How Much Does It Cost to Rent Moving Totes? Nice Totes Pricing, Explained

Pricing is usually the first thing people want to know before booking a moving tote rental — and fair enough, it's a real cost you're planning around. The short answer for Nice Totes: moving box rental packages range from $119 for a studio up to $399 for a 5-bedroom home, on a standard 2-week rental period. Every package includes free delivery and pickup plus one dolly, and there are no surprise fees tacked on at the end. Here's the full breakdown.

Nice Totes Rental Pricing at a Glance

All packages are priced by home size and come with a set number of heavy-duty plastic moving totes — reusable moving boxes delivered right to your door. These aren't flimsy bins from a big-box store; they're durable plastic moving crates sized specifically for residential moves:

• Studio — 20 totes · $119 / 2 weeks · $199 / 4 weeks
• 1 Bedroom — 30 totes · $169 / 2 weeks · $279 / 4 weeks
• 2 Bedroom — 40 totes · $219 / 2 weeks · $349 / 4 weeks
• 3 Bedroom — 55 totes · $269 / 2 weeks · $449 / 4 weeks
• 4 Bedroom — 70 totes · $319 / 2 weeks · $549 / 4 weeks
• 5 Bedroom — 90 totes · $399 / 2 weeks · $649 / 4 weeks

A rough rule of thumb: plan for 8–12 totes per room for a typical home. Kitchens, garages, and home offices tend to run higher; bedrooms with minimal storage run lower. If you're between two package sizes, size up — running short mid-pack is more stressful than having a few empties left over. If you need more than 90 totes, request a custom quote. Extensions beyond your chosen rental period are available per additional week — see the residential pricing page for the full add-week rates.

What's Included in Every Rental Package?

Packages include three things beyond the totes themselves, and none of them are upsells:

• Free delivery — totes are brought door to door on the scheduled date, already clean and ready to pack
• Free pickup — when your rental period is up, we come back and collect them; you just leave them stacked where we dropped them off
• One dolly — included with every order so you can move loaded plastic bins around without carrying them by hand

There's no box assembly required — the reusable plastic moving crates arrive with their interlocking lids already in place. You don't need packing tape to close them, and there's no wasteful cardboard to break down when you're done. That's a real difference from the cardboard moving boxes experience, where box assembly, tape, and disposal all eat into your time. The packages include everything a local residential move needs to get packed and go.

Is Moving Tote Rental Cheaper Than Buying Cardboard Boxes?

For most moves in the Chicago suburbs and southeast Wisconsin, renting is cheaper than buying cardboard once you count everything. Sourcing cardboard moving boxes for a 2-bedroom move means buying 30–40 boxes in multiple sizes, rolls of packing tape, markers, and usually some packing paper or bubble wrap on top. That total lands anywhere from $150–$250 before you've packed a single room. The moving bin rental service covers the same move for $219 flat, delivered to your door with free delivery and pick-up included and no extra moving supplies required.

There's also the cost most people overlook: disposal. Cardboard creates a pile of wasteful cardboard you have to flatten, bag, and haul to recycling. With reusable moving boxes, you just stack the empties — we pick them up. Eco-friendly moving and cheaper than buying cardboard aren't usually the same thing, but here they are.

For a side-by-side look at the real numbers, see our post on moving totes vs. cardboard boxes.

Is It Better to Move With Boxes or Totes?

For a local residential move, reusable plastic moving totes have a few practical advantages over cardboard. The heavy-duty plastic construction means they're stronger than cardboard and won't flex or collapse when loaded heavy. The crush proof design protects your belongings in a moving truck, especially when totes are stacked. Plastic moving crates are also a consistent size, which makes loading a truck more predictable than fitting together an assortment of cardboard shapes.

Cardboard has one genuine advantage: it's available everywhere, and you can cut it down for irregularly shaped items. But for standard household goods — clothing, kitchenware, books, linens, small appliances — durable plastic bins handle the job more reliably and with less waste. The sustainable moving case is clear, and so is the practical one: most customers who try tote rental once don't go back to using cardboard boxes for local moves.

How Does the Rental Period Work?

The standard rental periods are 2 weeks and 4 weeks. Most customers find the 2-week rental period covers the full move comfortably: delivery a few days before moving day, time to pack, the move itself, and a few days to unpack before pickup. If you're managing a bigger transition — a staged home sale, a phased renovation, or a home or office move with a lot of moving parts — the 4-week term gives you more breathing room.

Extensions beyond your booked rental period are available. The rate varies by package size. It's simpler to build extra time into your booking upfront than to scramble for a last-minute extension, so if your timeline is uncertain, go with the 4-week option. More detail on extensions and what to do before pickup is on our FAQ page.

What Optional Add-Ons Are Available?

The totes, delivery, pickup, and dolly are all included in the flat rate. If you want extras, these are available at booking:

• Extra dolly — $29 (useful for larger homes or multi-person packing crews)
• Packing paper (160 sheets) — $27
• Bubble wrap (72 ft roll) — $19
• Zip ties — $12
• Heavy-duty packing tape — $7 (for anything that isn't going into a tote)

These moving supplies are genuinely optional — most customers don't need them unless they're packing fragile items like dishware or glassware that benefit from wrapping before going into a tote. If you're packing a kitchen, the packing paper is worth adding. Everything else is a nice-to-have, not a necessity.

How Does Moving Tote Rental Compare to Renting a Moving Container?

Moving containers — sometimes called pods — are a fundamentally different product. A moving container is a large portable storage unit delivered to your driveway; you load it, and the company moves or stores it. They're designed for situations where you need temporary storage between homes, or where the container is transported professionally. Monthly storage costs typically start around $150–$250, with delivery fees on top. With transport included, you're often looking at $500–$1,500+ for a local move. Services like U-Haul's Ready-To-Go Box rental offer reusable plastic moving boxes, but typically without the door to door delivery and pick-up experience that a local moving bin rental service like Nice Totes provides.

Tote rental is a packing solution, not a storage or transport solution. You rent the plastic crates, pack them yourself, load them into your own moving truck or rental vehicle, and unpack at the destination. It's meaningfully cheaper for a local move because you're not paying for logistics infrastructure you don't need. For a local residential or home or office move in the Chicago suburbs or southeast Wisconsin, rent reusable plastic moving boxes from Nice Totes and handle the rest yourself — it's the cost-effective way to go. See also our full comparison of tote rental vs. self-storage.

Ready to See What Your Package Would Cost?

The residential pricing page has the full package breakdown with a Book Now button — you can reserve your totes online in a few minutes. If you're not sure which package fits your home, our FAQ has a sizing guide, or email info@nicetotesrental.com and we'll point you in the right direction. We're available seven days a week.