Milwaukee Tool’s Packout organizer, 48-22-8430 is on sale right now. It’s normally priced at $45, and on sale for $35.
$10 off $45 comes out to be a ~22.2% discount.
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I really like Milwaukee Packout tool boxes and organizers, and you can bet that I’m about to order more at this price.
Too bad the low-profile organizers aren’t $10 off – I could really use those. I ordered a couple last week with Tool Nut’s $25 off $100+ discount, but they’ll take a while to get here and the deal was over by the time I decided to order a few more.
I tend to need organizers with smaller and shorter compartments. But at this price I can definitely use a couple for the bulkier parts I might need to move around. Maybe two?
Although I probably don’t use my Milwaukee Packout tool boxes and organizers to their full potential, it is incredibly useful to be able to move different combinations of tools and parts around, all clipped together via the Packout latches. I have small connectable cases from other brands, and larger ones, but none that are versatile as Packout.
At the time of this posting, Acme Tools still has a $199 threshold for free ground shipping. On other orders, shipping is a flat $6.49, which is quite reasonable. Home Depot won’t ship these organizers – your only option is in-store pickup and with a limit of 2 organizers per order.
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Price: $35
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See Also: Milwaukee Low-Profile Slim Organizer
If you’re ordering from Acme Tools, like I plan to do, they have Milwaukee’s compact low-profile Packout organizer on sale for $20, from $25.
I was holding out to see if a Veteran’s Day sale will knock a couple more dollars off the price, but I figure either the deal will end by then and they’ll be full price, or they’ll be excluded from the promo as a price-fixed promo SKU.
$5 off $25 reflects 20% savings.
Price: $20
Andy
I’d love to pick up a couple, but if Home Depot isn’t shipping them, I’m out. Their curb side pick up has been a joke for me, and I’m still not going into stores. I might bite the bullet and buy from Acme, but I hate buying from privately held companies.
fred
I understand that these are quite a bit nicer than the old Stanley boxes – but at 2 for $70 – I can buy 7 of the Stanley’s ($9.97 each on the HD BF Flyer). I do like what Packout items I have – but like Systainers and their look-alikes from Bosch and Makita – I think that there is quite a bit of extra profit margin built into their prices. I guess if you want the extra functionality – and compatibility with other Packout boxes – then this sale does represent a saving. But if you just want to reorganize your small parts clutter and stick boxes on the shelf – then maybe the $9.97 Stanley’s are the better deal.
Stuart
I might get some of those Dewalt organizers too this year, but my Stanley organizers are fragile and I’ve broken a few over the years. Plus there’s the “doesn’t work with smaller organizers or other tool boxes aspect.”
I stopped buying Stanley organizers because the quality dropped way down.
fred
Interesting to know. Mine are at least 10 years old. My main complaint is that they don’t seal compartments very well. So you can end up with a bit of a mixed up mess if they take a tumble. I have not experienced what you might call fragility – but I don’t try drop testing if I can avoid it.
Doresoom
So you don’t shop at any small businesses? I’m genuinely trying to figure out the motivation behind that last statement.
Albert
Perhaps he is a shareholder of Home Depot and other publically traded retailers.
Andy
I don’t currently own any Home Depot. I just like the idea that everyone can share in the business I do, as opposed to just 1 guy. And I still make most of my income investing, as do most of my friends and family.
Stuart
There are pros and cons.
The benefit of independent businesses is that they don’t have to answer to investors, and can run their business in whatever way they can.
Just look at Lee Valley for a great example of a private business.
But, there are examples of badly run companies as well.
Andy
When you buy from Lee Valley (which I do occasionally)you put money in their pocket. When you buy from Home Depot (for example) you put money in the pocket of every investor they have. Sure, some goes to the founder and some to the CEO, but some also goes to every pension and 401k that owns shares. I know it’s a negligible amount, but it makes me feel better.
Doresoom
Interesting perspective. Have you considered private companies may have more leeway to treat their employees better? I’ve worked for a publicly traded company that paid low wages, had terrible benefits, and had 100% turnover in 3 years on a department of 30 people. I’ve also worked for a privately held company with great pay and benefits, along with profit sharing.
Of course results will vary, but doing business with a privately held company benefits far more people than just the owner.
William Adams
For a bit more on Lee Valley, this is a great article, which I think shines a bit of a light on an aspect which I wish more companies would consider, payslope:
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/time-to-lead/how-one-company-levels-the-pay-slope-of-executives-and-workers/article15472738/
WillyJ
I’ll acknowledge this has gotten off topic and I’m not helping the cause.
In 2019 the CEO of Home Depot had total compensation of $10,889,800. The hourly wage for Home Depot sales associates ranges from $10-$18 per hour. So while it’s correct that Home Depot sales should boost share price, it also puts a lot of money in the pockets of the fat cats at the top. I’m sure their current CEO is a smart guy and works hard, same with CEO’s and executives of a lot of these corporations. But does he work $10 million a year hard?
It’s a fact that executive pay has far outpaced that of the average worker over the past several decades. Since 1978 CEO pay has risen 1,007% compared with 11.9% for average workers. Also worth mentioning that the top 10% of wealth own 81% of stocks.
Shopping at corporate stores for the purpose of supporting share price is really a double edged sword. I sincerely doubt the owner(s) of Acme Tools are raking in that much and, if their situation is similar to my businesses, work every bit as hard as the Home Depot CEO.
I say this from a small business owner’s perspective. We’ve struggled immensely while at the same time have worked more hours than ever just to keep the ship afloat this year. I’ve taken a substantial pay cut at the cost of making sure our employees taken care of. I genuinely care about the livelihood of our employees and if I need to make some sacrifices to maintain those that have been by our side over the past many years then so be it.
I’m not trying to start an argument or say that one position is right or wrong. Home Depot is a great store that I spend a small fortune at annually. But, I also try to support Acme, Toolnut, etc. when given the chance. Given the wealth concentration of stock ownership, if your goal is to help the “little guy” I’m not convinced exclusively shopping corporate is the answer.
JR3 Home Performance
Some of the disagreement with Andy’s statement might be coming from a lack of perspective. He say’s he makes the majority of his income from investing. Therefore why would he not be biased towards businesses that can be invested in. Obviously if you’re not an investor then it won’t agree with your perspective.
WillyJ
Agreed. But then later on Andy mentioned he feels better knowing that every purchase lands in 401k and pensions. It’s the emotional “feels better” that I can’t relate to regarding the strong corporation support. It’s great and all that we’re all able to participate in the success of a company through investing but when the profits come at the cost of cheap labor and grossly overpaid execs I’m not sure I feel better about the purchase. Even more so with Amazon.
Nevertheless, a substantial amount of my retirement and other savings is invested in stocks so I’m not going to complain about appreciating assets.
Andy
I certainly didn’t mean to get to off topic, but here we are I guess. My feeling is in an economically developed nation, like the US, peoples income should come less from their jobs, and more from their investments. I still have a job, but it is clearly a secondary income from me. My daughter is about to turn 16, and I really believe her job is going to be primarily investing in other people’s labor. I recognize the potential, and probable, inequality this creates, but that’s just the nature of the beast. Just make sure you and your’s are on the right side of that inequality.
Chris S
Another argument could be the hassle in dealing with smaller companies that may or may not step up when needed/required.
Larger companies have more robust policies and pull when it comes to dealing with fixing a situation.
I personally deal with larger companies that have robust return policies because I like to return anything that I find to be less than what is claimed or fails to meet expectations.
My most recent example would be shovels.
I’ve bought a $30 steel shovel from lowes that was bent after one use, a $30 lowes fiberglass handled shovel that cracked over it’s first weekend of use, and the $30 razorback shovel from home depot that made it a day before the the thin stamped steel neck folded like a pretzel. I’ve went through every “expensive” shovel in my area and a smaller business would not be happy about absorbing that loss. My next shovel is the Fiskars that I’ve ordered online at home depot and will return if it fails as well.
All that to say, I’m not horribly abusive to shovels. My shopping is a result of my 10 year old Jackson shovel finally succumbing to fatigue after many years of work. It was bought from Lowes before they went the cheaper tool route and got rid of serious brands like Jackson, Knipex, etc.
I personally feel that if tool manufacturers want to cheap out, then I am totally willing to test their products to their full extent and I will continue to use larger companies because they can deal with those results/decisions.
Kevin
My experience with Lee Valley is an example of the benefits of small companies. I bought a mortar and pestle from them, it was listed as stainless steel. Worked fine, no complaints. Two years later, I get a letter and a check for the full purchase price from them. They said they had mistakenly listed it as stainless when it was actually plated. Keep it as a token of our apology for the mistake. That was good service, in my opinion.
Julian Tracy
The non-pack out organizers at HD that run between 19.99-24.99 are the best organizers going right now. They come with bins, have individual bin sealed lids, good latches, they clip together, seem super sturdy, and are a great size.
The Dewalt bins come with a stupid huge sticker on the plastic lids that often will not come off, and the clear plastic dewalt uses for their lids will crack on sight.
The Husky ones look and feel very cheap for their pricing, but on a budget not too bad.
Robert Landrigan
Those Milwaukee ones are fantastic- as well built as the pack outs , but without the oddball center pocket so in some ways a better design.
I still have a few that I use at scout’s, as a pinewood derby repair kit it’s perfect.
James C
That oddball center area drives me crazy. I finally found the perfect use for a full height, half width organizer to hold my regular and HD Kreg pocket hole jigs plus screws, but the center area is throwing off my design. I may have to cut down one side of a bin to accommodate it.
Seth Goodson
The Packout organizers are awesome. Love the interchangeability with all the system. As crazy as it sounds I actually like the full size half bins the best but they don’t go on sale too often. I do agree that they are priced high. Defiantly don’t buy them at $45 a piece. $35 is pushing me but the nice thing is I will sit on them for a couple days and if I don’t feel like the money was worth it they will go back.
schill
I have a few of the Packout organizers and I like them, but they have one feature that definitely annoys me. The lid is designed to hold the bins in place and “seal” them so that stuff doesn’t fall out of the bin. But, the part of the lid over the larger bins (in the default configuration) does not have a center “rib” like the other parts of the lid. You can’t put two smaller bins in the area meant for a larger bin without that rib.
I can’t think of a reason to not include that rib area over that bin as well. I would prefer to be able to put 6 small bins in one half-size organizer (or half of the full size ones). But, without that rib you can’t.
I know it’s probably a minor issue for most people, but it prevents me from being as enthusiastic about them as I might otherwise be.
Stuart
I photographed the organizer in such a manner at the NPS show when they were first announced, and the PM made it seem this was necessary. Maybe if it was different in the middle the latching between cases would be too strong?
Frank D
As a fellow packout enthusiast and somebody who’s designed a few custom inserts ( 4 8 10 12 and more different small items per cup ), the odd center area and the large rectangular areas have been … “ frustrating “.
Coming from Stanley organizers, which akin several other brands, use up the full space for bins … without oddly shaped voids … I am still scratching my head how and why Milwaukee did what they did; and not tweak it further.
It literally is like they came up with the small organizer, wanted to be able to put two side by side … and that was just it.
But then the overall combo size still does not match any of the other cases.
Lyle
Stuart, I found this on Thinkiverse a few months back. I have a 3D printer and have printed a few of these. They are excellent and can make the larger Packouts more versatile. I think you might know the designer.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2996724
James C
That’s awesome! Makes me want to get a 3d printer.
FYI, two shallow bins can stack in the full size organizer and seal well with a 3/8″ (IIRC) plywood shim under the bottom.
Stuart
That does seem like a neat idea.
I think that if I can’t use the organizers very effectively for parts, I’ll fit them for tools.
I’m still working on organizing everything, and having different options has come in handy.
I also plan on a rack for slim Packout organizers, and figure two more larger ones will fit right in.
I rotate storage products every so often, trying new things until I find a setup that works better for certain needs.
BobbyG
Milwaukee box is nice but I second the comment on the Stanley boxes. Great price along with very good quality.
Michael Triggs
Looks like HD has the same price on, 34.97
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Milwaukee-PACKOUT-11-Compartment-Small-Parts-Organizer-48-22-8430/303005741
Makea
At the Kona Home Depot today the boxes were mysteriously absent. Took three employees to figure out that it’s actually Black Friday pricing — organizers and the 3 piece roller kit were on a single pallet above the toolbox aisle hiding out for the sale.
Michael Triggs
Also, a quick search of 48-22-8436 brings up several retailers at the $20 price point, so maybe that’s going to be the new norm.