Uline

Hi, I have bought boxes from Uline for a while. My normal order with them would be around $750 and I would get 10 different box sixes (25-50 quantity each size) and maybe some bubble, tape and peanuts. Uline used to give me free shipping on orders over $500 which was great and I usually make 3-4 orders a year. Now starting in 2025 they are no longer offering free shipping and a shipping quote to me for a $1000 order was almost $400, even though I am in a neighboring state from their facility.

I have a local supplier that can get me boxes a little cheaper, but they already admitted to me that their boxes are ECT32 and Uline uses 200lb boxes and the quality will be a little less. The Uline boxes seem super high quality and I looked at another company's ECT32 and i can see when handling these boxes they can fold/crease on the sides when i am assembling the box.

I order a lot of 12x12x6, 14x14x6 boxes, 18x18x8, some tall boxes like 8x8x36. The tall boxes I am concerned about them not being as rigid. The majority of the items I ship are between 10-20lbs. The tall boxes can be closer to 30-35lbs.

Then I have some larger items I need to ship in 20x20x20 and 24x24x24 double wall boxes. Uline sells 275lb double wall boxes where my local provider sells ECT 48 I believe. Anyone notice a difference there?

I do like Uline for the ease of ordering and quality of the boxes. But my latest order is going to have a $400 difference in cost based on the shipping difference. I don't have a means to pick up boxes at a store. I also love Uline's BubbleMask product and I would still need to order this from them.

Are ECT32 really less quality than Uline standard? Thanks in advance.