Is this how Home Depot usually delivers bulk electrical box orders?

You definitely got a third-party gig driver from an app like Roadie or DoorDash. Home Depot shifted a huge portion of thier local express deliveries to these independent contractors a few years back. These guys aren't store employees with a branded truck; it's usually just someone in their personal vehicle. When they show up at the pro desk, they're often handed a chaotic pile of loose parts and told to get moving, so they have to improvise.

The laundry bag was almost certainly the driver's way of dealing with a packaging disaster. Those blue **old work boxes** have sharp corners and those metal mounting screws that catch on everthing. If the store tried to put 50 of those things into standard plastic shopping bags, those bags woud have shredded before the guy even reached his car. Using a personal laundry bag was probaly the only way he could keep the order from rolling all over his trunk. Before you start your basement project, you realy need to check the **swing-out tabs** and the screws on every single box. When they're handled roughly or dumped in a pile, those screws can vibrate loose and go missing. It's a massive pain to be in the middle of a cut-in and realize your box won't stay in the wall because a screw fell out in some guy's backseat. As long as the plastic ears aren't snapped off, they're perfectly functional.

It feels unprofessional compared to a standard retail experience, but it's becoming the norm for getting small parts delivered fast. It's honestly better than the alternative where they ship 50 individual boxes through the mail. At least you have your inventory all at once and can get to work. Just count them out to make sure the full 50 actually made it out of the bag and onto the porch.

That explains the wierd delivery. I'm just starting out, so I didn't realize Home Depot hired random people to drop off parts like that. Since I'm doing my first big project, should I be worried if some of the boxes have minor scratches from the pile? I don't want to fail an inspection beacuse the plastic looks beat up. Also, do people prefer these blue ones over the gray Carlon ones for a specific reason? I want to make sure I'm using the right stuff before I start cutting holes in my drywall.

Scratches are purely cosmetic, so don't lose sleep over the inspection. As long as the box isn't cracked and the cubic inch markings are legible, the inspector won't care.

On the blue vs. gray debate, I usally grab the gray ones. The plastic on those blue boxes gets brittle, especially in the cold, and those ears snap off easily. If you're stuck with the blue ones, just be careful with the drill. I always set my clutch low or finish them with a hand driver so I don't blow through the plastic. Nothing ruins a day like having to patch drywall becuase a box tab failed.

One thing to watch with those blue boxes is the internal depth. If you’re using 12/2 wire, it gets crowded fast in a single-gang old work box. Since you’re doing a whole basement, hopefully you got the 20 cubic inch ones and not the shallow ones.

Also, if you find a few screws missing, don't even bother trying to find exact replacements at the store. I keep a small jar of spares from old broken boxes in my bag for this exact reason. I swear half the time those wings come out of the bin alredy missing a screw. Just double-check them before you start cutting your holes.

Make sure you check the plastic cable entry tabs inside those blue boxes before you start mounting them. Sometimes they're molded a bit too thick, and if you just shove your Romex thru, you can end up snapping the whole back of the box out. I always take a flathead and pop them loose just a tiny bit first. It’s a bit tedious when you have 50 of them to do, but it beats fighting with a stiff wire while you're balancing on a ladder trying not to blow out the drywall hole.