True, the bins are not as sturdy as hard plastic, but the reason I bought them was that they are "squishy" so if there's a tight fit under the bed or in a closet, I can smash down a bit if it isn't too full, whereas a hard plastic bin is the size it is, even if it's only half full. For the price, I think this is a good buy as a place to store blankets etc. and have items safe from rodents, insects, and dust. I only measured the container empty, but I didn't find it to be 40 inches long. More like 38. However, that is plenty long enough for giftwrapping paper, so this would be great to organize all those items. It is 7 inches deep, so you could easily put in perhaps 8 to 10 rolls of paper plus 2 shoeboxes for tape, scissors, bows, etc.