Give away, repurpose, or resell. This is the right way. I myself only purchase used phones. No need for perfectly usable devices to become electronical waste.
Heck, by the looks of it, companies are just making the newer models worse and worse without actually adding anything. They'll have to tear my current phone out of my cold dead hands.
When I sell my 5 year old flagship phone I'll get $30 more easily if I have the box and the stuff that came in it. People see that and subconsciously think "this person has their shit together. buying their used phone isn't a risk."
Same goes for other stuff, too. I recently sold a synthesizer for $150 over the market rate because I had the box, manual (even though it was out of date due to firmware updates) and the stickers that came with it.
I like semi up-to-the-minute tech, so keeping things in good shape and giving someone the unboxing experience keeps my costs down at the cost of a little space in my closet.
Hey it actually helps if you ever want to resell it. Prices around the same which listing are you going to pick? The one of some reseller who has the same generic photo or the one with the complete box and even the original cable still sealed in it?
Much easier to send back and no discussions about completeness.
Full refund period over here is 2 weeks, but very customer friendly warranty regulations after that.
Which phone? The word "smartphone" has been bandied about since the nineties, but 2007's iPhone was really the first of the species we now typically refer to as "smartphones."
Feature-wise roughly comparable to the first IPhone.
Internet/Mail/Office stuff, installable apps, multimedia and camera, gaming.
As you already said, smartphones have been around since the late 90s/early 00s, with constantly increasing functionality. Even if people today wouldn't directly recognize them as such, as the typical formfactor has changed during the late 00s.
No full Internet access, extremely limited selection of applications solely provided by the vendor, keypad input. Cameras and audio playback were already standard on cell phones by then. Definitely wouldn't call that a smartphone.
My Motorola Razr Maxx V6 from 2006 was better and smarter than the original iphone in just about every way except screen size. It ran Java applications that I downloaded and could do things like copy and paste text from one text message to another (something that the iPhone couldn't do when it was released). I could surf the web (what there was of it that would display on any phone) and even talk on the phone or listen to mp3s at the same time I surfed. I even had a secondary camera for selfies and video calling (not that I had anyone to call who also had video calling).
The original iphone was revolutionary, but it wasn't really because of its features, it was actually a pretty mediocre phone for the time, but it broke the strangle hold that mobile networks had on your phone and its features. Plus it also provided a single platform for 3rd parties to supply software allowing everyone to stop chasing not just each and every phone but each and every variation of each phone at each mobile provider.
Ffs, at the time the iPhone was introduced to Motorola had 11 different and unique operating systems that they were supporting and putting on their different phones worldwide.
The things that made the first "smart phone" revolutionary weren't really in what it could do, it was more about who controlled what it could do.
No full Internet access, extremely limited selection of applications solely provided by the vendor
That's not true. Full internet access, also for installed apps and unusual protocols, and any app supporting the right Java features could be installed (I had some OSS ones and even ones out of the competing Nokia store - I think they had a nice calculator app...)
Actually, these points would apply much more to the IPhone 1, as you could only install apps from their store and it had crippled connectivity (vividly remember a friend who had it constantly complaining about the speed because of missing UMTS, among other things).
You are right insofar, as I would not tread it as a smartphone by todays standards.
But neither would l tread the IPhone 1 as one.
And yet both were in 2007.
Standards change... 🤷♂️
I have an Atari 2600, a non functional ColecoVision consol, an IntelliVision II, my original Nintendo Entertainment System, original green screen GameBoy, original Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One S, Playstation, Playstation 2, Nintendo DS Lite, as well as boxes of games for all of the above. I unfortunately sold my Nintendo 64 to buy a girlfriend a tatoo (yes dumb and horney) so I no long have that and yes I am sad about it.
It's always sensible to keep the boxes for the stuff you're currently using. If you sell something, it'll fetch a better price with the original box. If you give it away, the recipient will also appreciate it more. Just make sure to throw out the boxes from stuff you haven't had around in ten years. Don't ask me how I know.
For larger items like TVs, there's specialized packing material, which if used correctly, can better protect the TV from damage during a house move.
There's a lot of good reasons to keep this stuff.... Just, put it in a closet somewhere and forget about it. Every time you add anything to the collection, go through what you have and throw out any boxes for things you no longer own. Maybe they were damaged, maybe they were stolen, who knows, but if you're adding to the pile, something can very likely be taken away from the pile too.
It has all the important data like IMEI on the box, it stores the extra USB-C to USB-A adapter and USB-C cable and SIM tool, and it helps with carrying and eventually reselling the phone
Yeah, I just needed mine for a warranty return on my Pixel. It also had my sim ejector in it. Plus, as someone who worked retail for a few years, I can tell you that if you need to do a return on an item, having it in the box with all the packaging looking nice and neat gets a lot of rules bent about restocking fees, receipts, warranties, etc...
I'm not sure about US, but in EU there is a law that makes companies accept products for warranty without original box. Saving every box is nightmare, so the law is basically common sense.
Hard disagree if you ever plan to sell your old phone. I always buy a used phones and I only buy it if they have the original box because it's a good way to show it's not stolen. Same goes for tools
Then why are so much resources wasted on such high quality boxes?
I won't even see the boxes in the store as they're in storage. They take the box out front in the store and open it for you or if you ordered online, it arrives and you open it
I managed the distribution of the phones for a while and while most people did what you do,which was fine, I found the people who sent them back in the case made it easier for us to inventory the phones we got returned as well as store them as backups for the users who have a knack for losing or breaking their phones. We also use the old phones as MFA devices for people who don't want to have their personal phones attached to work related things. Storing them in the case makes it easier to find them in the room quickly as well.
As our phones are all inventorized from the start and have barcodes on the back, this is not necessary where l work.
Also, we don't have much employee fluctuation, so phones are typically only returned when they are broken or obsolete to get de-inventorized (via barcode again).
Some of those boxes are very nice. I’ll paint them, decorate them, and use them for storage. Add some custom-cut foam inserts and they make excellent storage solutions for minis.
I definitely need it. I save it and after 3 years when I'm selling my phone for about 1/3 of the original price to someone on the internet, I can present it in pristine condition, with original packaging.
Oh my god you just reactivated a memory and now you gotta deal with it.
So I had an iPod... nano? When I was a kid. The lil slim bitch. The top of it had a lil plastic cover with a hold button and that cover came off. Just fell the fuck apart. A friend of mine at the time had a Zune with the lil circular pad and all. Looked great, worked great, was durable as hell too. He chucked it at a wall and it still worked so I was sold.
I got my Red Zune. 80gb I think it was. Big chunky bitch. Square touchpad. Giant clear screen. Built in radio functions and special wallpapers and all. Leagues ahead of the shitty ipod I was using. Then the second I pulled it out in public? Derision. I didn't get it and still don't. As far as I'm concerned, it was the superior product and I used it until the day I was forced to sell it. I ended up homeless and I couldn't justify having the zune for any longer.
I've regretted that sale every day since. The $50 wasn't worth it. I miss my red zune. I miss listening to Godsmack on it followed immediately by the Fallout 3 soundtrack. I miss the nice wine red color with the silver metallic backing. I miss the big screen with the pictures of naked hairy men as my background to make sure that everyone knew I was gay and exactly who owned it. I miss the feeling of that metal backing sliding over my hands and catching a little bit because it's almost like it was dusted with metallic powder to help with the grip. I miss the cool Z line-art logo. I miss the shitty software, blindingly white with splashes of oranges and pinks.
I am not kidding when I say that out of all of the regrets in my life? Selling my zune is in my top 5.
I actually feel kinda sad now. Treasure it, my friend... treasure it for me.
Legitimately GBA game boxes are much rarer than other game boxes because they were cardboard and not very portable so people more often threw them away.
If you ever sell the games, having the box for a GBA game is a significant bump in value for some games
Out of all the boxes I keep (like GPUs, PC cases, but not fridges, etc) phone boxes are so smol nowdays.
I also gift by phones to friends & family and when I pass things to someone I need them to be clean - the boxes just somehow (for me) add to that (like, kinda, sorta, to the clean look & feel).
Boxes of old phones from the olden days are legit collector pieces.
Also, reading other comments, I'm glad it's a controversial topic.
I literally have all my small device boxes in a reusable tote box in a storage location at my house, and larger boxes for TVs and stuff sitting next to it.
I keep this stuff for warranty, resale, and a place to store any unused or unneeded additional items that came with the device. Maybe a cable or power brick, since I have most of my power/charging needs already solved, or documentation like receipts or included user manuals or something... Depending on what came with the device. Whether it's a cellphone box or something like a Google/nest home speaker thing or whatever.
This only serves as a reminder to go through it sometime. My SO sold her phone without me being involved (she's a strong independent person, so I'm not upset about it at all), but I know the box for the phone she sold is still in there somewhere. If I had known she was intending to sell it, I would have fetched the box for her to sell with it, and honestly that's the only part of that I'm somewhat disappointed with. Now I have to find the box and get rid of it.
Boxes for larger items like TVs are great to have on hand when moving, since I can care a bit less about what's placed in/around the TV, since I just pack it in its original box which has plenty of protection for the screen.
I may discontinue the practice in the coming years since, a few years ago, we moved into a property that we own rather than one we are renting. Once I feel established enough that we're not going anywhere, a lot of those larger boxes are headed for the shredder.
No. I'm using it to store spare cables, the plastic cover my sim came in (in case I'm forgetful...), some microSD cards, and the little sim removal pin.
I only keep the boxes for things I intend to eventually resell, or are valuable enough that I would want to repackage it in the event of a warranty return.
Everything else is fair game for the recycle bin. We have limited space in the garage, can’t take it all up with useless crap!
The sole reason why I keep my boxes, is because some people won't buy your phone unless you also have the box with it. Otherwise they'll rightfully assume that you stole it from some random person and want to pawn it off.
Millennial? Gen X'er here. I have the box for every piece of electronics or appliance, and I have an extremely limited amount of space. If you like to resell things when you no longer need them it really helps.
I have the boxes for any electronics still in my possession. This is because very rarely can you find information from the piece/part itself, and you need the box/manual that came with it.
This post is generally bad advice. If you throw everything away, you are at the mercy of a Google search for any information you may need.
I usually use my phones until the battery has noticeably degraded, so there's no market for whatever remains. I have two phones lying on my desk as backup in case the migration to the respective new one doesn't work. It's been years since my last upgrade.
The boxes lie next to the phones. They're not even inside the box.
I worked in support for a phone manufacturer for a few years. You don't need the box for an RMA. Just a bubble bag with the phone loose is more than sufficient. Double-check your phone's warranty but most warranties do not require original packaging
I threw out most all of mine. I say most because I found about 6 more in a box somewhere else and got stunlocked at the sight of them. The memory of throwing out the others... what have I done...?
I'd say keep a few boxes for second hand shipping and storing things but otherwise just toss everythting. A single phone box is fine imo but more is pointless
But when the old phone gets its final resting place in the cupboard, I want it to be in the original box.
Give away, repurpose, or resell. This is the right way. I myself only purchase used phones. No need for perfectly usable devices to become electronical waste.
Heck, by the looks of it, companies are just making the newer models worse and worse without actually adding anything. They'll have to tear my current phone out of my cold dead hands.
Essentially giving it proper funeral it deserves
When I sell my 5 year old flagship phone I'll get $30 more easily if I have the box and the stuff that came in it. People see that and subconsciously think "this person has their shit together. buying their used phone isn't a risk."
Same goes for other stuff, too. I recently sold a synthesizer for $150 over the market rate because I had the box, manual (even though it was out of date due to firmware updates) and the stickers that came with it.
I like semi up-to-the-minute tech, so keeping things in good shape and giving someone the unboxing experience keeps my costs down at the cost of a little space in my closet.
+1 to this- I was about to comment the same thing before I saw your comment. Phones with packaging definitely sell better.
What no. What? No.
ಠ_ಠ
...i second this...
NEVER!
Hey it actually helps if you ever want to resell it. Prices around the same which listing are you going to pick? The one of some reseller who has the same generic photo or the one with the complete box and even the original cable still sealed in it?
Not entirely true.
Several times aIready I have been glad having kept them when I had to return devices because of warranty stuff.
So it makes sense to keep the boxes for half a year or so.
Real problem is, in reality I still have smartphone boxes dating from 2005 lying around which I am just too damn lazy to sort out... 😒
you don't need the original box for this, I usually throw it away after a month (the delay for full refund in some shop)
Much easier to send back and no discussions about completeness.
Full refund period over here is 2 weeks, but very customer friendly warranty regulations after that.
You don't have a smartphone box from 2005.
There were smartphones in 2005…
Still severely lacking in features that define a smartphone.
You are somewhat right, I just looked up the phone I was thinking about, it is from 2006.
Which phone? The word "smartphone" has been bandied about since the nineties, but 2007's iPhone was really the first of the species we now typically refer to as "smartphones."
Siemens EF81.
Feature-wise roughly comparable to the first IPhone.
Internet/Mail/Office stuff, installable apps, multimedia and camera, gaming.
As you already said, smartphones have been around since the late 90s/early 00s, with constantly increasing functionality. Even if people today wouldn't directly recognize them as such, as the typical formfactor has changed during the late 00s.
No full Internet access, extremely limited selection of applications solely provided by the vendor, keypad input. Cameras and audio playback were already standard on cell phones by then. Definitely wouldn't call that a smartphone.
My Motorola Razr Maxx V6 from 2006 was better and smarter than the original iphone in just about every way except screen size. It ran Java applications that I downloaded and could do things like copy and paste text from one text message to another (something that the iPhone couldn't do when it was released). I could surf the web (what there was of it that would display on any phone) and even talk on the phone or listen to mp3s at the same time I surfed. I even had a secondary camera for selfies and video calling (not that I had anyone to call who also had video calling).
The original iphone was revolutionary, but it wasn't really because of its features, it was actually a pretty mediocre phone for the time, but it broke the strangle hold that mobile networks had on your phone and its features. Plus it also provided a single platform for 3rd parties to supply software allowing everyone to stop chasing not just each and every phone but each and every variation of each phone at each mobile provider.
Ffs, at the time the iPhone was introduced to Motorola had 11 different and unique operating systems that they were supporting and putting on their different phones worldwide.
The things that made the first "smart phone" revolutionary weren't really in what it could do, it was more about who controlled what it could do.
That's not true. Full internet access, also for installed apps and unusual protocols, and any app supporting the right Java features could be installed (I had some OSS ones and even ones out of the competing Nokia store - I think they had a nice calculator app...)
Actually, these points would apply much more to the IPhone 1, as you could only install apps from their store and it had crippled connectivity (vividly remember a friend who had it constantly complaining about the speed because of missing UMTS, among other things).
You are right insofar, as I would not tread it as a smartphone by todays standards.
But neither would l tread the IPhone 1 as one.
And yet both were in 2007.
Standards change... 🤷♂️
Like its contemporaries, that phone only had limited support for websites, handling only those that presented XHTML-MP.
The iPhone pretty clearly revolutionized the whole market, with the App Store opening the following year.
But that's where I keep the little pokey thing that I use to open the SIM card tray!
You mean your paper clip?
I put my phone back in its box when I upgrade. It’s like a little phone coffin…
Sounds like a good way to fuel a fire when the battery eventually expands and explodes
Aren't batteries pretty harmless when not used? It just slowly discharges and loses all its energy so it doesn't have any left to explode.
Every time I throw out a box i have to end up returning the item for some reason and then I’m screwed
The box usually has the IMEI and serial number and stuff on it. Can be very useful when it gets stolen or something.
Take a picture and keep it in a place you know, like an organized digital document collection.
Take a picture and store it in the phone.
Wait…
Take a picture of the box and put it somewhere you can access also by desktop. That clear enough?
Where do we store the original, uncorrected document?
In the box, neutrally.
Since I am Gen X I can safely ignore this and sit comfortably on my throne of old phone boxes.
You have a cupboard with every console of the 90s and 00s stuffed back into the box awaiting Ragnorak right? Plus maybe some original Game + Watches.
What a nonsensical stereotype.
They're in the attic.
I got my GCON-45s back the other day. I'm honestly tempted to see if the CRT still works for a bit of Point Blank 2.
I have an Atari 2600, a non functional ColecoVision consol, an IntelliVision II, my original Nintendo Entertainment System, original green screen GameBoy, original Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One S, Playstation, Playstation 2, Nintendo DS Lite, as well as boxes of games for all of the above. I unfortunately sold my Nintendo 64 to buy a girlfriend a tatoo (yes dumb and horney) so I no long have that and yes I am sad about it.
Since I always keep stuff forever, I'm not sure I can comfortably sit on the 6 phone boxes I've accumulated in my lifetime.
I believe in you
Don't believe everything you read on the internet. I will have a use for the box one day.
I could go on
Go on
Mine has phone repair tools in it
It's always sensible to keep the boxes for the stuff you're currently using. If you sell something, it'll fetch a better price with the original box. If you give it away, the recipient will also appreciate it more. Just make sure to throw out the boxes from stuff you haven't had around in ten years. Don't ask me how I know.
But where will I keep my assorted lengths of wire, tiny drill bits, and interesting mineral formations?
This.
Also useful for warranty/returns.
For larger items like TVs, there's specialized packing material, which if used correctly, can better protect the TV from damage during a house move.
There's a lot of good reasons to keep this stuff.... Just, put it in a closet somewhere and forget about it. Every time you add anything to the collection, go through what you have and throw out any boxes for things you no longer own. Maybe they were damaged, maybe they were stolen, who knows, but if you're adding to the pile, something can very likely be taken away from the pile too.
Sure.
In the house I can't afford
Sounds like a gen Z problem I'm too gen X to understand.
You can take my phone boxes, but you'll never take my game console boxes
It has all the important data like IMEI on the box, it stores the extra USB-C to USB-A adapter and USB-C cable and SIM tool, and it helps with carrying and eventually reselling the phone
I always get a good price when I resell my gadgets because I keep the original boxes for them.
I sell my old electronics and I get good used prices compared to others. I think it is partially because I have the original box to sell it in.
...i threw the box out after 12 years, and the next day I had to wrap a new that fit perfectly in that box...
Lesson learned, never throw anything out.
My insurance wanted to receive my broken phone back in its orthogonal box if possible.
It was shipped back in the box for my last phone before it.
maybe needed the phone to be linearly independent
Planes are orthogonal if their normals are. The top and bottom halves of the box both feature a surface which is orthogonal to the sides. Simples.
I mean like 4 times now though I've kept it and resold it in the original box
How'd you sell the same phone 4 times? Did you tie a string to it and pulled it back after the transaction was done??
This. Changes. Everything.
Joke's on you, mine is filled with charging cables I've never unwrapped.
Those boxes are VERY useful when you're buying a new phone by trading in the old one. Keep them.
I'm poor, I will keep my phone until it breaks down
Reselling old but functional deveices in the original box
Not a fan of of just throwing things away
Yeah, I just needed mine for a warranty return on my Pixel. It also had my sim ejector in it. Plus, as someone who worked retail for a few years, I can tell you that if you need to do a return on an item, having it in the box with all the packaging looking nice and neat gets a lot of rules bent about restocking fees, receipts, warranties, etc...
You say that, but then I throw away the box to my phone and suddenly my phone bricks itself and I need to find a box to send it back to the shop in.
I'm not sure about US, but in EU there is a law that makes companies accept products for warranty without original box. Saving every box is nightmare, so the law is basically common sense.
Yeah but I'd rather not be going to the post office to get a box to perfectly fit a phone when I have the original box.
"Saving every box", is a hobby.
Are we hobby shaming now?
That's called hoarding disorder
Hobby shamer
emotional support boxes
In the end, it wasn't about the phones, it was about the boxes we collected along the way.
Found the cat.
Hard disagree if you ever plan to sell your old phone. I always buy a used phones and I only buy it if they have the original box because it's a good way to show it's not stolen. Same goes for tools
Then why are so much resources wasted on such high quality boxes?
I won't even see the boxes in the store as they're in storage. They take the box out front in the store and open it for you or if you ordered online, it arrives and you open it
Stop the waste
People are selling them on my local market place. Not sure if any of them sell but they have all sorts of boxes for sale.
Is this even legal?
No.
goddamn these provocateurs!
Once at band camp... I tore off the tag from a pillow.... AND the mattress. Imma Rebel bitch
My work pays for my phone I just need to return it after. I keep the box for that. It is very convenient!
That's interesting, because the boxes of my work phones are the only ones I throw away immediately.
Why should I care to return the phone to my employer in a fitting box?
I managed the distribution of the phones for a while and while most people did what you do,which was fine, I found the people who sent them back in the case made it easier for us to inventory the phones we got returned as well as store them as backups for the users who have a knack for losing or breaking their phones. We also use the old phones as MFA devices for people who don't want to have their personal phones attached to work related things. Storing them in the case makes it easier to find them in the room quickly as well.
But maybe that's just me being extra.
As our phones are all inventorized from the start and have barcodes on the back, this is not necessary where l work.
Also, we don't have much employee fluctuation, so phones are typically only returned when they are broken or obsolete to get de-inventorized (via barcode again).
No!
Some of those boxes are very nice. I’ll paint them, decorate them, and use them for storage. Add some custom-cut foam inserts and they make excellent storage solutions for minis.
Actually bad advice
It's for me.....id upvote but..... ya know
But it's better built than the phone is.
Akshully...... I use all of them to keep little treasures. That I need. For keeping. Like phone boxes.
I definitely need it. I save it and after 3 years when I'm selling my phone for about 1/3 of the original price to someone on the internet, I can present it in pristine condition, with original packaging.
Man I still have the box my fucking zune came in. It's where all my old microsd/sd cards and assorted small semi-valuables live.
A small nice box can be a useful thing to have.
ZUNE!
Oh my god you just reactivated a memory and now you gotta deal with it.
So I had an iPod... nano? When I was a kid. The lil slim bitch. The top of it had a lil plastic cover with a hold button and that cover came off. Just fell the fuck apart. A friend of mine at the time had a Zune with the lil circular pad and all. Looked great, worked great, was durable as hell too. He chucked it at a wall and it still worked so I was sold.
I got my Red Zune. 80gb I think it was. Big chunky bitch. Square touchpad. Giant clear screen. Built in radio functions and special wallpapers and all. Leagues ahead of the shitty ipod I was using. Then the second I pulled it out in public? Derision. I didn't get it and still don't. As far as I'm concerned, it was the superior product and I used it until the day I was forced to sell it. I ended up homeless and I couldn't justify having the zune for any longer.
I've regretted that sale every day since. The $50 wasn't worth it. I miss my red zune. I miss listening to Godsmack on it followed immediately by the Fallout 3 soundtrack. I miss the nice wine red color with the silver metallic backing. I miss the big screen with the pictures of naked hairy men as my background to make sure that everyone knew I was gay and exactly who owned it. I miss the feeling of that metal backing sliding over my hands and catching a little bit because it's almost like it was dusted with metallic powder to help with the grip. I miss the cool Z line-art logo. I miss the shitty software, blindingly white with splashes of oranges and pinks.
I am not kidding when I say that out of all of the regrets in my life? Selling my zune is in my top 5.
I actually feel kinda sad now. Treasure it, my friend... treasure it for me.
Boxes stack better than lose phones with various different sizes and shapes of camera bumps.
BUT WHAT IF I DO SOME DAY
the phone box drawer is the new sauce packet drawer
Funny story, today I met someone that was using their phone box as a case for their phone
Modern life is driving everyone insane, each in our own unique ways.
There is a lot of validation in this thread.
But it's such a nice box. Someone probably worked really hard on it.
What about my GBA game boxes? Do I need them?
Legitimately GBA game boxes are much rarer than other game boxes because they were cardboard and not very portable so people more often threw them away.
If you ever sell the games, having the box for a GBA game is a significant bump in value for some games
Those increase their resell value significantly, unlike phone boxes.
You misspelled "just like"
It's easier to resell the phone later on if you have the original box. Why throw it away if it takes up practically no free space?
It's 8 years old. Who's gonna buy it?
The original box/manual adds up to 10% of the value if you resell it. Plus it sells faster.
When I've got 3 generations of newer phones (and boxes) and the phone itself has already been traded in... I guess I can get rid of some.
I still have my first 3 cellphones or so in a box with my retired digital camera. And all of those phones are older than the Razer...
Out of all the boxes I keep (like GPUs, PC cases, but not fridges, etc) phone boxes are so smol nowdays.
I also gift by phones to friends & family and when I pass things to someone I need them to be clean - the boxes just somehow (for me) add to that (like, kinda, sorta, to the clean look & feel).
Boxes of old phones from the olden days are legit collector pieces.
Also, reading other comments, I'm glad it's a controversial topic.
I still have the box for my Nexus 4 which was stolen from me 11 years ago.
Favorite phone :( 5X felt too light and was already pretty large. Now everything's 6 million inches+.
I keep random small things in the boxes and forget what's in them until I open them once every year or two.
I literally have all my small device boxes in a reusable tote box in a storage location at my house, and larger boxes for TVs and stuff sitting next to it.
I keep this stuff for warranty, resale, and a place to store any unused or unneeded additional items that came with the device. Maybe a cable or power brick, since I have most of my power/charging needs already solved, or documentation like receipts or included user manuals or something... Depending on what came with the device. Whether it's a cellphone box or something like a Google/nest home speaker thing or whatever.
This only serves as a reminder to go through it sometime. My SO sold her phone without me being involved (she's a strong independent person, so I'm not upset about it at all), but I know the box for the phone she sold is still in there somewhere. If I had known she was intending to sell it, I would have fetched the box for her to sell with it, and honestly that's the only part of that I'm somewhat disappointed with. Now I have to find the box and get rid of it.
Boxes for larger items like TVs are great to have on hand when moving, since I can care a bit less about what's placed in/around the TV, since I just pack it in its original box which has plenty of protection for the screen.
I may discontinue the practice in the coming years since, a few years ago, we moved into a property that we own rather than one we are renting. Once I feel established enough that we're not going anywhere, a lot of those larger boxes are headed for the shredder.
I usually send my broken phone to one of those places that buys it off me, so the box totally helps ship it.
It is also where I keep the SIM card key.
I still have the box for my Treo 650.
No. I'm using it to store spare cables, the plastic cover my sim came in (in case I'm forgetful...), some microSD cards, and the little sim removal pin.
I only keep the boxes for things I intend to eventually resell, or are valuable enough that I would want to repackage it in the event of a warranty return.
Everything else is fair game for the recycle bin. We have limited space in the garage, can’t take it all up with useless crap!
Makes a really effective DIY monitor hood when you're using an old phone as an external monitor for your video camera.
I admit that's probably a use case for the few of us that can't afford good filming gear. But finding DIY solutions is fun.
Never!
I've resold all my old phones (for cheap, but still). Handy for that, it is much easier to resell something with a box than without one.
It took me a few years to throw out the many boxes from building my PC. It of course made sense for a while for warranty reasons, but at some point...
I still have one C-64 and 1541 drive in their original boxes. :p
I use mine to prop my window open because it’s an old window that doesn’t stay open on its own.
You can also sell it on eBay. It’s not much, but it’s honest work.
Never!
They said that about the big box full of cords too, but I saw what happened to Gen X.
Won't be me.
I've also got that big box of coords. Got some gems in there, too. I mean, who knows when I'll need to pull out this bad boy from forever ago:
50°00′38.20″N 110°06′48.32″W
See what I mean?
I didn't throw it out, but I did reduce the amount a bit. I think 4 SCSI terminators and 2 LPT cables will be enough for the near future.
It helps remind me that it was a significant, luxury purchase and I know just how much effort went into the designer should be appreciated
I have a large box in my garage labelled 'product boxes' that's full
I like to keep the boxes of everything I ever bought and I hope that triggers him.
No.
Not a millennial but I guess I did need to hear this
I'd have to find it first. I mean, it's probably here somewhere.
Done! Now what do I do about the closet full of Amazon boxes?
You might be able to reuse them next time you need to send a package! Better keep at least fifty just incase.
I get a better deal if i resell it with his original box.
The sole reason why I keep my boxes, is because some people won't buy your phone unless you also have the box with it. Otherwise they'll rightfully assume that you stole it from some random person and want to pawn it off.
Millennial? Gen X'er here. I have the box for every piece of electronics or appliance, and I have an extremely limited amount of space. If you like to resell things when you no longer need them it really helps.
I have the boxes for any electronics still in my possession. This is because very rarely can you find information from the piece/part itself, and you need the box/manual that came with it.
This post is generally bad advice. If you throw everything away, you are at the mercy of a Google search for any information you may need.
>:-[
I usually use my phones until the battery has noticeably degraded, so there's no market for whatever remains. I have two phones lying on my desk as backup in case the migration to the respective new one doesn't work. It's been years since my last upgrade.
The boxes lie next to the phones. They're not even inside the box.
I think I have every phone box since my original Galaxy Nexus in 2011. :(
Meh, I always sell my phones if I don't trade them in. Doesn't hurt to keep the tiny box it came in.
The make really nice boxes though.
I'll need it for at least 2 years. If the phone dies I'll need to send it back for warranty.
I worked in support for a phone manufacturer for a few years. You don't need the box for an RMA. Just a bubble bag with the phone loose is more than sufficient. Double-check your phone's warranty but most warranties do not require original packaging
I used mine as a door stop for my balcony door for years.
I threw out a box of cell phone boxes just this week at the behest of my wife. Apparently it's a quintessentially millennial thing to do...
They aren't built to last long enough to go back in the box, or is that just me disabling and destructing phones all about the place?
I use it to hold my old phone that I'll never use but just in case
I threw out most all of mine. I say most because I found about 6 more in a box somewhere else and got stunlocked at the sight of them. The memory of throwing out the others... what have I done...?
I'd say keep a few boxes for second hand shipping and storing things but otherwise just toss everythting. A single phone box is fine imo but more is pointless
I used a cardboard once. This justify everything for ever
Is this the OCD support group?
You're not my dad!
At this point I think my OG Droid box is almost a family heirloom.
Hey. Those boxes are great for sewing notions.