Milwaukee Tool has officially announced their new Packout tilt bin organizer, model 48-22-8433.
The new Packout organizer features 10 removable bins – 8 small, 2 large – and can be wall-mounted, carried vertically by hand, or attached horizontally to other Packout tool boxes and accessories.
Lockbars prevent the bins from tilting and spilling their contents during transport. There’s also a folding handle at the top for convenient carrying.
Advertisement
It can be mounted to Milwaukee Packout wall plates for use in a workshop or trailer.
Additional large (double-width) bins are also available, 48-22-8434, for $13 each.
Price: $99
ETA: Jan 2025
Discussion
Milwaukee had a couple of these at their Pipeline media event, and it looks like they came out with a very versatile execution of the tilt bin organizer concept.
The large bins were holding hand tools and smaller PPE gear – utility knives and cut-resistant work gloves if I recall correctly, and the small bins were holding parts and supplies.
Tilt bins are convenient for quick access, as there’s no lid to first open up.
Advertisement
You can carry the organizer, wall-mount it, or stow in on top of a Packout tower. The bins are even removable.
Milwaukee says the organizer has a 40 lb weight capacity.
All of that seems pretty good. The price, however, is high enough – in my opinion – to prompt individual users and buyers to think hard about whether this is the best organizer solution for their needs.
On the other hand, it’s a versatile product with no equal within the Packout modular tool storage system.
This is going to be a “does it do what you need?” type of product where you – or your employer – pays what it costs to enhance your storage and organizational setup and eliminate some pain points.
See Also: Every New Tool Milwaukee Announced at Pipeline 2024
Nathan
Am I seeing correctly in the photo it looks that it can also accept packout products on it’s face? So it could technically be in the middle of a stack?
It looks very usable, and initially I was contemplating it’s use for my situation, but 40lbs seems like an easy threshold to pass when fasteners and parts are what’s being stored. I wonder how many pounds of fasteners would fit in each compartment?
eddiesky
$100!
Man, I must be getting old to see how expensive this is. I won’t even have $100 worth of fasteners in this.
I need to become an influencer on Youtube to get this paid for!! LOL… right Stu? Right? LOL… yeah no.
Josh H
The great thing about capitalism is you don’t have to buy something if you don’t want to. Whether you think it’s too expensive, a good price, or an absolute steal, you’re right. That’s just how supply and demand curves work.
But this is definitely not targeted for a homeowner or someone just looking for a simple organizer. I was having a conversation with a contractor at the building I work at, and he had a ton of packout stuff. I asked him if he liked it, and he said (I’m paraphrasing) “It’s expensive, but holds up, keeps my stuff dry, and I get to write that s*** off on taxes, so it’s not a bad deal”. So like Stu said, if it makes your job more efficient, it can definitely be worth $100.
eddiesky
I know. I’m just saying as a consumer, not a contractor. Contractors have business writeoff and deprecation. Plus, kudos to Milwaukee because I really like their direction over Dewalt’s offerings.
Funny thing is, when this goes down on price, I’ll nab one. But I REALLY wish someone would make a parts container that is a drawer you can take with you.
Stuart
Regarding parts drawers, the L-Boxx system has drawer racks. Tekton has them in red, and added bins recently.
https://14cyiuhvcgv.com/tekton-modular-mechanics-tool-kits-storage-system/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
fred
“Business write-off and deprecation” is still not free money. When we looked at some new tool, piece of mobile equipment or any other purchase – we’d try to do a cost benefit analysis and try to compare our opportunity cost of capital – especially if it was a large ticket purchase. We might try out a $100 parts storage box – but if the crews liked it and were in favor of a full-scale implementation, we’d do our due diligence before we spent thousands. We always had our working capital (spare cash) invested – and if some new expense would not likely earn multiples of what we were earning passively – then it was a no go.
TomD
An expense is an expense and the IRS gives no freebees.
The “I can write it off” only really makes sense if you’re scamming the IRS by claiming it as a business expense and partially (or wholly) using it for personal use.
People aren’t great at math.
TonyT
Do you mean something like this:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/HART-Stack-System-3-Case-Organizer-for-Parts-and-Tools-Integrates-with-the-HART-Modular-Storage-System/217580080
It’s a Hart modular system with three removable trays (e.g. similar to a fishing tackle box).
Stuart
If you want something cheaper, the Dewalt flip bin organizer (via HD) is half the price.
This is for pros who are earning a living through the use of their tools. Or maybe it’ll be paid for by their employers. If you’re a hobbyist or whatever and you’ve got the cash, that’s great too, I won’t judge.
And yeah, there are going to be influencers and YouTubers decorating their walls with these, as set pieces. To each their own.
Stationary industrial organizers are pricey too for what you get. Check out the Akro-Mils TiltView organizer, via Amazon. You can’t “grab and go” those, or secure them onto a modular tool box stack.
When it comes to business expenses, there are times when price is not the biggest priority or deciding factor. Sometimes consumers choose steak over ground meat despite it costing more. Protein is protein. Why pay more even though food all ends up in the same place? Why do folks pay more for fancy cups of coffee? Why buy top-shelf drinks? The experience matters.
This organizer looks useful, but doesn’t align with my needs or wants. But consider an electrician who sometimes wants their connectors with them, and other times wants to be able to quickly grab a part from the truck.
Some users are going to be able to justify the price, and others won’t.
fred
All the externalities are the difficult things to add into a cost/benefit analysis. While you might know what an increase in productivity is worth, estimating how much of an increase you might get from a new tool or process may be speculative. Could a new tool increase your capabilities, profitability or help generate new business? Sometimes it’s even more difficult to estimate how some new tool might enhance worker safety, morale or even company image. Finally, what works for one employee may not have an equivalent value across your entire organization.
Stuart
For me, business purchase decisions come down to three questions, in order: “is this something I need?”, “will it have a net positive impact?”, and “can I justify the cost?”
Steven B
So this isn’t even weather-sealed, right? I am sure it’s great for someone…but $100 is a LOT of money and rarely can one get by with just one.
So what’s the (legit) use case?
You need packout…
you have a vertical mounting system…
you don’t care if the parts inside rust…
but you need to access an individual bin…but their normal parts organizers which ARE waterproof…amazing, and half the price aren’t working for you?
To the other guy’s comment about capitalism…if you make something awesome, like their shallow-bin organizers, it’ll sell like hotcakes and if you make a dud…they’ll learn the hard way. There are plenty of other alternatives that seem to make a lot more sense to me. I like the weather sealed drawers with cups inside, myself.
Also, as a coffee roaster, I can answer your question about coffee. You pay more for a pound of fancy coffee because coffee is a stupid stupid stupid fickle plant that tastes best when grown in weird areas that strongly resist mechanization…and the difference between a nice Ethiopian Yirgacheffee pourover and anything from Starbucks is VAST and immediately noticeable.
…but the main reason is you’re buying from a small farmer who wants to offer you lower prices, but can’t because he’s on a mountain with volcanic soil and he has to hire locals to harvest because tractors don’t work on mountains.
They grow coffee on flat lands in Brazil with mechanized harvesting….and that’s the stuff that ends up in instant coffee. The stupid plant makes very mediocre coffee unless it has cold evenings and hot sunny afternoons.
Scott K
I also think there’s another important piece to the pricing of these systems. We’re in a period with declining interest in trades which has created an opportunity for many people to earn significantly more than in the past. If your earning more and this makes your job easier or adds another form of joy, why not? There have always been and will always be more expensive options – tool storage is one of them.
fred
I like the concept a lot. I could easily see this as a van-mounted solution.
I have a variety of brands (Bosch, Dewalt, Festool, Kreg, Lamello Stanley, Tanos) piled up in a closet in the shop. I could see building a dolly to hold 8 or 12 of these vertically around a center core to roll over to my assembly table. But wow – I could never justify the cost ($800 to $1200 for the boxes plus more for the mounting plates, lumber casters etc.) based on added convenience.
MM
This is actually pretty cool. I really like that they’ve put a new twist on the classic tilt bin. When I first saw the headline of the article–and saw eddiesky’s comment about the $100 price tag in the “recent comments” sidebar I thought to myself, is Milwaukee nuts? $100 for a tilt bin organizer? Having read the article I still think the price is a bit much, but I really like the locking bar and the ability to switch between horizontal and vertical orientation. This isn’t something I have a use for currently but I can see how it might be useful for others.
Jared
I try never to get too worked up about the launch MSRP for products. Often the “street” price ends up being a bit more moderate and it’s only early adopters that get stung with the original sticker price.
This being launched at $100 though, means we might see something like $79.99, but never $50. It’s an expensive product, but it’s also offers some unique utility.
I like using portable parts organizers in my shop since I can take them to whatever I’m working on – but this is way too expensive for me to go pick up a half-dozen to switch over. I’ll just keep opening lids.
Stuart
Milwaukee street pricing doesn’t soften. The most one could hope for is that it’ll be eligible for next year’s $90 off $299+ promo or similar.
Dennis
From the dimensions it seems very close to the Milwaukee PACKOUT Deep Organizer. Those come from the store with enough dividers to make 8 compartments for $65. Personally I think both are over-priced. But for 35 bucks you do get 4 more compartments and the ability to access them both horizontally and vertically. I haven’t convinced myself it’s worth it.
Also I noticed that overlooked in the cost analysis is that to mount these vertically, It appears that you also need 2 x Milwaukee PACKOUT Compact Wall Plates. So that is an additional $50 cost
I hate being “that guy”, but a quick search of the interwebs showed me that there are 3D print files available for Deep Organizer bins that make it possible to lift out the contents when you store them horizontally and to double stack bins upping the storage to 24 compartments. Food for thought
James
We’re DEEP in Packout. We probably have 100 parts organizers, 100 crates, 30 drawer units, plus a few toolboxes/bags and random accessories. Why? It suits our business perfectly and we decided to keep the form factor the same and we use the crates (modified) as inventory bins as well.
This seems expensive, but a clear assessment says this would be a benefit over a few of our small parts organizers so we’ll probably end up with a few of these. No rush though. I like the new take on the tilt bin and the fact it fits in with the stack. I see this being used both in our shop and on our work carts. We have Packout plates on our carts that hang crates or organizers during installs, but this would provide the added benefit of being able to access the small parts without unclipping and opening the organizer (can’t open those vertically now!!).
Price? Yeah, too high, like the rest of Packout stuff, but it works super well and it’s practically unbreakable, even in frozen winters. We have Milwaukee tools but other brands too and we definitely don’t have brand loyalty, but they continue to nail the Packout developments (not to mention the entire sub-market of mods and accessories).
Someone mentioned the fasteners cost less than the box. I don’t think that’s what we’re paying for. We’re paying for access to our fasteners and fittings at our fingertips. Plus, once you restock these a few times over, they’ve paid for themselves and the TOTAL cost of fasteners stored will far exceed the cost of the box.
Frank D
Those Packout plates look new … with a metal bar going across the bottom & top ( allowing for more versatility in installation ) .
Silent update?
Or some new pending product?
Andrew
They started showing up at my local Home Depot a few months ago, I think it’s just an update
Stuart
Updated mounting method, launched earlier this year.
Plain+grainy
https://www.menards.com/main/tools/tool-storage/socket-organizers-small-parts-bins/tool-shop-reg-4-modular-small-parts-tip-out-bin/42048/p-105478771775-c-9189.htm?exp=false I’ve purchased quite a few of these, they go on sale sometimes.
Jim Felt
This so reminds me of the countless bespoke Anvil-like roadie cases we commissioned and used to both transport and stage gear for advertising shoots. Both film and into its digital replacement age.
These actually seem reasonably priced compared to the olden daze. (And now “we” only need AI, a MacBookPro and a lousy iPhone).
Though I’ll bet load size per pound Milwaukee is both heavier and easier to spot…
JoshtheFurnaceGuy
A half size version of this would be nice for HVAC installation, when I want easy access to several types of screws. Something this size, maybe screws on one side and wire nuts on the other.
Install isn’t a big enough part of my job to justify $100 to switch from their parts organizers to something like this.
When our business buys Milwaukee products the calculation is usually “Will this save enough time to pay for itself?” We largely moved away from less expensive organizers and tool boxes because a busted screw case is a waste of time and money.
James
This. Because no, this won’t pay for itself on 1 or perhaps even 10 installs. But over the lifetime it will pay by or itself, and perhaps more importantly, it won’t lose you time as a cheap version might, unless someone doesn’t lock it and dump the contents (still happens to me some days ;).
Another piece in justifying the cost as a business owner: joy is probably not the right word when it comes to purchasing plastic objects, but there is a certain piece of mind when we walk into a job site or our shop and everything has its place.
Undoubtedly the organization produces some immediate efficiencies with direct value, but there is also a knock-on effect from having a tidy environment that, at least in theory, promotes happier people and less mistakes.
Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.
CMF
Very nice. I would love to get more than one of these. But the price! To each there own but I find the whole mobile tool storage craze has gotten out of hand.
Like I said, I would love to get 3-4 of these, but price is just too much, even for one.