Amazon online orders

[brush]

Has anyone else ordered something from Amazon lately and have a huge box delivered, later than promised, with 3/4s of the box filled with packing material and the item ordered taking only a fourth of the space?

I'm wondering if this is done to drive up shipping costs?

[Warpy]

1. No, it's probably done because they're out of small boxes.

Bigger boxes full of peanuts cost them more, not us. Shipping costs are calculated by weight and distance.

[KeepItReal]

2. I'm using Amazon Prime and don't pay for shipping on most things

Shipping is pretty consistently on time, unless the item is not in stock.

Be sure that the item you order is actually coming from Amazon. They do allow 3rd parties to advertise and sell goods that are shipped from somewhere other than an Amazon facility.

[RKP5637]

3. Ocassionally I've had this happen, but they can't stock a box for all sizes. They probably ran out

of a smaller box. Often my orders from Amazon arrive ahead of time and often with free shipping for some stuff. I don't see how running up shipping costs could benefit Amazon, but rather just the shipper. Also, I think they try to keep shipping costs low, if too much, it's cheaper to buy locally.

[Liberal_in_LA]

4. sometimes my order comes ina too big box

[jberryhill]

5. on the flipside...

It's tough to use too small a box.

I've never received an item that was too large for the box.

[rufus dog]

8. Have you ever received an item that didn't fit in the box?

Sorry couldn't resist.

[jberryhill]

9. I've never tried

I don't swing that way, but have no issues with those who do.

[RKP5637]

27. ...

[jberryhill]

6. The people must rise up against this!

Thank you for having the courage to say this on behalf of all of us who have been puzzled for far too long about Amazon shipping box sizes.

You have broken the silence for all of us, and we stand with you.

[Logical]

11. :-) nt

[FSogol]

7. Dear Brush, In the future, we will liquefy your order, so it takes up as little space as possible.

Of course, you could help out by buying tinier products.

Sincerely,
Your Friends at Google!

[frazzled]

10. You shouldn't make fun of this issue

It has an impact on the environment, possibly a significant one when multiplied thousands of times over: all that cardboard, all that bubble wrap or foam, and all the energy it takes to get it from Point A to B to C by truck or plane or whatever. I live in a condo building with 40 units, and every day, day in and day out, there are dozens of such packages—hundreds each week just to one location (and there are three other 40-unit buildings in our complex).

I too get disturbed when a small item gets delivered in a giant box filled with packing materials and tons of tape. I try not to order much online, but when I do I'm often amazed at the packing wastage and feel badly about my role in wasting resources, even if I recycle the materials.

[Logical]

14. Quit ordering online and walk to a local store instead! nt

[frazzled]

15. Didn't I just say that's what I do?

I explicitly said I order online very rarely. I live in a large city. I can walk or take the train or bus almost anywhere.

Sometimes I think I'm nuts here: I write something that appears fairly clear, and people respond to something completely other.

[demwing]

31. Yeah, but it was 1/2 way through the second paragraph

were we supposed to read that far?

[FSogol]

21. Cardboard is easily reusable and recyclable, plus the place to complain is amazon.com, not DU.

Had the OP encouraged everyone to contact amazon about the issue, it would have been a good post. Instead we got a rambling semi-complaint and a vague implication of some shipping cost conspiracy.

Aside from people saying their loved ones died, I feel almost every issue deserves some form of ridicule.

[a kennedy]

22. Saw an advertisement regarding the toilet paper roll, or lack there of.....

some brand of toilet paper is NOT going to use the cardboard roll anymore..... saying they're saving the environment. Can't remember which company it is.

[FSogol]

23. Scott Brands. Haven't used/seen them yet. n/t

[brush]

24. Are you serious with this?

You wrote: "Instead we got a rambling semi-complaint and a vague implication of some shipping cost conspiracy.
Aside from people saying their loved ones died, I feel almost every issue deserves some form of ridicule."

I'm trying to gauge whether this type of wastage is a wide-spread problem. I literally have yards and yards and yards of box stuffing and an unnecessarily huge box to disposed of and you write that? Not really environmentally conscious yet?

God!

What a ball of fun you are. DU would be so depressing if everyone followed your dictum and only posted when a loved one died.

[FSogol]

25. What? Reading comp, req'd! I said that a loved one dieing was the only thing I wouldn't ridicule.

At no point did I suggest that DU should just be a death notice forum.

As for being environmentally conscious, you should buy locally and then you wouldn't have "yards and yards and yards of box stuffing and an unnecessarily huge box."

[brush]

32. You did write this, right?

"Aside from people saying their loved ones died, I feel almost every issue deserves some form of ridicule."

So DU should be just a ridicule forum?

[FSogol]

34. No, but I have no problem ridiculing sacred cows. The person in this thread

that can control the yards and yards and yards of material that came in a product you ordered is you. There isn't a shipping conspiracy.

[LanternWaste]

35. But recognizing what a sacred cow actually is... not so much.

"I have no problem ridiculing sacred cows..."

But recognizing what a sacred cow actually is... not so much.

[FSogol]

36. I'll point you to this:

Last edited Thu Oct 23, 2014, 07:57 PM - Edit history (1)

"I'm trying to gauge whether this type of wastage is a wide-spread problem. I literally have yards and yards and yards of box stuffing and an unnecessarily huge box to disposed of and you write that? Not really environmentally conscious yet? God!"

where the OP tries to accuse and shame me for not being environmentally conscious, while he is the person not buying locally and then complaining about packing materials. If environmentalism is his sacred cow, then he is doing a bad job of it.

I'd say more, but I would be repeating myself.

[SoCalDem]

12. I ordered 3 cat litter pans and the box they arrived in was coffin-sized

Amazing

the cat pans were nested and measured 7x18x28 (nested)

[jberryhill]

13. Why three?

[tblue37]

17. Sometimes a person with multiple cats needs a litterbox for each one.

All 4 of my cats willingly use the same litterbox, but I also immediately clean out anything they do in it.

A lot of cats won't use a shared litter box, especially if the other cat's leavings are, um, *left* in there. Instead, they'll just do their business in other places--usually the ones you would most prefer them NOT to use.

[RKP5637]

29. I had that when mother cat decided to have 4 kitties. The 4 kitties were fine with

the original box, but mother wanted no part of it.

[SoCalDem]

19. We have 5 cats

and multiple pans in many places

and Amazon price was way cheaper than Pet Smart

[tblue37]

16. On the plus side, your cats are probably enjoying the immense box immensely. nt

[SoCalDem]

20. They were actually a bit scared of the large box

but they do like the litter pans

[Ykcutnek]

18. The bigger, the better. My cat likes them.

Hope they send a fridge-sized box with the next pack of gum I order.

[Renew Deal]

26. Amazon isn't the only ones doing that

I've gotten it from others as well. Giant boxes with USB sticks in them, etc. It makes no sense. It wouldn't surprise me if it was a shipping scam.

[brush]

30. That's what my thinking was

Besides the huge amount of waste packing materials as well, large boxes take up more space on the plane or the truck.

Seems that use of that space has a cost.

[MADem]

28. Go to Amazon and provide packaging feedback on your order. There is a place you can do

exactly that--tell them if it arrived too early/too late, package was packed well or poorly, if it was easy to open, etc. and then provide them with your comments.

So many people have PRIME that they don't pay shipping on most items. If you buy more than twenty five bucks of stuff, too, you don't pay shipping either.

[Travis_0004]

33. UPS is switching to dimensional weight pricing in 2015

As of now UPS chargres by weight, not volume, so there isnt a ton of motivation to package more efficently (large packages are the exception.)


In 2015 they will charge by dimensional weight on all ground shipments, so I think shippers will be more efficent.

[OregonBlue]

37. If it took a long time it's because they used Fed Ex. They are so slow. They also charge a flat rate

so I doubt it makes much difference what size the box, etc.

[brush]

38. The difference is the wastage . . .

of all the packing material to go to our landfills.

The environmental impact is more the issue than the cost to the consumer.

[Lurker Deluxe]

39. Huh?

If the packing material is going to a landfill then you are not recycling properly. That would not be Amazon's fault.

Cardboard and packing materials recycle very well, assuming the end user (you) does what they are supposed to when discarding it.

Even if it did make the landfill, cardboard decomposes very easily, as does paper packing material.

I'll take a refrigerator sized cardboard box over a small plastic bag ... anyday.

[brush]

40. Why a box and packing material 5 times the size needed?

It still wastage, and I do recycle btw, that has to be handled and energy burned to cart it and run recycling machinery.

That doesn't bother you?

It's not the best practice by far — and some of this stuff does end up in landfills.

[OregonBlue]

41. Agreed. I was not saying it was okay, only that FedEx does not care. I

keep complaining about their service. It is so horrible and they are trying to take over the post office. On Ebay, Amazon, etc,. I ask sellers if they can send USPS. If not, I try to find someone selling the item that can. I use the post office whenever possible and will do whatever it takes to avoid FedEx.

[brush]

42. Woohoo! Now we're on the same page.

I'm also very passionate about the Post Office.

I know about how the repugs in Congress passed legislation years ago that saddled the USPS with an unprecedented and unfair debt load — having to fund retirement for workers 75 years into the future, workers not even born yet — with the purpose of driving them out of business so that their clients, the private package delivery services would get that business.

Thank you so much for talking this up. Can you imagine how expensive it will be to mail a letter or monthly bills if FEDEX has to deliver them?

And if I'm right, I'm sure you've also thought about getting home mail delivery, if FEDEX takes that over. IMO we will all have to forget about mailboxes at out homes because the USPS is the ONLY one that has the capability to deliver to ever address in the entire country, everyday if necessary.

FEDEX can't do that and wouldn't want to because of the expense. They'd probably come with some centralized depots where we'd all have to trek to to get our mail.

Thanks again for raising this issue and please think about doing an OP on General Discussion about this.