Exposé: The Shocking Working Conditions Behind NU’s BoxCo
You’ve seen the iconic red box logo around campus, red tents pitched on Sheridan, and boxes piled up in the halls of your dormitory. But have you ever wondered what happens to the BoxCo boxes after they are packed with students’ belongings? We have.
Sherman Ave sent an amateur reporter to slip into BoxCo’s facilities to pose as a box and discover the truth of what it’s really like to work for the university owned, student run storage facility. The results were shocking.
After being picked up from a residence, the boxes are crammed into a large moving truck and literally stacked on top of each other. Then they are transported, without seatbelts, to a downtown Chicago storage facility.
Upon arriving at their destination, the boxes are forcibly removed from the moving truck and imprisoned in their storage units. There, they remain for three months without food, water, or even sunlight.
Every single box is constantly on the clock, even on weekends and holidays. The sun rises, they are working in the storage facility; the sun sets, and they are still working. The next day they do it all again.
The boxes do not even dream of ever owning the contents they are handling day in and day out. Their salaries are far too low for them to afford similar goods. In fact, BoxCo does not pay their boxes any salary at all. A student pays $49 to store the Mammoth box size of 24 X 18 X 16, but the Mammoth box itself receives none of this revenue.
Likely due to fear of repercussions from their employers, the boxes have declined to comment. However, we have obtained an exclusive image of the inside of an NUBoxCo facility:
[expand title="Click to view " tag="strong" excerpt="(Caution: Disturbing content showing real BoxCo conditions. Discretion is advised)"][/expand]
