# The product is okay, but the packaging goes to 11 **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 30, 2023, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-product-is-okay-but-the-packaging-goes-to-11/987830 "2023-07-30T16:38:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2024, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-product-is-okay-but-the-packaging-goes-to-11/987830/42 "2024-05-22T18:16:59Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > It came in an Amazon shipping box that was big enough to hold at least six of the retail boxes if not more! Furthermore, I ordered a total of three items, all at the same time, yet the other two are coming separately tomorrow. All three could have easily fit into that one box and all been delivered at the same time tomorrow, saving everybody time and money and producing far less environmental waste and CO2 emissions. > > For a massive company for whom packaging and logistics is the heart of its business, Amazon seems notoriously incompetent. I’ll occasionally post something on Facebook showing photos of ridiculous packaging. I once ordered a camera strap (the sort with one thin cord that slips through a loop on the camera, and a thicker one that goes around your wrist). It would have fit in a business envelope. It came in something the size of a shoe box. Then there was the time I had bought a card of some sort - either prepaid antivirus, or a service plan, for my son’s computer. From Dell, I think. It was gift-card sized. It, too, came in something the size of a shoe box. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2024, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-product-is-okay-but-the-packaging-goes-to-11/987830/43 "2024-05-22T18:32:28Z")
I must bitch about the packaging for antihistamines (hay fever season is in full swing here). Why are the multi-packs constructed in such a way that it would take the Incredible Hulk to shove a pill out through the foil covering (probably crushing the pill in the process)? The individual segments are also unpeelable, so I wind up having to use a scissors to cut through them to get to the medication. Maybe it’s an attempt at anti-tampering or child safety, but it seems like an unnecessary pain in the ass. Noting that these are generic equivalents of Zyrtec and Allegra. Maybe it’s the price you pay for “cheap” OTC meds. ---
**Author:** ![Bumbazine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbazine/32/362_2.png) [@Bumbazine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbazine)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2024, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-product-is-okay-but-the-packaging-goes-to-11/987830/44 "2024-05-22T19:11:48Z")
I use a small knife to cut a slit in the foil covering. I can then turn them over and pop the pills out into a pill bottle I have just for that operation. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2024, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-product-is-okay-but-the-packaging-goes-to-11/987830/45 "2024-05-22T19:20:44Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Why are the multi-packs constructed in such a way that it would take the Incredible Hulk to shove a pill out through the foil covering (probably crushing the pill in the process)? The individual segments are also unpeelable, so I wind up having to use a scissors to cut through them to get to the medication. > > Maybe it’s an attempt at anti-tampering or child safety, but it seems like an unnecessary pain in the ass. Yep - pretty sure this phenomenon was brought up in the “stupid product design” thread. If you have any manual dexterity issues whatsoever, those are a complete abomination. We buy cheap generic Zyrtec from Amazon - it comes in a bottle, with nothing but the usual adult-proof bottle cap. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2024, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-product-is-okay-but-the-packaging-goes-to-11/987830/46 "2024-05-22T20:13:21Z")
Bezos is busy with space funzies. Hey, Jeff my grapefruit body wash is always leaking and my cute socks are a month late. Yeah I notified them my expected date has passed twice. You paying for them bad boys. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2024, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-product-is-okay-but-the-packaging-goes-to-11/987830/47 "2024-05-22T20:44:00Z")
All the time, I get small cardboard boxes of toner from Xerox…packaged in a larger cardboard box. 🤦‍♀️ ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2024, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-product-is-okay-but-the-packaging-goes-to-11/987830/48 "2024-05-22T20:53:15Z")
The distribution center that sent your first box may not have had the second and third items on hand, or it was processed after some random deadline. I, too experienced some weird overkill shipping boxes when I still patronized Amazon. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2024, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-product-is-okay-but-the-packaging-goes-to-11/987830/49 "2024-05-22T20:57:54Z")
In this case, the product was pretty great, but the packaging is what I rememeber: [![](https://obscuritory.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/yeo_spectre.jpg) ](https://obscuritory.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/yeo_spectre.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2024, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-product-is-okay-but-the-packaging-goes-to-11/987830/50 "2024-05-22T21:01:14Z")
The second and third items actually came from a different warehouse, a huge center Amazon built way out west in the suburbs of Calgary. I’m in Ontario. Strange, because they were very ordinary commodity items (some USB power adapters, and an external HDD). But there’s no reason they could not have been sent to the local warehouse (in fact, I think that’s what will happen tomorrow) and then everything shipped together – one box, one trip. Today’s delivery was totally unnecessary. My “guaranteed delivery date” was tomorrow for all items when originally ordered, so getting one item a day early was wasteful and pointless. Plus the gigantic box! ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2024, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-product-is-okay-but-the-packaging-goes-to-11/987830/51 "2024-05-22T21:30:31Z")
I’ve bought multiple items from Amazon and chosen the “Amazon Day” delivery option. I thought the whole point of that option was that all your items would get packaged together, thus using less packaging material, in addition to saving their drivers from making multiple trips. But while the items do show up on same day, quite often each item is packaged in its own delivery box. Or worse, they throw the small item in one of those plastic envelopes instead of packing it in the same box with my other items. I used to buy cat food from Amazon, but switched to Chewy a few years ago. And Chewy packages it way better. Chewy: The case of cat food it placed in special packaging specifically for shipping canned goods, which goes in a shipping box just a bit bigger than that package, with a little bit of crumpled brown paper packed around it. Amazon: The case of cat food goes in a giant box, with a few of those plastic air bags thrown in. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-product-is-okay-but-the-packaging-goes-to-11/987830.md?page=2)