When buying a new piece of tech, or an upgrade/replacement, there’s always a dilemma that seems to come up.

“Do I bin the box?”

On the one hand, boxes are clutter. They take up space without paying rent or contributing to the mortgage, and in some cases they can be quite unsightly. The more tech that’s purchased, the more boxes quietly start taking over.

On the other hand, they can increase the price for resale, they’re useful if the item needs to be returned, and in some cases they can actually be sold on their own once enough time has passed.

For high-value items, some people even use the boxes as display pieces. Some effort has clearly gone into making the box presentable, or even making it feel like part of the experience of owning the thing. I’m looking at you, older Apple packaging.

Sometimes, keeping small additions in the box, such as screws, adapters or spare parts, is worth the small cost of keeping the box around.

In other cases, when it comes to selling the item, the box isn’t needed at all. Places like MusicMagpie in the UK will take items in bulk using any generic box. This can result in a strange situation where, several years later, you have a collection of boxes for items you no longer own.

But they could be useful for something, right?

After all, it’s still a box. It could be useful for transporting other items, storing accessories, or in an exceptional event like a house move, those boxes could prove critical.

For me, I’ve found it to be a balancing act. If I’ve had an item for more than a few months and it’s lower value, the box can probably go. If the item is expensive, still under warranty, or likely to be sold later, I’ll usually keep the box around.

That does mean the box situation needs continuous review over time, though. Otherwise, “I’ll keep this for resale” slowly becomes “why do I still have the box for a thing I sold three years ago?”

I guess in essence, I’m not sure there’s a perfect answer here. The size of the box also dictates how long it should stick around, because unless it’s willing to contribute to living with me, it’s got to go.

How do you deal with tech boxes?