes, a small mountain of sorts (and yes, I do save the styrofoam too). If you're going to resell anything, having the original box is a "plus". And unless you plan to stay in your present location "forever" you also need them for moving!

Of course, all this is dependent on having EXTRA space which, if you have a house you should've thought about when you bought. As for pics, no angle of my boxes would do them justice because the ceiling is only 7' and the depth of what is stacked is too great to see anything but the front end which isn't particularly impressive.

It's also great to have shipping boxes, foam, bubble wrap, if you're selling anything on ebay, etc. I just see that part of the basement as my personal U-Haul/UPS center!

cnh

WilliamM2

I keep the boxes for all my equipment. To save space, I put smaller boxes inside larger boxes when possible. And most of the component boxes fit neatly into my SDA1C boxes. It all fits in one corner of the basement. 2 stacked SDA boxes with other boxes on top. Not really that much space.

I keep boxes for other items as well, like TV's, air conditioners, monitors, microwaves, etc. But if it's something I am unlikely to ever sell or ship, I throw them out when the warranty expires.

doctor r

I keep all my equipment boxes in case they need to be safely shipped after selling or possibly to be upgraded or repaired. There is a section of my storage dedicated to nothing but these boxes. I have had both my pre and power amp back to the factory in the past two years for updates and I would not have shipped a 70 lb amp without the original boxes and packing (all arrived safe and returned the same). My CDP's warranty stated if it was shipped without the factory boxes there would be no coverage:sad:. This storage is a necessary part of this hobby in my situation. I presently have a pair of very nice EL34 based 50 watt mono blocks that I purchased from a local seller years ago with no boxes. Now I really would love to move them at a great price, but I do not have a way to safely ship them (they are 40 lbs each). I have to hope for a local sale or will have to pay for custom fabrication of a crate to ship them in which is hard to swallow when I would have liked them to go to a forum member here for a great start into tubes. Beside the Shanling amps the only other gear I don't have boxes for are the Monitor 7Bs I bought new in '79. Those boxes made a lot of moves and then decided to disintegrate.

Erik Tracy

I thought you meant a box of 'gear' - you know the box all of us have with adapters, spare interconnects, bits of left over of kimber cable speaker wire, a spare power cord or two, some spade to banana adapters, left over mounting brackets, extra rubber isolation feet.... :cheesygrin:

EndersShadow

I have a closet full of empty boxes with my gear in it, and those boxes have boxes inside them, your not even close to hoarder status yet.

doctor r

Erik Tracy wrote: »

I thought you meant a box of 'gear' - you know the box all of us have with adapters, spare interconnects, bits of left over of kimber cable speaker wire, a spare power cord or two, some spade to banana adapters, left over mounting brackets, extra rubber isolation feet.... :cheesygrin:

That's not gear.......That's my STASH that drives my wife crazy :biggrin:

smglbrth

I "always" keep my boxes. When I was young I moved around a bit so I learned early on to keep them. With the current employment market I think it only makes sense. Heck, I was at a home I thought I'd be in the rest of my life, no dice. Used to drive my wife nuts as well but after the moves we've had since, well, guess she thinks it's not all bad. I don't hoard boxes, just keep the ones to the equipment I have.

Selling gear also makes a big difference if you are shipping...

Moose68Bash

When I moved to New Hampshire from California 15 years ago, I tossed the original boxes for my SDA 1Cs along with the original boxes for my Perreaux preamp and amp.

Recently, when I sold a Perreaux preamp to a fellow Polkie, building a proper box for shipping it was both time consuming and expensive. It would have been well worth the trouble to have saved the original packing materials.

Now, I wish I had kept the 1C boxes to be buried in!

I now keep all my "gear" boxes, and I probably qualify as a hoarder in this respect. It is not only audio gear, but also computer gear that I have accumulated over the years.

zingo

You're not hording if it's clean and organized on shelves.

Syndil

I have original boxes for everything I have purchased new. Audio gear, computer gear, everything. Because I know I'll sell it all eventually, and having the original box really adds a lot to the value when selling a used item. Maybe it shouldn't (it's just packaging, right?) but it does. I even still have the original boxes for my RT12s, PSW300 and my Infinity Overture 1s. Nice to have storage space.

billbillw

Definitely not hoarding unless you are keeping boxes for equipment that you no longer own. I save virtually every box for computer equipment, audio equipment, etc, with the exception of large TV boxes and items that will never be shipped (like my 150lb Sony SS-M9 speakers. I had the SS-M9 boxes from the original owner, but I got rid of them because they were falling apart and because I know they with either remain in my possession until I die, or I will sell them locally.

jflail2

I keep the boxes for things like my receiver, play station, center channel and rears. My TV box is long since gone, and my Rti-10's were purchased open box from Crutchfield.

Basically, I keep the boxes for when I move again. The speakers I can cover in blankets; same goes for my TV. I prefer the original packaging for moving things like my receiver, center, etc.

So unless the box is unwieldy, it stays.

Drenis

Oh the hack I received from the amount of EMPTY boxes I moved with me. Hahaha...

heartystatue

I keep all my boxes.Wife still asks do we need to keep? I tell her do you need all those shoes

Tornado Red

heartystatue wrote: »

I keep all my boxes.Wife still asks do we need to keep? I tell her do you need all those shoes

. HaHa! Great comeback! Although on second thought, you'll likely pay for that at some point down the road...

Upstatemax

I used to keep all of my boxes, then my wife sold some of her "girl" crap and decided that my gear boxes were perfect to pack it in and send it off with...

I looked in the basement about a week later and happened to look over in that corner. I asked; "where the $**t are all of my boxes?!

GONE!

BTW Tornado, I'm totally jealous of your compressor set up...

dragon1952

I save them all. No matter how you feel at time of purchase you never know when you'll re-sell, and it sucks for both the shipper and buyer not to get the original packaging. Of course I have a huge amount of storage area. I mean...if you're in a house or apt. with no storage what are you gonna do?