These are super sturdy shelves and VERY easy to put together. My husband and I have now bought 4 sets to use (garage and basement). They come together very fast. I do suggest using a rubber end mallet (inexpensive one), however it is not necessary.

I was disappointed in the quality of these units and the condition in which they were delivered to my house. Based on reviews on this page, I ordered 2 for use in my basement. When delivered to my home, both boxes showed minor external damage . I took a chance that the damage would be cosmetic and not structural, so I opened them. A couple of shelf corners were chipped and an edge was marred but the pieces were structurally intact so I assembled the units. The rubber feet fit well into the tops but not the bottoms of the corner posts. I had to use a rubber mallet to seat the bottoms. The plastic bulged up and out on one end or the other, or the middle on all the bottom corner posts. Some of the rivets on the cross pieces and rails were not large enough to get a tight fit into the bottom of the slots of the corner pieces. The rivets would simply drop to the bottom of the slot and allow the corner to float around. Another reviewer experienced this and was advised by another reviewer to use a rubber mallet to firmly seat the rivets. Unfortunately, strongly striking these bad pieces with a rubber mallet would cause the rivet to bounce up and out of the slot instead of seating it. I was able to mix and match cross pieces and rails to gain sufficient stability for my intended use, but the assembled units are not rigid enough to handle anything like the 800 lb/shelf maximum rated load per shelf being slid onto theses shelves. They should be sufficient for the less than 200 lb/shelf loads I will be putting on them.

These were a new purchase. Assembly was difficult. The pieces did not fit together well. Also very concerned with the flimsy piece that holds the top and the bottom together. They will be okay if we never have to move them, but if you lift on the wrong spot, you're going to separate the top from the bottom. Also the instructions really are awful. It appears that there is more than one supplier for this item based on the disparity in quality.

Focus on the 4 and 5 stars. This is rated so highly for a reason. I have 4 of these in my basement. Each of them were very easy to put together. Pay attention and align the brackets correctly. Others who have had problems, much not know how to properly put this together. It’s a VERY heavy box. There’s a reason this is always sold out. Buy it.

NOT a muscle rack, not even close. Cross beams that hold the boards are flimsy, like they twist and flex. Don't know what they are made of but a magnet will not stick to them . I wouldn't trust them to hold much weight. Don't worry about dinging the paint on the boards. They come conveniently pre-dinged straight out of the box.

The rivets are too loose once set in the posts, install one beam/brace and go work on another and the first one slips out of its slots (and yes, I am tapping them down as far as they go). Incredibly frustrating. There needs to be a way to lock these in place more securely. Give me bolts and nuts any day.

I bought four of these at my local Sam's store. Allow about an hour to assemble the first unit. Subsequent units should go quicker. It would be good to have a helper when first starting the assembly to keep the upright pieces from falling over. Once you get it started it goes really fast. The hardest part is putting the plastic protectors in the ends of the uprights. Design is solid and they look great in my business' shipping room. These shelves look good enough to be used as furniture in a kids bedroom.

I have been looking for a 24" deep Unit to use for starting my seedlings. I was going to get one with welded metal shelves but the shelves seemed to flimsy and twice the price. I bought this unit and the shelves are very nice. It went together easy and I just drilled a couple of holes on the side panels to hang my lighting. With my modification this works great. When I am done using for the season I will take it back apart and store in the attic.

We bought three of these in the past from Sam's and they were great for what they are. Five stars. So we bought another one the other day. However it is not made by the same company - Sam's has contracted with someone else, obviously cheaper or they wouldn't change providers. Prior shelves had some metal connectors to hold the shelving sections together when building it in the vertical design. It made the system secure from the top part tipping off and over from the bottom half. This new one has little plastic inserts. I contacted them asking for some of the metal pieces and of course as a different supplier they don't have any. I can just picture one of my grandkids climbing the shelving, grabbing the top and having the whole top section tip over on them. It is my opnion as a parent and grandparent that this is inherently unsafe in the vertical build and I'm shocked that they claim it is safe and that Sam's buys that. Wait until someone gets hurt. It also makes you question the quality of the other Armadillo products.

1 star for the good packaging. I had purchased the earlier versions of these a couple years ago. I get that things aren't like they were pre Covid, but the quality on this is horrible. The metal bars twisted and they dented when you had to use the mallet to get the slats in correctly. The plastic piece that connects the top and bottom of the shelf is garbage. I can lift the top off with my bare hands. Luckily the only thing we have on it are some model kits so it is very light but had I known I would have saved my money and went to the Depot where I could see a sample set up. It's too much work to tear it apart and return it.