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!

What a Waste: My Sheepskin and Things Moccasins Won’t Make it Through This Winter Let Alone Next Winter

Holes in the lining and the soles falling off- not how one would expect "durable" moccasins to wear in 3 months.

I’m diverging from overpackaging for a post, as I have before to talk about wastefully made items that just create more waste and burden the environment (see a previous post I did on Forever 21 leggings that only lasted me one wear here).

At the end of November, I bought moccasins from Sheepskin and Things online. I bought one pair for my mother and one for myself. I received the moccasins on December 7th. A second box arrived at the same time with a third pair of moccasins in a different size and colour than my mother’s and mine and with an invoice with someone else’s name, address, and part of their credit card number. I immediately contacted Sheepskin and Things through their email address to tell them that I had received this other box of moccasins and asked them what I should do. I never heard anything back.

I was initially pleased with my moccasins. They were much prettier than my last moccasins, with a rabbit fur fringe and beading. They were light and comfortable to wear around my house, making excellent slippers. My place has a lot of wood floors, so I appreciated having warm slippers in the winter.

In early January, I noticed that the inside of my new moccasins, less than one month old were wearing through at the heels. I was shocked. I emailed Sheepskin and Things again. I never heard anything back. I was really disappointed and felt a fool for purchasing moccasins through their website, rather than from a store that I could take them back to.

Holes had started to form in the "sheepskin" linings of the moccasins.

In early February, when the moccasins were less than two moths old, I noticed that the bottoms of the moccasins were starting to come off as the stitching had come undone in places. I’m not sure if they are defective or just badly made, but I would expect more than two months of wear of moccasins before they start to fall apart. My other pairs of moccasins that I’ve had over the years have lasted much longer.

By two months, the holes in linings had become worse.

The soles of the moccasins were coming off already. . .

. . . in multiple places.

This time, I went to the Sheepskin and Things website, and filled in an online contact form. This time I did receive a reply. The fellow from their customer service department told me that they were switching their customer service system and that is why my emails had not been answered. I felt renewed hope that they would help me with my falling apart moccasins. They asked me to send photos of my moccasins.

I sent the photos from early January email and photos from early February. The fellow wrote back and said it looked like my moccasins had been wet from wearing them outside. I wrote back to tell him that I most certainly had not worn my moccasins, which I wear as slippers indoors only, outside. I pointed out to him that I have many, many other shoes to wear outside, including a couple of pairs of beautiful mukluks (not from their company by the way). I also said that I was really upset at the bad customer service that I had had thus far and being accused of wearing these moccasins outside.

It was obvious from looking at the photos that the stitching on the bottom of the moccasins had failed and that is why the soles were coming off. Also, the inside lining of the moccasins was clearly not just sheepskin as it had a strange net-like backing to it. Perhaps this doesn’t wear as well as true sheepskin and that is why my linings were wearing through so fast.

I heard nothing back from the customer service agent. I gave it a week and emailed back. Nothing again. I used the online form on their website again and asked if they would ever be replying to help me. I have heard nothing since. It’s been more than two months since I first contacted them about my defective moccasins.

The Sheepskin and Things website has this to say about their women’s moccasins:
“Providing Canadians and the world with only the best in Canadian made fur moccasins and fur slippers. Our fur moccasins and fur slippers are made with select soft suedes and luxurious leather. Enjoy our fur moccasins and fur slippers in the comfort of your home! Our moccasins and slippers are hand beaded with an assortment of colourful glass beads.”

The description for my particular moccasins on their website states:
“Create your own traditions with our womens [sic] Indian tan rabbit fur moccasins. These are the perfect gift for your family. These womens [sic] Indian tan moccasins are made in Canada with genuine Canadian suede and plush rabbit fur. Each womens [sic] moccasins have a hand sewn glass beaded design on the vamp that is unique to each moccasin. These moccasins are ideal for indoor wear. The suede moccasin sole is soft yet durable [emphasis added] keeping your feet warm and comfortable all year long.”

Besides stating that the moccasins are made with select/luxurious materials, that they’re ideal for indoor wear, and that they’re durable, the descriptions don’t say anything about the moccasins being destroyed if they come into contact with any water in your home (from time to time one may encounter drops of water on the floor of the bathroom or kitchen in one’s home.) In any event, they are most certainly not durable in my experience.

It’s been three months since I received the moccasins and there are holes in the “sheepskin” lining of the moccasins and the sole of each moccasin continues to come off.

Three months of wear and these moccasins look really worn out and sad on their soles . . .

. . . and in their worn out lining.

Can't believe that these moccasins are so worn out after only three months. What junk.

I feel upset every time I wear them, thinking about not only how I was ripped off, but also how the company treated me when it was clear that the moccasins were defective. I still can’t believe they chose to accuse me of wearing them outside and then never email me back. It’s one of the worst cases of customer service failure that I have ever experienced in my life. Who knows if that fellow whose moccasins got delivered to me ever got a replacement pair. And I still haven’t been told what to do with his moccasins. If I were the owner of the company, I would be embarrassed and worried if I had sent someone’s name and full address and part of their credit card number to another customer. In these days of identity theft, that’s a really bad move. Accidental or not, clearly their system needs some work.

My mother has not worn her moccasins much yet and maybe she’ll have a better experience, but given the company’s lack of customer service or willingness to stand behind the quality of my moccasins, I don’t feel optimistic.

I’ve bought many wonderful things online, but these moccasins are an example of either junk or something defective that a company won’t stand behind. It’s a shame for resources to be wasted on items that will just be thrown out before they should be. I try to buy items that will last as long as possible because that’s better than buying disposable or poorly made items that will just create more garbage in the landfill. Now I must look for a new pair of slippers soon, as these will be garbage much sooner than they should be. What a shame and what a waste.

I’ve been burned before and I’m sure I will be again shopping online, but one thing is for certain. I’ll never be buying anything from Sheepskin and Things again.

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.