Ordering online can be a quick way to get a product you need, but depending on the provider's shipping policies, it isn't always eco-friendly. One business owner was annoyed when they received the latest example of excessive packaging.
What's happening?
The shopper posted about their experience on r/mildlyinfuriating.
"My husband and I own a quick-serve restaurant and needed to buy a ticket holder for the kitchen," they explained. "This is exactly how it was packed."
Their photos show an item that is long but only about two inches wide. However, it's packaged in a huge, mostly empty cardboard box.
"Box was no smaller than 18"x36"," said the original poster. "This cannot be the appropriate way to ship an item. … Teensy bit wasteful?"
Some commenters defended the practice, but others saw the problem.
"Amazon used to send a box of tea bags in a huge box like that. I stopped ordering," said one user.
Why is this shipping method a problem?
In many cases, the problem with wasteful packaging is the amount of material used, especially when that material is plastic, which pollutes the environment. But this time, there was only cardboard, which is recyclable.
There's still a problem, though, and that's the wasted space. If a mail truck or a train car is full of boxes like this one, it will have to make an entire trip for just a few small items. That's a lot of wasted fuel and a lot of pollution.
🗣️ When you think about a product's packaging, which of these factors is more important to you?
🔘 The way it looks 😍
🔘 The information it provides 🧐
🔘 The waste it produces 🗑️
🔘 I don't think about packaging at all 🤷
🗳️ Click your choice to see results and speak your mind
More efficient packaging saves on trips and reduces the impact of shipping on the environment. It's also cheaper for shipping companies to make fewer trips, so inefficient packaging increases shipping costs for consumers.
Can the provider do anything about this?
As several commenters pointed out, shipping policies sometimes make a larger box cheaper than a long, thin one, and that may have led to this method of shipping. In that case, sellers are unlikely to change anything.
However, some companies are doing what they can to minimize packaging. Amazon has made some attempts to reduce waste, and although it has walked back some climate promises, it is moving forward with a trial of reusable shipping boxes.
What's being done about excessive packing material more broadly?
Whenever possible, you should support businesses with minimal plastic-free packaging. When that's not an option, opt for local products if they're available since this minimizes shipping distance.
At the end of the day, though, most of us rely on products that are shipped long-distance before reaching us, whether those are things we buy in stores or ones we have sent to our homes. To help reduce the impact of those purchases, support political candidates with eco-friendly ideologies who can help regulate industry practices.
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