Come on folks, say it in unison with us: "Finally!" At long last, a company with a little clout has stood up and questioned the necessity of those ridiculous
hard plastic containers that hold
minuscule flash cards and the like (along with plastic twist-ties), and better still, it's already doing something about it. Beginning today, consumers who are tired of borrowing the fire department's Jaws of Life to rescue their new USB drive can opt for products in Amazon's "Frustration-Free Packaging," which utilizes streamlined packaging that often includes recyclable cardboard. 19 products from the likes of Fisher-Price, Mattel, Microsoft and Transcend are currently available in the new containers, and the firm's CEO has a vision of offering its "entire catalog of products in Frustration-Free Packaging" within a few years. Hey, everyone else in the gadget world -- care to hop on a meaningful bandwagon for once?
Read - Frustration-Free Packaging initiative
Read - Frustration-Free Packaging storefront
posted November 3rd 2008 8:47AM
Finally we can continue to cut down the rainforest to get cardboard again, I was afraid for a sec some species might survive, thanks amazon for coming to the rescue and putting everything in cardboard, and since you just cut open the blisters at your HQ it doubles the packaging waste since you now have the blister AND the amazon packaging used for the same item.
I got my SD card in "bulk packaging", which is pretty much what this is, and it was also from Amazon. Amazon must have gotten tood remarks on the bulk packaging, so decided it would be cool to spread it to other products
My only concern with blister packaging is how polluting it all is, and a annoyance in how it's hard to fit in a trashbag often, it's bulky and the sharp edges cut the plastic bag open.
As for opening it, I don't think that's beyond my capabilities and I like the assurance that it hasn't been tampered with, but if it was an issue they could use that sprocket system you see often, uses the same material but you can pull it open.
I hope this cartoon demonstrates the point
http://www.monkandhisitjunk.com/2008/11/05/monk-119-what-is-all-the-fuss-about-packaging/
can they mail the thing in an envelope instead of a big box too?
http://www.comparecontractmobiles.com
They DO mail it in an envelope - the same envelope in the picture. Amazon's frustration-free packaging is the shipping packaging - there is no other "box inside of a box" or anything.
I could not agree more about the frustration that these plastic packages cause, and the less of them we have the better. But if you do have to deal with them, there now is a solution to the problem. It is called the Zip-it Opener. I am partial since I invented it, but if you want an easy way to open the packages, this is it. It is battery operated (using 2 AA batteries) and works on the principle of a can opener. Pressing the 'trigger' activates the roller blades to easily slice into the plastic opening them with little effort. It is especially helpful to anyone with hand strength issues, or just wanting to avoid using sharp instruments. It is safe, comfortable to us, and very effective. There is a demo video on the web site as well as You Tube.
the interesting thing about a few of these comments is that they assume that amazon does not have shoplifting concerns. i used to manage an amazon warehouse and my first reaction to this story was omg theft is going to go through the roof.
i love the idea of passing on the cost savings, and reducing the environmental effects of all that petroleum based plastic, etc, it's worth considering that at least in the short run with this scenario the cost to the company may actually increase due to a high rate of theft
to uo and mewyn i say you are both right...
UO: putting an item into the correct size box is a big deal at amazon, it's tracked on multiple levels. the reason is that a smaller box saves on shipping costs because yes, UPS or whoever charges you more, it also saves on transport costs if all of your packages go out in the right size box you are less likely to cube out a trailer quickly and unexpectedly. trailers (especially emergency ones) cost money. also a box that's too large increases the likelihood that the item will be damaged in transit. as a rule a tight pack is a better pack. despite all of these concerns amzn selects correct box sizes with varying degrees of success, especially during the holiday season when things get very very busy
MEWYN: there is a balance there because too many box choices increase the likelihood that the packer will make a poor packaging decision also with uniformity in box sizes comes the ability to automate the packing process and therefore be more efficient.
Great idea! A company has finally noticed the struggle poor customers are having with suckish packaging that is useless and bad for the environment! This may be historic, but may be just three steps forward and two back, we shall see...
This "announcement" by Amazon is laughable, incredible, ironic .. where do I stop. They just shipped me 4 packages of photopaper 13X19X 1/4 in. in four separate boxes that are each 18X30X10. All from the same location. You could have packed fifty packages of this paper in any one of the boxes. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. This sort of thing is obscene and wastefull dosen't even begin to properly describe it. Amazon dosen't even provide a place to object to this stupidity on their site. I tend to think the people doing the packaging are either idiots or couldn't care less.