Boxing Day

When I was a girl and young adult, finding and keeping a ‘good box’ was a real thing (just like the meme suggests). Nowadays, I flatten and dispose of more good boxes in a week that I would have had in a year back then.

Back then, boxes only came into the house on someone’s birthday, or on Christmas. Most of it was packaging; i.e. flimsy and not useful for storing things. What did I have to store? Letters from friends. Little sentimental trinkets. Interesting rocks or leaves.

Now, since I do 90% of my shopping online, I get solid sturdy boxes of all shapes and sizes delivered to my door weekly. One of my regular chores is to break down accumulated boxes so they can be trashed.

I remember reading somewhere that one of the best indicators of a strong economy was not the Dow Jones Index, but rather how much cardboard and boxes were in demand. After all, even before Amazon delivered everything to our doorsteps, goods had to be packaged and shipped to the stores, and that meant a lot of cardboard boxes.

All I can say is that I’m doing my part to keep the cardboard box manufacturers in business. AND I hope the workers unionize and get the pay and benefits they deserve for helping us all celebrate the gift-giving holidays.