Great to meet you too Heather! I fully agree. It was a ton of fun and I think next year will be even better.

Good question Ian. One of the PCT thru-hikers from 2013 cited a survey where only 20% of the thru-hikers claimed they used a bounce box. He said that many people were straying away from them because they felt bounce boxes were annoying to deal with and unnecessary.
I do see some value in having a bounce box, but I tend to agree that they can quickly become more annoying than they’re worth. More often than not, I didn’t need the contents of my box when I thru-hiked in 2010. I would just stop into the post office and forward it on to the next town. I didn’t ever use a lot of the stuff I sent in my bounce box, so I would have been better off just sending that extra gear home.

Having to resupply in town can actually be quite stressful and not needing to go to every post office along the trail can actually be a relief. Also, small items like phone chargers and nail clippers don’t really need to be mailed ahead. You can just carry them on the trail. Having your pack dialed in and a friend at home that is willing to quickly ship any extra gear you might need will do the trick. Anything else can be purchased or borrowed along the way.