"... these paragons of cardboard container engineering could be had at no cost from numerous grocers and supermarkets across the realm."
Yup, always annoys me when in the UK and they won't even give you an empty wine bottle box to put the wine in you just bought from them. Have been tempted to ask why but refrained from doing so as the answer would probably put me in supergrump mode. May have to do with recycling under VALPAK but then they forget that reuse is higher in the waste hierarchy than recycling.
Fortunately don't have that problem in NL where we're currently living - banana boxes are particularly sturdy and v handy for storing and transporting all manner of things.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
