Products
Serving Portland, Oregon and the metro area
Referral service. Quotes come from partner suppliers.
Pickup and delivery are available through partner suppliers. Here is how to prepare your site and load, and what to tell a supplier.
Portland Boxes is a referral service, so we do not move boxes ourselves. When you send a request, we pass it to partner suppliers, and a supplier follows up about whether it can handle the pickup or delivery, how it would work, and the cost.
Moving cardboard is simple in principle, but site access and load type change the job a lot. A couple of bundles of flat boxes and a stack of gaylords call for very different handling. The guidance below helps you give a supplier the details it needs the first time.
If you buy boxes through a partner supplier, ask whether delivery is available for your order and what it would cost.
If you are selling surplus boxes or recycling cardboard, a partner supplier can tell you whether pickup is available for your volume.
For pallets or gaylord boxes, describe the load and your site so a supplier can decide what equipment the job needs.
Schedules are agreed with the partner supplier. Tell it which of these sounds most like your job.
A single delivery or pickup, such as a warehouse clear-out or a box order for a move. Include your preferred date and how firm it is.
Explain what is driving the date. The supplier will tell you what it can do. Timing is never set by us, so confirm it before relying on it.
If boxes or cardboard build up regularly, say how often. Ask a supplier whether a repeat arrangement is an option.
List each address area and what is needed at each. A supplier can say whether it can combine stops or would quote them separately.
Some jobs need extra planning. Raising these early helps a supplier give you a useful answer.
Cardboard loses strength when damp, which matters in a Portland winter. Ask how the load will be covered, and plan a dry place to receive it.
Gaylord boxes, triple-wall containers and tall stacks can need a forklift. Share the dimensions and the weight if you know it.
If boxes need to go past the door, to a stockroom or an upper floor, say so. Mention elevators, stairs and narrow corridors.
Downtown, the Pearl and other dense areas can have limited loading space. Note any parking limits, loading zones or building rules.
In areas such as Swan Island, Rivergate or the Columbia Corridor, tell the supplier about gates, check-in steps and truck routes on site.
If your site only receives at certain times, include those times. A supplier can tell you whether it can work within them.
Access is usually the first thing a supplier asks about. A dock makes pallet work straightforward, but plenty of sites do not have one. Ground-level jobs can often be handled another way, as long as the supplier knows in advance.
Photos of your entrance and staging area can answer many questions at once. If you can, keep a clear path from where the boxes sit to where a vehicle can stop.
Not every load needs a pallet, but pallets make larger quantities much easier to move and keep cardboard off wet floors.
The common footprint is 48 x 40 inches. Avoid broken boards that could fail when lifted.
Keep boxes or flattened bundles within the pallet edges. Overhang crushes corners and makes loads unstable.
Group the same size together, with larger and heavier bundles on the bottom.
Stretch wrap or strapping keeps a stack together. Ask the supplier if it has a preference or a height limit.
Mark size, count and anything unusual on each pallet. It helps the person loading and the supplier receiving.
We take requests from Portland, Oregon and the metro area, including:
Availability depends on partner suppliers.
Pickup or delivery, and the city or area
What is moving, with sizes and a rough count
Flat, assembled, palletized or loose
Access: dock, ground level, forklift, pallet jack
Your date and how firm it is
Who should the supplier speak to on site
Find the load closest to yours. The supplier decides the vehicle and equipment.
| Load | What to Consider | What to Share |
|---|---|---|
| A few bundles of flat boxes | Often the simplest load to move by hand | Bundle count, size, stairs or long carries |
| One or more pallets | Dock, liftgate, forklift or pallet jack access | Pallet count, footprint, stack height, how you load |
| Gaylord boxes | Bulky even when empty, flat or set up | Flat or assembled, wall type, count, forklift access |
| Loose boxes, not flattened | Takes up far more space than the box count suggests | Rough volume, or photos, and whether you can flatten them |
| Mixed cardboard for recycling | Volume and cleanliness matter more than box type | Loose or baled, how much, anything mixed in |
Details like these are agreed with the partner supplier that follows up.
Send us the details and we will pass your request to partner suppliers. A supplier follows up about availability, timing and pricing.
Partner suppliers do. Portland Boxes takes your request and passes it on. We do not operate vehicles.
Say so in your request. A supplier can tell you whether it can handle ground-level loading, for example with a liftgate, or whether another arrangement is needed.
Ask the supplier that follows up. Whether repeat pickups or deliveries are possible depends on the supplier and the job.
We take requests from Portland, Oregon and the metro area. Availability depends on partner suppliers.
Pallet handling varies by supplier. If you want pallets returned or exchanged, mention it before a pickup or delivery is agreed.