Lego Boxes - Worth Keeping?

[gmshades]

Sorry if this has already been discussed.

I mostly collect Technic sets, and I have been storing all the empty boxes in the attic, basement. I'm running out of room for them. So, like the title says, are the boxes worth keeping, or is it a waste of space?

Thanks,

Glenn

[Borador]

Depends. Do you have any plans to sell? Any rare/valuable sets? I think it largely depends. I'd save the box to, say Cloud City (I don't have it, but if I did, I'd save the box), but for something ordinary or cheap or common, I'd just toss it. I normally recycle all of them, though that may be a mistake. I don't have anything rare, so whatever.

So, if you need space, so through them to see what you've got and decide on each one. There's no all-encompassing answer.

[bonox]

Only two reasons to keep them in my opinion - either you want them, or the next person wants them.

If you're not going to sell the set and you don't want the box - get rid of them. If either of the former (and no constraints like you don't have the space for example) then you keep them.

If my dad's experience of matchbox toys is anything to go by, then over a long enough time period, the boxes will become far more valuable than what they contained!

[parksroad]

What's already been said--keep it if there's a valuable set that you might sell. Or just go ahead and sell boxes to retired sets now, is one way to get rid of them. I personally don't have much use for the boxes (I do miss the old ones with the lift-up flaps) so I just recycle them all.

[TheLegGodt]

I keep all my boxes and it is hell to store but I can't bring myself to chuck them away. I have absolutely no intention of selling my sets but I have some very rare ones in my collection. I like to think my collection is completed by their original boxes and manuals.

What I do personally is collapse the boxes so that they can be pressed flat. I only do this with the common sets, which, like the poster above mentions, just like matchbox cars may eventually (after many, many years) be worth more than the actual set itself. I take care not to damage the box, for example if a box has those god-awful thumb-press openings I carefully use a knife to open the flap instead of damaging the box.

The boxes for the real exclusive sets (I am talking the 41999, the MF, SSD, Carroussel, etc.) I keep completely untouched complete with the plastic bags, used sheet that contained the stickers, etc.

Probably, all this will be for nothing. I never look at the boxes, I never plan to sell. But who knows, one day when I have passed away it might make a small fortune for my kids. That's what keeps me going in regard to the boxes...

[Divine]

I'd love to keep all my boxes from my sets..

Unfortunetly because I am more of a minifigure collector, and because I don't have a lot of room this isn't a suitable option for me.

Hopefully in the future tho this is something I'd like to rectify. As TheLegGodt said, it does make the set feel completed when it has their original boc and manuals.

[Slick Willie]

Box and Instructions are worth more than the loose legos, if you ever decide one day to break your sets down and sell them.

You can store the boxes in your attic inside 50 gallon black trash bags. Keeping them inside the bags will not only keep them clean, but it will keep the print on the boxes from fading. The instructions you should store inside the house in a dark closet, or a non-translucent container. Just stack them up, and pile them high. You should not store instuctions in your attic. In the attic, the heat will cause the acid in the paper will yellow, and the paper will become very brittle.

[Andy D]

I used to keep many boxes because I enjoyed the art. But it became too much, so off to recycling. Now I keep just the instructions as they have much of the art that was on the boxes. If I had. The space and wanted to keep lots of paper on my attic I would keep the boxes, but then if they are stored away... How can I enjoy them? For me it is about my enjoyment, not resale.

Andy D

[Tariq j]

Alot of good points have been said. I would ask yourself before you keep a box - Do I really want this?

But other than that I suggest looking out for special/limited edition stamped boxes and putting smaller boxes into bigger boxes to preserve space.

Edited October 20, 2014 by Tariq j

[kibosh]

Once I open a set, I know it will never leave my collection, so why keep the boxes? My LEGO doesn't mean any less to me if I don't have the cardboard.

[dr_spock]

I keep the ones that I really like. The rest get recycled. It will be fun to look at the kept boxes again 30 years from now. By then, the few boxes I kept from the 1980s will be 60 years-old.

[TheLegGodt]

You can store the boxes in your attic inside 50 gallon black trash bags. Keeping them inside the bags will not only keep them clean, but it will keep the print on the boxes from fading.

Good point but how does that work? Do you put the collapsed boxes in their cos surely a big box like the MF would not fit?

[Chills]

I have a couple of boxes of sets from when I was a kid, which are still fun to look at. Since coming out of my dark ages I've kept all the boxes from my sets. I have a good amount of storage, so space isn't an issue. However, as my collection grows I can see the need to either start collapsing the boxes or (I hope not!) recycling them.

Good idea using the big trash bags to protect them. I'll start doing that.

[talos]

So far, I have kept all my boxes, I have space still in a bedroom closet. They were stacking up, then I realized I could fit several smaller ones inside of the larger and condensed it down to about half of what it was just stacked up. I still want to hold out and save them. Though, I have almost decided to recycle some of the really small ones, the ones you have to tear open, because they are glued instead of taped shut and they got damaged from that.

[N-4K0]

I never keep the boxes, I have no use for them and don't see the point in keeping them.

[TheLegGodt]

Though, I have almost decided to recycle some of the really small ones, the ones you have to tear open, because they are glued instead of taped shut and they got damaged from that.

No need to tear them if you don't want to. Just get a small sharp knife, use it under the seam of the box flap and gently glide it along the edge to open a side of the box.

Edited October 26, 2014 by TheLegGodt

[Legogal]

I tend to recycle boxes unless it is a rare set like Marina Bay Sands or Duplo 2770. Then I try to collapse them into a smaller pile.

I do keep all instructions including most of the multiple copies because it is a good way to keep a record of what you own; these stay dry inside the house in containers.

So this just leaves the problem of small sets with no instructions and/or no boxes, which tend to get missed in my inventory.

Most new sets are emptied into a baggy with the set number written on the outside and instructions inside until they is built. This makes it easy to store unbuilt sets in a large container saving a ton of space.

[unclejeffie]

I keep the boxes as they are more easier to resell if i don't want the set anymore.

[TheLegGodt]

I do keep all instructions including most of the multiple copies because it is a good way to keep a record of what you own; these stay dry inside the house in containers.

Maybe slightly off topic but since you mention it, I have a complete inventory of every set I have ever owned in a spreadsheet. I keep the set number, number of pieces, number of minifigs, price I paid, date of purchase, where I purchased and the storage container if the set is no longer on display. I also download all the instructions from LEGO for each set no matter how small - even free polybags if they are available, otherwise I store a 'googled' picture of the bag as future reference. It is also handy as reference for the insurance should we ever get burgled. It now has roughly 4 years of AFOL madness on record.

Is this extreme? The spreadsheet tells me exactly how many LEGO bricks I have, which sets I still have to build and how much I spend per year. That last number I don't always want to know by the way.

[clonetrooper500]

if i kept the boxes of my collection i would need a separate house !!!

[kinggregus]

It is interresting how the majority seems to keep the boxes. I personally don't as all they would do is take space and collect dust. The few sets I have sold over ebay have sold very well despite the lack of box.

[DarthTwoShedsJackson]

If you are a builder or a MOCer like me, then to hell with the boxes - it's the Legos that I'm in for. If you are a collector, keep the coolest boxes and instructions. If you are an aftermarket salesman, keep everything (and 'better' yet, don't open anything). That being said, utilizing Lego as an investment goes totally against what Lego is intented to be in my eyes, and as such is perverse.

[Slegengr]

@DarthTwoShedsJackson

I totally agree with this. I think this is the simple solution to the question:

MOCer: boxes are likely a waste of space and unneeded. Collecter: keep boxes as space allows, especially ones you are interested in. Investor: keep everything, preferably unopened.

I also have a personal policy that I will never leave a set unopened or use LEGO only for an investment to resell later, as I also think it goes against what LEGO is supposed to be for me: a creative and imaginative art medium and engineering tool.

[fred67]

I tried keeping boxes once, but gave up. It doesn't seem worth it. Sure, it may add some value to sets to resell, but a complete set is a complete set, and I think a majority of people buying expensive old sets for actual use would prefer to pay less, anyway... I know I would, on the few used sets I've bought or traded for on EB. Not only that, but the larger boxes make it a PITA to ship.

Still... there are a couple of boxes I kept - mostly the rigid, smaller boxes for "special" sets, like the smaller original series of architecture and Ideas.

In fact, I have so much LEGO that I haven't even had a chance to build, and so little space left, that I unboxed a bunch of them into smaller containers until such time as I have a place to display them, and threw away the boxes.

[Steckley]

I was keeping all my boxes for years, mostly because it was LEGO and I never throw out a LEGO. Then I moved residences and had to move them all with everything else I owned. I realized that I hadn't looked at them or done anything with them since I bought them. They had just sat there in plastic storage bins for years.

I have a personal rule for everything else I own that if I don't use something for two years then I should either throw it out or donate it to charity, so I started questioning why I was keeping them. As I don't foresee a day I will ever sell the sets, I decided the boxes no longer had any value to me so I recycled them. Now whenever I open a set I just put the empty box into the recycling bin.