Cardboard is Awesome

When I think about things made of cardboard, I’m always brought back to the traditional cardboard boxes you may think of: the rectangular and square boxes that house holiday and birthday gifts; the boxes that are sent to your doorstep with contents from online shopping within; and my personal favorite, boxes that have products for department stores. That last one is mostly reminiscent of my days as a stocker at a local Dollar General. And believe me, we had boxes for days at that place. People would come in often asking us if they could take home some cardboard for free, and we’d inevitably have an entire “roll-tainer” full of broken down cardboard.

So, believe me, I’ve seen plenty of cardboard in my day. And here I am, sipping from a soda can that was housed in a plastic bag within cardboard. It cracks me up thinking about how companies can make their products cheaper, and lo and behold cardboard makes it happen.

In fact, that’s what interests me most about cardboard. It’s so incredibly versatile and durable, yet one of the cheapest materials to manufacture. And what ends up happening because it’s so ridiculously cheap? It’s used everywhere. But it’s not even that cardboard is “bad” or compromises the safety of your product. Rather, the opposite happens: it’s so easy to use, so durable en route, and super cushiony for anything that’s fragile.

Cardboard boxes do it all, folks. No matter what way you look at cardboard, it’s always going to be around. Even if some material comes around that phases out cardboard, companies will still opt for cardboard solely because it’ll be an even cheaper material that still gets the job done. That’s how lasting its influence and pure power will be.

All in all, this material has stood the test of time in the past and it’ll continue to do so going forward. In a way, it makes you respect the fact that a material made of paper can be so incredibly useful worldwide in almost every industry you think of. Heck, the fact that you can have some cardboard at home as a versatile material shows you how amazing it is.

I think that more people need to appreciate the things around them. You’ll never know when you desperately need a box for storage or carrying things out of your house. Or you never know when you’ll want kindling. Or something to soak up an oil spill. That’s the power of cardboard.