Originally Posted by ThayerRags

I recommend a button box. Our Shop came with a button box that dates back a little over 50 years, back to when the building was a “Variety Store” as they called general merchandise stores back then. The 48” by 30” by 16” deep (not counting the stand) “Button Box” has remained in the shop ever since. We’re the third owners of it. Originally, it was only 4” deep, but somebody put taller sideboards on it sometime along the way.

We decided to relocate the box within the shop in 2006, and had to empty the buttons out to do so. We used 30-gal plastic barrels to offload the buttons into and wheel them to the new location. During the process, we did a rough estimation on the button count in the box (using gallons and cups, and counting several random cupfuls to arrive at an average), and concluded that there were roughly 250,000 buttons.

I buy all of the buttons that I can at yardsales, Estate Sales, and Auctions, and add them to the box to keep it freshened up and help maintain the volume. Customers buy buttons for 5-cents each, the same price it’s always been. We think it’s still a fair price for a button, considering that you have to look through 249,999 other buttons to find it. We help hunt when we can. We call it “Button Boxing”, and it’s about the most strenuous Sporting Event that we indulge in at our shop.

CD in Oklahoma