It goes by many names. It’s desired by so many but difficult to obtain.
What is it and why should you care? Read on, dearest Wooter.
The Box o’ Crap™ has been around as long as Woot! It’s a random mix of stuff that we throw in a box. You don’t know what you’ll get, if you’ll like it, or if anything will even work. In other words, it’s most likely crap. That’s right! For a mere $9.99 (shipping is free) you too can join the mayhem, chaos, and disappointment known as the Box o’ Crap! Want to know more? Keep on reading.
The Lowdown
There are several ways to obtain BOCs if you’re lucky enough. Most are purchased but some are given away.
Woot-Offs are the most common way we sell BOCs. Woot-Offs occur monthly for the most part. It’s a day-long gauntlet of unannounced deals, with deals launching every 30 minutes or less. You’ll see numerous BOC sales throughout the day (or perhaps hidden in the deals themselves). Quantities are limited though and they’re hard to get.
Appsclusive Sales are sales that you’ll only find on our Woot! app. Make sure you get the app from the Apple App Store or Google Play.
Social Media is where we sneak a post out on Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, or Facebook with a link to a BOC sale. So make sure you follow us.
Weekly Giveaways offer Mega BOCs every few weeks. Mega BOCs are a bit larger/better than a regular BOC, and this size is not for sale. Giveaways are published in the forums every Monday at 4pm CT. Look for the button at the top of the forums.
4-of-a-Kind Dice Game is run monthly (usually) and is a way you can also win a BOC. Watch for it during our fun event weeks like “Mischief Days” or “Mobile Madness”. You’ll find out about these via the Woot! Daily Digest and newsletters so make sure you’re subscribed. You can also find information on them at the top of the forums when they’re running.
Woot!'s Leaderboard shows our top participants in the forums. Each month, we choose 5 people at random from the top 100 to receive a BOC. Click here to learn more about the leaderboard.
Shenanigans are various events we hold throughout the year - usually monthly. Look for Mischief Days, Mobile Days, and more. Each usually has added opportunities to get your hands on a BOC.
Somewhat Important Notes:
- To share the love, purchased BOCs are limited to one per person every 31 days. That means that there has to be 31 days between your last BOC purchase and the one you’re attempting to purchase.
- BOCs that are won through giveaways or games are not subject to the 31-day rule.
- BOCs don’t get added to your shopping cart. They go straight to the checkout screen. Anything in your cart will be included in that checkout.
- BOCs get free shipping whether you’re an Amazon Prime member or not. It’s $9.99 for everyone.
The Chase
It begins with the chase. If the BOC is for sale (e.g. you’re paying for it), you’ve got to be ready to act, because you never know when and where they will show up. Once it’s up for sale, it creates a massive surge of screen refreshes, logins, purchase attempts, teeth-gnashing, fist-pounding events that often crash our servers. There’s nothing like a few thousand people descending on a single sale to bring the systems to a grinding halt.
You’ll have to be fast and most likely, even that won’t be fast enough. But don’t despair! There’s always a number of people posting that they got their first BOC ever so we know it happens.
About this time, you’re probably thinking that it can’t be as bad as all this. Trust us, it can and it is. To give you an idea, this graph shows the relative number of people trying to get a BOC at 4 different times during the day. The spikes show the number of people trying. THAT’S A LOT OF PEOPLE!
If you were successful in purchasing a BOC, you have completed Stage One of DIsappointment.
So what happens when you attempt to purchase a BOC? Click here to see a boring explanation.
Well, it goes a bit like this:- See the BOC sale.
- Panic!
- Remember that you have to hit the buy button.
3a. You may need to log in again even though you just logged in! Isn’t this fun? - The server sends your order request to the server to check inventory. Is it available?
- No: Whomp whomp. Your travel ends here. You may see a “Denied” message. Don’t take it personal.
- Yes: Woohoo! You can move on to the next step. Don’t hold your breath yet though.
- Your order is sent to payment services.
- Joy! You get to log in again but this time for the payment - most likely Amazon Payments. We don’t know what happens here. It’s all a great mystery.
- Once the payment authorization is processed, the servers will check the inventory again. Is it still available?
- No: Sorry. No luck this time. You may see a “Canceled” message. This reverses the payment authorization and breaks your heart.
- Yes: Sweet! You can move on to the next step. Remember, don’t hold your breath yet.
- At this point, either:
- Your order goes through to inventory allocation along with a few hundred others.
- You get sent to the Vestibule of Patience* waiting room. Your order will progress when the server is ready to accept more orders without crashing.
- The last step is inventory allocation where your order is actually approved for the BOC and the order is completed.
- Yes: You made it! You faced all the dangers and foes of the battle and you came out a victor!
- No: Sorry, we sold out before we got to you. Your order is canceled to reverse the payment authorization. You may now bash your fist on the keyboard.
* Vestibule of Patience is a waiting room of sorts. It’s a queue where we hold orders and pass them to the servers at a pace they can tolerate without crashing. It’s like Ticketmaster, but not as reliable?
The Wait
This is Stage Two of Disappointment. This is the interminable time for your Box o’ Crap to be magically transported to you via UPS or USPS. Which one is used is at the whim of our shipping station that has a mind of its own.
With 1-1000 days, you will receive an email with a tracking number. Huzzah! It’s real! That crap is headed your way. Nothing can stop it now except a tornado, hurricane, highway calamity… well, we’re sure you’ll get it eventually.
If someone at Woot! remembers, you’ll also get an email congratulating you on your incoming disappointment and reminding you to post it in the forums and social media. (See Reveal next)
Some BOCs are lucky and get to take the scenic route to you. For example, this one took a grand tour of the Great Plains on its way to Minnesota.
Once it finally makes its way to you, you may be faced with a tough decision. Open it immediately or wait to open it with family or friends.
The Reveal
And now you’ve reached the end: Stage Three of Disappointment.
You hold your breath as you open the flaps of the custom-smashed box to reveal the first item: the coveted BOC tote. Handy for holding your crap or even groceries. So many designs. So many colors. You’ll want to collect them all!
From there, you slowly remove each item and lovingly inspect it before throwing it aside to grab the next one. Once you’ve made the first pass at the crap, you’ll arrange them for their group shot to share with other Wooters in the community:
Some even like to take a photo of each item separately. If you want to really show off some mad skills, you can create a GIF or a video of your bounty. We love to see them all. But where do you get to show off? Good question!
Make your way to the Woot! Forums where the cool kids in the community hang out. There’s a special thread just for sharing photos, videos, gifs, lists, feelings, rage, tears about BOCs. It’s a bonding moment, to be sure.
Just head over to: https://www.woot.com/postmyboc
That link will always take you to the BOC thread where you can share what you received and see what others got.
Don’t forget to share or tag us on our social media channels as well!
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is a BOC such a big deal?
Your guess is as good as ours. Maybe it’s the thrill of the hunt. Maybe the bragging rights. Maybe hoping for something great.
Where do I find BOCs?
Did you not read the stuff at the first of this blog?
TL;DR: Woot-offs, Appsclusives, Giveaways, Dice Games, Social Media, and more.
How much does a BOC cost?
Each BOC will run you $9.99 and shipping is included. So it doesn’t matter whether you have Amazon Prime or not, it’s always $9.99… unless we raise the price some day.
Can I buy more than one BOC?
No, sorry. We have a strict rule about that and we mean business. To share the love with other wooters, you can only buy a BOC every 31 days. That means there must be 31 days between your last BOC and the date you’re trying to purchase one. BOCs that you don’t pay for (e.g. games and giveaways) are not subject to this rule.
Can I buy less than one BOC?
You. Out. Now. 
Can I buy one as a gift?
Technically, yes but it’s not easy. You need to update your default address to the recipients address and then try your hardest to buy a BOC. It’s important to change your address back to your own afterwards or your next Woot! order will go to them also. And we can’t really do much for you there except maybe cancel your order.
Why is it hard to get a BOC?
We have a limited number of them to sell and a ton of people trying to purchase them. We do set a 31-day rule - must wait 31 days before purchasing another - to make sure more people get a chance at buying one.
Can’t you just make more BOCs?
We could but where’s the fun in that [for us]? The real answer is that we lose money on each BOC. They’re a marketing tool and you know the old saying, “You gotta spend money to make money.” We just gotta watch how much we’re spending on these. Also, it takes a lot of time to build BOCs. It’s not an easy job.
Who makes the BOCs and how are they made?
Knew you were going to ask that next. Each BOC is lovingly hand packed by one of our dedicated team of crap specialists. These specialists carefully sift through mountains piles HUGE pallets of crap to decide what is good crap and what is bad crap. On a good day (i.e. uninterrupted), a team of 2-3 crap specialists can build about 200-250 BOCs. Of course, we all wear many hats here at Woot! so they have other jobs and responsibilities in addition to being crap specialists.
Is there real crap in it?
Uh, no? At least not intentionally.
What if I’m offended by the word “crap”?
Then the BOC is probably not for you because we use “crap” a lot on our site. Hopefully you can look past it though.
I just got a splinter, what do I do?
Use tweezers and pull it out.
But I don’t have tweezers!
Use your teeth.
What if I hate what I got or something is broken?
Sorry but you bought it, you keep it. We don’t want it back. I’m sure you’ll find someone that would like what you don’t or you can donate it. As for broken items, a Wooter worth their salt can fix most things. We have faith in you!
Is it true that a few years ago, a witch cursed a BOC and it caused the recipient to go insane?
Shhhhhhh. Legal says we can’t talk about that incident.
I loved this article and want to have more fun!
Wow, thanks. Head on over to the forums or our social media channels. There’s a lot to see and do there. And you should look into our Shenanigans…
Last but not least, what kind of things do you put in a BOC?
You could end up with just about anything you could think of that will fit in a box that's about 12 x 6 x 9 inches (sometimes larger). For example, you might get adult diapers, Apple watch, art kits, audio jack, baby wipes, backpack, badge covers, bags, ball bearings, balloons, balls, batteries, battery storage box, bibs, binder, blanket, Bluetooth headphones, Bluetooth Speakers, boots, bottle opener, bras, broken light bulbs, broom, brushes, camera, can opener, car wash mit, chalk, chalkboard, charging cables, charging station, clock, clothes hangers, coffee filters, copy paper, cord organizer, craft kits, crayons, dental floss, diapers, dimmer knob, dish brushes, dish drying mat, dishcloths, disinfecting wipes, dog leash, dolls, door handle, door hooks, door stop, dry erase markers, dust pan, dusters, earbuds, earrings, electric terminals, electrical outlet cover, empty boxes, exercise weights, fake plants , fanny pack, faucet, film scanner, filters to something you don’t own, finger paint, Fire TV Stick, fish tank decorations, flashlights, fly swatter, foil, food bags, frames, frying pan, funnels, games, garage rags, gloves, graphics card, greeting cards, hair bands, hat, headphones, headphones, hemostat, holiday lights, hoodies, hooks, hose muzzle, hot pads, ice cube tray, iron skillet, jewelry, keyboard, kids’ clothes, Kindle Tablet, kitchen storage containers, kitty litter box, knife, knife organizer, knife sharpener, koozies, lanyard, laptop, led light strips, left shoe, light bulbs, lights, marbles, markers, masking tape, mismatched shoes, modem, mop heads to a mop you don’t have, mouse, mugs, napkins, nonskid tape, nose hair trimmer, note pads, oil filter, o-ring, outdated calendars, oven mits, packing tape, paints, pajamas, pan lid, pants, paper, paper plates, paper towels, passport holder, pen, pencil, pet collars, pet toys, phone, phone cases for phones you don’t have, phone holder, phone screen covers, pillow, pillow case, planter, plush toy, pop-up tent, potty seat, purses, puzzle, rags, random books, remote control to something you don’t have, ribbon, right shoe, routers, rubber duckies, sauté pan, scissors, screwdriver, screws, security camera, sheets, shirts, shoes, shorts, shower curtain hooks, shower curtains, shower head, sippy cups, spark plug, spatula, speakers, spice rack, spiral notebook, sponges, spoon, sports tape, springs, squeegee, stickers, storage boxes, straws, stress ball, sweatpants, table cloth, Tablet, tablet holder, throw, tire gauge, tissues, toilet brushes, toilet paper, toothbrushes, towels, toy car, toys, travel mug, travel urinal, used earbuds, vinyl gloves, wall chargers, watches, wedding rings, window panels, wine tumbler, wireless chargers, Woot! branded stuff, wrench, yarn, or something else you may or may not want.