Do You Keep The Packaging?

[A Smug Dill]

Do you keep them?

Some of them. I have over 150 fountain pens. I have three medium-sized shipping cartons packed full of retail boxes in which some of those pens came; they're all in the space under the bed in the spare bedroom. I was just repacking them the other day and cleaning up that room, ahead of a friend arriving to stay for the weekend. But then I've also thrown out quite a few of the boxes, both during that exercise and previously.

 

If so why?

I'm a hoarder.

 

And, if I need any 'justification', it is the imagined potential price differential between selling a used pen with the original box and stuff and selling it without, not that I care either about selling any of my pens at this stage or about the money (as in what I stand to 'gain' by achieving a higher price; not recouping my original purchase price on something I bought new but has since used is not seen as a 'loss' to me, but just the price of my consumption or derived utility while I had the item).

Edited March 15, 2019 by A Smug Dill

[WLSpec]

I keep them if they won’t break down in the near future. Inexpensive pens that come in cardboard boxes and are wrapped in a plastic sleeve, I will put in a pen case and get rid of the box. Otherwise, I will usually keep the box if there isn’t enough room in a pen case or if I don’t want to put it in with all of my other pens yet. Some packages are nicer than the pen cases themselves, so I will definitely keep those.

[Cast]

Looks like the consensus is to keep most of the packaging, especially the nice boxes. So, I will. I may use the Pilot Metropolitan boxes to store small items. Or I may afix them to the wall as an art installation, on the theory that three is a collection and more than three is a pattern.

[Cast]

And thanks to all who replied.

[Alex Howard]

Here's the thing: if the box is especially worthwhile on its own merits, I keep it. For those pens whose identity is connected only to the box, I keep the box (e.g. Noodler's). For boxes with ink bottles (e.g. Pilots, Aurora), I keep the boxes. For pens that are identifiable somehow on the pen body, the boxes go to recycle. Some Chinese pens come in boxes that are just as beautiful as the pens themselves. I keep those. Conclusion: it's kinda' like "roll your own."

[bemon]

I keep all pen boxes- makes them easier to sell down the road if I decide to do so.

[Karmachanic]

No. I don't have the space.

[Jadie]

I love my boxes, regardless of the price point of its pens. Also makes it easy to transport the pen if you wanna resell it instead of packing it in layers of bubble wrap and a prayer. But yeah, if it's taking up room and the pens aren't super limited/rare/$$$$ things, no harm in throwing them out.

[corniche]

Hi Everyone,

 

I keep all the packaging and manuals; I even keep the cellophane bag the pens usually come in.

 

Sean

[bemon]

Hi Everyone,

 

I keep all the packaging and manuals; I even keep the cellophane bag the pens usually come in.

 

Sean

Yeah, I tend to keep everything. If there's a tag on the clip, if there's a bag that the pen came in, papers, marketing materials and usually a dried up cartridge if it's a C/C pen. I think it completes the package for resale. Add to that the fact that I baby all my pens outside my daily carry, when someone buys one of my pens they're getting a near mint pen. And I like that for the sake of presentation.

[TrentinWA]

I think I'm in the minority on this forum. I toss 'em, with the exception of the TWSBI box with the wrench and the tube of silicone lube. I might make an exception if a pen came in a really nice box, but by and large they're cheap and generic, even the one that my Lamy 2000 came in.

[seoulseeker]

Generally speaking no - I have enough clutter in my life.

[seoulseeker]

I love my boxes, regardless of the price point of its pens. Also makes it easy to transport the pen if you wanna resell it instead of packing it in layers of bubble wrap and a prayer. But yeah, if it's taking up room and the pens aren't super limited/rare/$$$$ things, no harm in throwing them out.

PVC pipe will work better than a prayer 😁

[Parker51]

Yes, I keep them, if they are related to the pen (branded & substantial) I have plenty of room for them. If it is just generic packaging, then no, it is reused, recycled or discarded as appropriate.

As example: vintage Parker 51 clamshell box in good condition, keep; modern Pilot blister pack or paper box, discard.

Also, I collect pen ephamera and so purchased a Sheaffer's Snorkel set in mint condition in part to get the box it was in as I wanted the set in the box to place it in the Sheaffer Christmas advertising display as it was designed to hold the new Sheaffer's Snorkel in it with the box lid open, showing the pen and pencil. Sorry, no pictures on this device.

[ethernautrix]

I prefer to toss the boxes, but sometimes the packaging is too appealing, or expensive (I'm looking at you, Danitrio boxes). Or useful. But I'd really rather not get the boxes in the first place, especially if a price reduction results.

 

IOW, it depends. But definitely have a preference.

[KBeezie]

For the cheapies, not typically unless it's rather small or is a more or less 'permanent' enclosure (like the clear snap box the Pilot Metros came in one). But blister packs gotta go (like how they're selling em now at my store).

 

I'll keep the boxes for my for most the pens that are typically over 50 (Platinum Century 3776, Sailor 1911L, Montblanc 149, Pelikan M640SE, etc).

I even kept a Box for an Aurora Optima that came with my Aurora Afrika LE, even though the Afrika doesn't even fit the box (would be nice if I had an original box for the Afrika).

 

The box for my Pelikan M640 SE is just lovely, the box for my 90's 149, big but not all that fancy/nice (feels cheap).

Edited February 7, 2020 by KBeezie

[A Smug Dill]

But I'd really rather not get the boxes in the first place, especially if a price reduction results.

 

That (the second clause) is unlikely, if you're buying new, with two exceptions that I know of:

• certain online retailers that don't deal directly with the official distributor for the region in which they are domiciled may sell particular pen models (e.g. Lamy 2000, Pelikan M205 Olivine) at significantly lower than market prices, but only supply the pens in generic "gift box" packaging for the respective brands instead of specific ones for those very models you'd get if buying from authorised dealers; and
• certain shops on Rakuten Global Market have a policy of, by default, not sending the retail packaging for the pens customers order, which sorta makes sense not because there is a price difference for the pens per se, but the international shipping costs from Japan that they will charge the customers are based on the total weight of the packages being sent.

[Bookman]

My OCD has a symptom that is very much like hoarder's syndrome. I have an inconvenient compulsion to think "I might need this someday" for nearly every reusable container or container-like object that comes through the door. In a word, yes. I might need it someday.

[Jebus]

I keep all the boxes. For me they are in some way a part of the pen.

[mge01park]

I keep all pen boxes and at times the boxes those come in until my wife starts yelling about the congestion then the outer shipping box goes.