Amazon Prime: What Are They Thinking with Their Packaging?!

Another order, another example of overpackaging from Amazon.

I have written many blog posts on Amazon Prime and their wasteful packaging since becoming a member a little less than a year ago. Unfortunately, Amazon continues to disappoint me with their voluminous and wasteful packaging (you can read my other Amazon posts here and here and here and here and here and here and here.). Despite having a feedback section where customers can report how the packaging was on their items (where one can fill in if the box was too big or just right and whether the items were adequately protected, along with leaving written comments if desired), I continue to receive overpackaged shipments with wasted cardboard, packing paper, and bubble wrap. Sometimes I will receive a well packaged shipment and hope that the Amazon overpackaging is ending and then they hit me with wasteful shipments again.

I received two packages this week from Amazon Prime. One package was bath toys for my baby. There were three varieties of toys, all very small, yet the box I received was very big. I opened it and found a ton of packing paper. When I pulled the packing paper back there was almost nothing but empty space in the box. What a waste! When is Amazon going to stop overpackaging shipments like this? Their packaging is regularly shocking (at least in my household). Yes, I can recycle packing paper and cardboard, but reducing is better than wasting precious resources.

Another big box from Amazon.

A big box with lots of packing paper.

I was stunned when I looked in the box and found all of that empty space.

What was Amazon thinking?! Such a big box for such little items.

All of this packaging from Amazon and I still had the packaging on the children's toys too.

For children's items there was not a lot of packaging. Unfortunately, Amazon negated this with their packaging.

The Playgro and Munchkin bath toys were surprisingly well packaged for children's items, but Amazon sure failed in their packaging.

Another package that arrive this week was a tiny bottle of rose hip oil. It came in a big bubble envelope. When I opened the envelope, there a tiny bubble wrapped bottle at the bottom of it. There was so much wasted space. Why was this sent in such a huge envelope? Again, what a waste of packaging materials.

I was surprised by the size of the envelope when it arrived.

I couldn't believe how much empty space there was in the envelope.

A giant envelope for a tiny bottle of oil in bubble wrap.

All of this packaging for a tiny self-sealed bottle of rose hip oil.

I will continue to fill out Amazon’s packaging feedback section on their website for my orders, but since the packaging continues to disappoint, I don’t know if I’m wasting my time. Surely, Amazon could save money by using less packaging materials and thereby have smaller shipping costs. Come on, Amazon!