I have been using 10 BeeMax boxes and A Swienty box for almost ten years now.  
I was reasonably satisfied with them and last year I bought 100 more BeeMax
boxes.

Although I was happy enough with a small number of BeeMax to order more,
when I had 100, I soon found they have big problems that make them unsuitable
for anything more than careful hobby use.  

First, they arrived with some tabs broken in transit.  Second, the frame rests
sent with them did not work.  When I assembled them, the glue I chose did not
hold well in service later on.  

When I stacked them 5-high for painting, the wind knocked stacks over and
boxes actually fractured.  This can be easily repaired with glue and screws, but
is a nuisance and should not happen.  The design is flawed in that very little
material actually holds the corners together and gluing most of the contact
surface does not seem possible. (Long drywall screws might help).  Additionally,
they have ugly and hard-to-paint marks embossed on all four pieces and the
surface is a bit rough.

I knew that I like Swienty boxes better than BeeMax boxes because they
require no assembly and are much stronger, are denser and have smoother
outer surfaces and bigger hand holds than BeeMax.  I ordered the BeeMax
boxes simply because they are easier to obtain in North America in the
number I needed.  

I had discussed purchasing a container load from Swienty or renting 
their mould, since my friends had been experimenting recently with 100 
commercial hives in EPS boxes and would like to increase the number
of hives in EPS, but found the BeeMax boxes to be far too fragile. 
Unfortunately, those discussions went nowhere and the Euro went back 
up from the time it looked do-able.

So, the long and short of it is my friends, the Meijer brothers, decided to bite
the bullet and pay the cost of having a mould made to have the boxes made in
Alberta. I have one of the first off the line and they are excellent.  (I ran over 
it with a forklift but that is another story.)

This one mould can make hundreds of thousands of boxes in its lifetime.
After Meijers get the several thousand they need immediately, some sort of
marketing can be set up if others are interested in obtaining them.  The cost is
comparable to the BeeMax boxes, but there is no assembly cost and they are
easier to paint and more durable by far.  They are not shipped knocked down,
so shipping cost may be an issue for some, though.

At any rate, we have been discussing EPS and XPS boxes and nucs on my diary
site and the question was asked, if the Meijer boxes are denser than BeeMax,
do they insulate less well?  I did a quick-and-dirty test and they insulate almost
exactly the same as BeeMax and far better than wood.

The test is illustrated at
http://www.honeybeeworld.com/diary/incl/bf1.htm#Thursday_June_2nd_2011

There is also discussion of making your own EPS or XPS boxes at
http://www.honeybeeworld.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=217&p=1093#p1093
Feel free to drop by and comment if the topic interests you.

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