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!

Amazon Subscribe & Save: Savings on Price, but Not Necessarily Packaging

Another overly big box, half empty and with a ton of packing paper. What a waste of packaging.

A little less than a year ago, I became an Amazon Prime member. I started subscribing to various products over time using Amazon's Subscribe & Save program. Now I have several products in my subscription rotation including baby products like diapers, household cleaners and paper, and even hemp hearts. While I appreciate some of the savings, they have only been in cost and not packaging (and one has to wonder how much unnecessary packaging adds to the cost of items on Amazon).

I’ve had a variety of deliveries over the many months that I’ve tried this service. Some of the deliveries have been filled with damaged items due to inadequate packaging materials and overly large boxes, while others have been undamaged but in overly large boxes with tons and tons of packing paper. But not all of the packaging has been bad. Some packages have been done very well with the minimum amount of packing paper or bubble wrap and appropriately sized boxes.

My most recent delivery of Subscribe & Save items (this was only about half of my items for March that arrived in this box) was a repeat of Amazon’s use of overly large boxes and too much packing paper (for my other posts on Amazon's overpackaging, please see here and here and here and here and here and here.)

So much packing paper.

And a half empty box.

All of this packaging material left after. Yes, I can recycle it, but half wasn't needed, so it's still a great waste.

I can only hope that Amazon will start listening more to the report feature that they provide on their site where customers can report whether their package was well protected or not, whether the box was a good size or not, and provide written comments about the packaging if they desire. I have used this feature over and over again, but many packages that I receive from Amazon still are overpackaged with wastefully large boxes or envelopes and too much packaging materials used (or not enough in the case of Amazon regularly not wrapping liquids like cleaners with plastic and then them sometimes spilling all over the box and its contents during shipment).

Amazon ships so many packages a day all over the world, that all of their waste in packaging will add up and create a mountain of recycling, garbage, and waste that we will all come to regret. Come on, Amazon!

Come on, Amazon (The Overpackaging Continues)

I've blogged about my Amazon Prime experiences over the past almost a year, receiving overpackaged items very regularly (you can read my blog from last week here plus other ones here and here and here and here.).

I’ve had a few deliveries since then and the overpackaging continues.

Child gates:
These three child gates arrived in two separate shipments (although all the same brand and ordered at the same time) and in huge boxes much too large for them. What a waste of cardboard.

An overly large box with a lot of wasted space as usual.

One gate in a giant box.

Another large box for the other two gates.

So much wasted space. 

Much less cardboard could have been used in these shipments.

Child safety latches:
The package itself was very efficiently packed with the ten safety latches all in a perfectly sized cardboard box, but Amazon sent them in a huge bubble envelope.

Amazon is one of the biggest retailers in the world and certainly seems to be the biggest online retailer in North America (and growing every day). If Amazon could improve their packaging, think of the waste that could be avoided and the precious resources saved.

Amazon has a neat feature on their app, where you can report back to them how the packaging was on items that you received. You can say if the package was well protected or not, if the package was too big or really too big or just right, and leave written comments too. I have used this feature several times, but it doesn’t seem to be improving the packaging from Amazon. I have also called customer service when items have been destroyed in transit and have complained about the bad packaging, but this has also not seemed to improve things.

In the meantime, I guess I’ll be hauling huge amounts of cardboard boxes to the curb on recycling day. Come on, Amazon, let’s reduce the waste for everyone’s sake.

Amazon Prime: Membership Certainly Doesn’t Buy You Prime Packaging

There are too many examples to give of how Amazon packages some of their items poorly (at least in my experience) and I have already blogged about their wasteful packaging before (you can find links to other posts here and here and here and here).

Herein, I include some more highlights of the poor packaging I’ve been experiencing since I became an Amazon Prime member last spring. They are too numerous for me to include them all, but let’s just say there are a lot of examples (unfortunately Amazon fails at least 50% of the time in packaging well, by this I mean that items arrived damaged or destroyed or that Amazon is using huge boxes when they are not needed or putting boxed items into cardboard boxes).

Too Big of a Box Plus Improper Packaging of Toxic Liquids Around Baby Formula:
The other day, I received one of my monthly subscribe and save packages from Amazon. As an Amazon Prime member there are some good savings on household cleaners, stationary, baby items, etc. to be had when one gets them delivered regularly. Unfortunately, I have had many experiences of packages from Amazon being poorly wrapped and items being damaged or destroyed. This was probably the worst experience. Not only was the box too big and poorly packed, the items mixed were inappropriate. There was a bottle of toilet bowl cleaner that was put in a bag but was somehow frozen in transit.  There was some sort of liquid coming off the bag when it arrived, be it condensation or leakage from the bottle and the box and items in it were wet. This heavy bottle rampaged through the box and crushed the Ziploc bag boxes to bits and then attacked the containers of baby formula. I am not sure if the baby formula was put into the box with its seal broken or if the seal was broken in transit by the bottle of toilet bowl cleaner. The package of tape was the only thing to escape destruction. Not a good ratio at all. And terrifyingly, customer service at Amazon expressed no concern over the opened baby formula or the fact that it was in the same box as toilet bowl cleaner from which some sort of liquid was issuing in transit. I exchanged emails with them and then had to call and talk to not just a customer service agent, but also a manager, a 25 minute call. So disappointing.

Boxes in Boxes:
I have had many Amazon shipments that come in very large boxes that house items that are also in cardboard boxes. It seems like a big waste. A box of diapers and a new garbage can in a cardboard box and a package of toilet paper wrapped in plastic. Yet another giant cardboard box to recycle (plus the two cardboard boxes in the box to recycle). What a waste.

Box in a Box Plus Tons of Wasted Space:
This package arrived with an overly large box to house a heating pad in a cardboard box plus one container of Vaseline. Surely the packaging could have been different.

Boxes in Boxes and Somehow the Expensive Vitamix Box Still Ends Up With a Hole in It:

This Vitamix was around $700.00 before the sale and they put it into a large cardboard box when it was in its own cardboard box. Yet somehow, it still ended up with a big hole in the side of its box. Amazing that Amazon is not only so wasteful with packing materials and boxes, but also uses them so ineffectively so as to not even protect high value items.

 Boxes in Boxes: Lots of Wasted Space Again:
This box had a box of diapers, an Aveeno lotion for babies, and a package of toilet paper all in a giant, overly large box. Again, such a waste.

More Idiotic Packaging With Damaged Items:
This box arrived with one baby formula, a beautiful hardcover book that I bought for my child, and an Oxyclean spray for babies. The Oxyclean was not even wrapped or in a bag so it could have leaked all over the book. As it was, either the heavy formula or the Oxyclean battered up the unwrapped book and dented and bent its corners. What a disappointment when you buy an expensive hardcover book for a child in brand new condition and it arrives in bad condition.

Another Overly Large Box is Used:
This order had a package of toilet paper, a small box of porridge for babies, and a hippo toy for babies. There was a ton of empty space in this box.

Another Overly Large Box Housing More Items in Cardboard Boxes:
This box only had a tiny teether for a baby in its own cardboard box and 18 Amazon Basics washcloths in their own cardboard box. And the box was way too big too. All that wasted cardboard.

A Giant Box That's Too Big For the Shipment and There's Lysol Wipes Fluid All Over the Box:
This box had Lysol Wipes in it and they weren't wrapped so they leaked all over the box and everything in it. Plus there was a bunch of wasted room in the box again.

In conclusion, Amazon really needs to improve its packaging in two ways. Firstly, it needs to be less wasteful with packing materials and boxes. Secondly, Amazon needs to be more careful with packaging items that it sends so that they are not damaged or destroyed in transit. While Amazon customer service has been fairly reasonable to deal with over these damaged or destroyed items, it's really annoying to have to keep contacting Amazon and wasting so much of my precious time. Further, recycling all of this packaging material and the boxes is time consuming and bad for the environment. Reducing even recyclable materials is the way of the future.