otherwise 1) In another way, differently; 2) Under other circumstances; 3) In other respects.

Moving with Frogbox

I had told the nice folks at Frogbox that I'd let them know what I thought about their product/service. I'm a little late, but here it is.

Back in mid-October, we were getting ready to move (again) and needed quite a few boxes. We had kept bigger-size boxes for bedroom and kitchen stuff from our last move, but needed more of those sturdy, file boxes for all our papers and books. Lots of books.

On a friend's suggestion, I started looking out for people giving away free moving boxes on Craigslist, and picked up quite a few. I had to watch 'em like a hawk -- who knew "free boxes" were such hot commodities!

The free part was great, but driving around town (sometimes to pick up 3 shitty shipping boxes) was not much fun. And I realized all over again how dirty, messy, and annoying cardboard boxes are.

That's when I started considering Frogbox. It's a simple enough premise -- reusable, industrial-strength plastic bins instead of wasteful and unwieldy cardboard boxes. Good for the environment, and convenient, supposedly. I emailed Frogbox with a few questions (like, about their cancellation policies, etc.), and became convinced that this was worthwhile. Since we already had quite a few cardboard boxes, I just ordered the smallest 1 bedroom bundle (25 Frogboxes, 1 wardrobe box, 1 dolly).

Based on my experience, here are the pros and cons.

1. PRO. Frogbox guys were courteous, prompt, and reliable. The boxes were delivered as scheduled, and they were picked up promptly when we were finished. Totally recommendable.
2. PRO. No cardboard boxes, and that means it's better for the environment. Did you know that cardboard boxes make up 18-26% of landfill material? (From here.) And they used to take up 80-90% of my storage locker. Seriously.And we got a lot of questions and kudos from passersby during the move. People seemed genuinely intrigued and interested in the idea of using plastic moving bins, and honestly, most people seemed to "get it" instinctively.Looks like there are similar business elsewhere. A quick Google search pointed me to Rent-a-Green Box in Southern California and other cities. If you can't use Frogbox cuz you're not in Vancouver, see if there's a similar business in your area. In Vancouver, though, Frogbox definitely beats their competitors. I forget their name, but there's another business that runs advertisements renting black boxes in the Westender. I've asked around, and these boxes are apparently odd-size, and difficult to stack. So think green, I say, as in Frogbox.
3. CON. In case you think I work for them or something, here's a con. They forgot to bring stickers to label the boxes, which I didn't realize at the time time, but later turned out to be a hassle. Since you can't write all over the boxes like you do with cardboard boxes ("wad of cash" or "dog food"), this made unpacking a little... difficult. We couldn't find the dog food until 9pm on moving day, for instance, and the poor things were so hungry. Then again, we ourselves didn't get to eat til 9pm, either.

   

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