Parts hoarders, step inside (Rubbermaid bin alternative)

Once, I bought an auction car to flip. I got burned, tho (undetectable additional damage), so I parted it out and have, like, half a car in my basement, all in Rubbermaid bins. If this sounds familiar, then you'll understand that I have, since the part-out some years ago, accumulated considerably more parts. I need to get them in bins, too. 

But the Rubbermaids aren't great for stacking - they collapse. I recently picked up a Home Depot brand that's pretty stout but has a chintzy top that doesn't feel secure. I want stackability AND lid security - is that too much to ask? 

Whose plastic bin system do you use to store all your parts treasures? 

I use the clear Ikea totes. I only stack them 3 high on shelves though so I don't know how they would do higher than that. 

One time I bought  a pickup truck full of 5 gallon buckets and lids from Hostess backery . They were used to ship berries , and had been cleaned ,.....

Great for sorting parts if you are always working on the same cars....like VWs.   :)

We used bins like this for restock at advance auto parts. Freaking indestructible. 

I have the same kind as Ultraclyde I have had for 10 years that I got at a swap meet. Only issues I had with them is breaking a handle off one. They are super sturdy and when/if empty nest into each other and don't take up much room. 

I assume the ones ultraclyde shows above are commercial versions. I have a few that are consumer grade and the bottoms crack out. And the lids don't have nearly the bracing shown in the photo above. Pay a little more and get something that WORKS :-)

I use bins like the ones Ultraclyde showed, but mine are clear. I can see the contents at a glance. 

They work perfectly. I got rid of Rubbermaid. 

I buy them at larger Lowes stores. 

ultraclyde said:

 

We used bins like this for restock at advance auto parts. Freaking indestructible. 

X100. We get our meds delivered in these. Heavy duty narcotics included. They don’t put that stuff in light-duty bins!

U-line sells industrial totes that stack on each other when you put them one way, then they nest if you rotate them 180 degrees. We used them at the tool repair shop: https://www.uline.ca/BL_181/Heavy-Duty-Stack-and-Nest-Containers

For at-home use I use the big black home-depot totes with the yellow lid. They stack well, carry a ton of weight and seem to be close to indestructible.

Another one for the totes ultracycle posted. For storage, I use chrome steel adjustable shelves I bought at Sam's Club. I set the shelf height so I can just get the totes on.  While I do lose some overall height, being able to get one tote out without touching the others is more important to me. Plus, the shelves are on wheels, so I can roll the entire assembly around the basement when needed.

In reply to ultraclyde :

Love those things.  NAPA uses them for inter-company transfers.  When we moved shop last summer, the local DC lent us about fifty of them.

By some miracle of skirting Murphy's Law, they have a lid design that is both structurally sound enough that you can stack the boxes to the ceiling without collapse, and easily folds out of the way when open so you don't find yourself trying to find a home for a lid, or have to find where you put the lid when it is time to put the crate back.  They also stack VERY well, both open and closed.

ebonyandivory said:

ultraclyde said:

 

We used bins like this for restock at advance auto parts. Freaking indestructible. 

X100. We get our meds delivered in these. Heavy duty narcotics included. They don’t put that stuff in light-duty bins!

We use those at autozone too. They get upset if I steal them from work so I probably need to find some elsewhere.

Look around the back of any Dollar General store. They get a lot of their “smalls” delivered in those same totes. 

Not that I know this first hand, I’ve just overheard 2 guys talking about it once

Alright, seems like we've converged on a solution.

Where can one obtain them cheap, legally?

In reply to Brotus7 :

Usplastics.com

berlinpackaging.com

Yeah those bins are great but sooo expensive. I bought some indestructible akro mills bins with detached lids at an auction once. Over a hundred bins at a couple bucks each. I’ve used them heavily for a couple decades and broken zero. It would’ve been $4000-$5000 in bins new. So yeah buy once right and they’re great but the new price just isn’t worth it if you’re not corporate. Check auctions but who has time and they rarely come up in quantity. I just got lucky and was there for my business. 

I did cheapy walmart bins but made a custom shelf/rack so they arent getting stacked. Label them for whatever. Made it so easy to organize and now when i need something, i go to that bin and im searching just that instead of the entire berking crap filled garage. 

We use the black and yellow ones from Home Depot exclusively at this point. So inexpensive and they are really very tough. We carry all of our gear and spare parts for rally with them. 

We use those at autozone too. They get upset if I steal them from work so I probably need to find some elsewhere.

The reason we get upset is because they are expensive, and when they go missing from the distribution centers it’s the dc that pays. 

/end rant : full disclosure I’m a territory manager for NAPA and we need to remind our stores a couple times a year to sent these totes back. 

That being said, I have broken then but you really need overload them and then throw them off the back of a straight truck.

CVS uses those bins too.  They are valuable enough so that the number delivered  and the number returned to warehouse is recorded by truck driver & at store level.  I'm sure LP gets reports if there's a large enough discrepancy.

Fish totes. Hard to find if there isn't a fishing industry where you are but they are tough, stack well and priced right. 

I'm in the Seattle area -- we gots lots of fish here

Edit: Weird, I added phone emojis and the rest of the post disappeared... 

Anyway, thanks for the awesome suggestions! 

I have the better part of a 66 Bonneville stored in these below from HD.  I have stacked them 4-high so full of heavy parts I could barely lift them.

$10 each

In reply to Curtis :

I bought one of those recently to store the a/c system that I removed from one of my cars. It was sturdy enough to use as a tool and book stand through the project. I paid about $25 for one at a local hardware store, but now that I know that I can get them for $10 at Home Depot, they will be my go-to storage bin. Clear would be a nice bonus though.

In reply to Woody :

Just make sure you get enough.  I bought 6, then spent a month moving stuff around and storing things only to realize I needed about 3 more.  Went back and bought three more and later realized they were different suppliers and didn't stack very nicely.  Home Depot's chinese turnover rate is pretty quick. :)

I would honestly suggest buying way too many and returning what you don't use.