[fjp]

Every time I thought I have needed float, I have always later found a cleaner way to do it without float.

[shawnz]

That's probably because float is almost always used for things which it's not designed for. For cases like what the parent described, which float is actually meant for, there is no alternative.

A good example is the floating picture boxes next to paragraphs on Wikipedia. How would you implement such a feature without floats?