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

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

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

I feel attacked.

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

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.

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.

But I need every box and every manual for everything!

Yes I do.

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.

It's because when you first buy the thing, you don't want to get rid of the box right away, in case you need to RMA it. So it gets put in the pile along with the rest of the boxes. Then you're in the same place for years and the pile gets bigger.

I do a decent job with culling the boxes, and even toss obsolete tech now and then, but I have been hoarding hard drives for 30 years. It seems more trouble to securely dispose of them than to just let them pile up. I even still have IDE drives and am not quite sure whether I have an adaptor that can read them. But I can't throw them out, because I don't know if I have sensitive info on them.

Can you rent a degausser?

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

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.

I usually go through the attic boxes every year or so and purge the ones I don't need anymore. I still end up keeping too many though.

Thank you for reminding me to purge boxes again; It's probably time._ I will admit I do like to keep the ones with fancy artwork_.

The little plastic trays things come in (fans especially) though, those are worth their weight in gold. I always keep them for sorting things like twist ties, small wires, and tiny extra screws, etc in drawers.