Should You Rent or Buy Plastic Moving Bins?

Once you've decided to skip cardboard, the next question is usually whether to just buy a stack of plastic bins. They're right there at Home Depot or Walmart, and you'd own them after. It sounds like the obvious move until you do the math for a whole house.

Here's an honest look at both, including when buying is the better call.

What bins cost in the store

The closest thing to a moving tote at a big box store is a 27 gallon storage tote. When we checked in November 2026, Walmart listed a 6 pack of Sterilite 27 gallon totes at $48 on sale (about $8 each), down from $59.82 (about $10 each). Home Depot's HDX 27 gallon totes often go on sale for under $8 and otherwise run around $12. Prices move around a lot, so treat these as a ballpark.

That's cheap for one bin. A move doesn't take one bin, though. A 2 bedroom home usually takes about 40, and a 3 bedroom about 60.

The math for a whole move

All totals include New Jersey's 6.625% sales tax. The rental prices are our Studio ($95), 1 Bedroom ($135), 2 Bedroom ($175) and 3 Bedroom ($235) packages, each a 2 week rental with delivery and pickup included. Even if the move runs long and you add two extra weeks to a 2 Bedroom package ($65 each), you're at $325.21, still less than buying 40 at about $8 each. Catch a deep sale (HDX totes have dropped to $6.97) and buying 40 comes in just under $300, so it gets closer.

Here's the honest break even: a bin bought at $8 costs about $8.53 with tax. Our smallest package is 20 totes for $101.29 with tax, so if you need fewer than about a dozen, buying wins.

Not sure how many you need? The room by room guide works it out.

The costs that don't show up on the receipt

Getting them home

If you're picking them up in store, forty bins is a lot of car. Plan on a few trips or a borrowed truck, plus more trips if one store doesn't have 40 in stock. Some retailers will ship multipacks, which helps. Try to get them all from the same line, too, since lids don't always fit another brand's bins and mismatched stacks don't load straight. Rented totes show up at your door, all the same size, and you can add a dolly for $10.

Where they go after

This is the big one. After the move you own 40 bins, and empty bins still take up space. Some people keep them, some sell them online, and a lot of them end up in the garage for years. If you're good about reselling, the gap narrows, but you'll rarely get back what you paid. And if your new place has less storage than your old one, that's a real cost.

When buying actually makes sense

Renting isn't the answer for everyone. Buying is the better call if:

• Your move date might slip by weeks. Our rental is 2 weeks, and a late pickup is charged your package's extra week rate for each week or part of a week ($65 for a 2 Bedroom). If you truly don't know when you're moving, owning takes the clock off.
• You'll use them for storage after the move. If the bins are going straight into the attic or garage full of holiday stuff and camping gear, you'd have bought them anyway.
• You move every year or two. Renters, military families and people between leases can come out ahead owning a set.
• You only need a few. Our smallest package is 20 totes. If you need eight bins for a closet clean out, buy eight.
• You're outside our area. We deliver in Ocean County and Monmouth County. If you're just over the line, email us at WeRentTotes@gmail.com and we'll see what we can do. Farther away, buying or a rental company near you is the way to go.

When renting makes sense

• It's a one time move and you don't want 40 bins afterward.
• You're downsizing, so there's less room for extras at the new place. Our downsizing guide covers that kind of move.
• You don't want to haul them from the store and back out to the curb.
• You want them gone when you're done. On your pickup day you stack the empties, and they leave. They come sanitized between rentals, with lids.

The middle ground

A lot of people split it. They rent for the move itself, then buy six or eight bins for the things that will live in storage at the new place: decorations, seasonal clothes, keepsakes. You get the easy move without a garage full of empties.

If you're still weighing cardboard too, here's how plastic totes compare to cardboard boxes.

Common questions