I go to the bike shop and check their dumpster for a box.

I always let my bike shop pack mine for several reasons. Number one, to support their shop. I can't imagine running a LBS with so many people using the internet. I figure they can use the extra revenue. Number two I am not nearly as good at taking a bike apart and boxing it appropriately. I could learn but I am old and would rather just let them. What they charge to take apart, clean and box is ridiculously inexpensive so I defer to them.

Word...I like this.

Now you're thinking....#protip

Do you mind sharing what you recall the charge to be for that?

$60-$100 (in my high-priced urban area)

It's highly variable by shop, but you can usually call them and just ask their price. The advantage is the shops have both the experience, as well as the supplies (ex. hub axle caps, foam wrap for the tubes, dropout spacers for the frame/fork) from the bikes shipped to them.

---

ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

Yeah bike disassembly is surprisingly very cheap at the shops I've gone to as well (especially compared to bike assembly...). And shops are usually happy to do it too, and it means 1 more use out of a new-bike's cardboard box.

I ship a few hundred bikes every year so I know how to save money on shipping.

I don't recall the exact charge but it was less than $100 to take apart, clean, wrap it up and box. Of course I paid the shipping.

In most cities, shops have to cut off the cardboard boxes and wedge them into recycling containers so they are more than happy for someone to walk out the door with a box. Just ask your shop to set one aside along with all the junk that comes with a new bike and you will have all of your packing materials and the little wedges that you put in where the wheels go. You can use all sorts of materials for packing, it's size not weight that makes it expensive.

Packing a bike is not hard, wheels, pedals, and seat and stem off, skewers in a bag, that's it. Its 15 minutes