>
> Has anyone used "Bankers" boxes made from recycled content?  Do you know
> how well they hold up?
>
> Some catalogs say they will handle up to 500 lbs of stacking.  Is that
> usually enough to stack four levels high?


Agree with many of the comments received thus far.  Construction methods
(glued vs. stapled, and pay special consideration to hand hole construction)
are more of an issue for the general storage of paper records for typical
retention periods.  If you're storing film, negatives, videos, or anything
that has any potential archival value, you may need to give some further
considerations to the materials used/content of the cardboard.

I guess as far as the "500 lbs" rating goes, I'd ask about the testing
methods.  Typically, this isn't a live load, and it's determined by placing
a sheet of plywood on the top surface of a box, then placing a dead/static
weight centered over the top of the box on the plywood... hardly the
situation one encounters in a records storage environment.  You will have
(ideally) no more than three boxes stored on top of each other, and to the
extent possible, you will have the weight of the upper two supported by the
outer frame of the lower boxes.

 However, in a semi-active to active environment, you will be pulling and
replacing boxes repetitively, which requires the boxes to be "slid" across
one another, weight to be distributed over the unsupported center area of
the covers, and hand holes to be used numerous times to support the weight
of the contents while moving them.  Once these fail, the effort to move the
boxes increases substantially, so if they aren't constructed to support the
weight, it's a larger concern in my eyes.

Lastly, consider the retention periods associated with what's in the
boxes... if you only need 2-3 years out of them, and don' t plan to re-use
them and the activity level is low to none, save the money where you can.
If it amounts to 25 cents a box an you're buying 10,000 of them, it adds
up... if you're only buying a hundred, it might not mean as much.

Larry
--
Larry Medina
Danville, CA
RIM Professional since 1972

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