The Humble Milk Crate

Why can't you buy, find, snag a darn milk crate that fits an ALBUM?

For all you kids out there an ALBUM is one of those BIG round discs (almost always black) with a square cover.  You play it in a Record Player.   Better knows as a LP!

A milk crate, for the uninitiated, is a super handy thing to have around the house, basement, garage.  There are even websites and blogs dedicated to the humble milk crate and its hundreds of uses. I personally have seen them used as floor to ceiling book cases, loft bed lifters (with storage), parts of coffee tables with storage, bed frames with storage, stools, beer making storage, potato storage etc. They make great car organizers and cyclists strap those babies onto the back bike racks all over the world to carry stuff, like groceries.

The milk crate as dog toy bucket

I have three.  You can't have them.  I wish I had more.  Even though they don't fit an album, I love them.  One is the Dog Toy Bucket! It is well loved and chewed up.  Anybody I know who has a milk crate won't give it up.

I'm looking for them to make a wall cubby to put all sorts of stuff in instead of paying a zillion bucks to buy one of those over priced Ikea jobs (what a rip off) or better yet, to have one custom-built! Which would be ideal but very costly.

Hey, spend the bread on pretty baskets or buy cardboard boxes that fit in there and decorate the damn things!  You can "pretty up" darn near anything including a milk crate.

And if you don't weigh too much you can stand on a milk crate.  Great stool.

Artie diving into the Milk Crate/Toy Bucket.
He CAN reach in there with his head but
for some reason, he hops in there!

So why can't we old hippies (and audiophiles) find a milk crate that fits a darn LP?

After a ton of research......here's the answer because I wondered the same thing.

You can NOT find a regular milk crate that will fit an bunch of LPs anymore.

Unless you truly luck out and FIND an old one, nowadays dairy crates (the sturdy ones) are 13 x 13" on the outside and won't fit albums with the covers. Don't try.  You'll be frustrated. Look at the first picture.  Did your albums suddenly GROW? Nope, the crates shrunk!

The diary folks got wise quickly and made the dimensions smaller years ago because the crates were getting snagged!

If you actually DO find an old milk crate that your albums fit into, guard it with your life.  It's a true treasure!

Spend the bread and get real dairy crates as long as you're not looking to store your LPs. There's a place in NJ that makes them for the diary industry.  I think it's called Farm Plast.  A dozen is about $92 with S&H, about $12 a piece which isn't bad because they're not those cheesy Target ones. those things are useless as tits on a bull.

Most "dairy crates" that are not made for the industry are
1) not made in America
2) not sturdy
Amazon has a 4 pack of the square Farm Plast ones, with S&H it's $41, as of Feb. 1, 2013

You might be able to find old dairy crates on eBay but make sure the INSIDE dimensions are at least 13 x 13 or you LPs will not fit and you'll be frustrated!  I'd get the seller to take a picture of one with a load of albums in it before I'd bid.

The Container Store has ones that are big enough for LPs, they're about $12-13 for one plus $2 S&H.  I just priced them today (2/1/2013). They get pretty good reviews too.

Hope this helps.....