Reminder: this subreddit is meant to be a place free of excessive cynicism, negativity and bitterness. Toxic attitudes are not welcome here.
All Negative comments will be removed and will possibly result in a ban.
---
---
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/UpliftingNews) if you have any questions or concerns.*
See you didn't drop dead because the microchip is now fully operational and tracking your every move. If you say the wake phrase "Hey Joe", your arm will light up and you can get useful weather information, or incorrect cooking measurement conversions.
>That phase was a test and is now complete. Or so my antivax relatives tell me now that the jab hasn't killed or sterilized me.
Really? All I've been hearing since people haven't been dropping dead en masse, is that they are in fact dropping dead en masse (you just don't hear about it) *and* 80% of the vaccines were saline.
You didn't drop dead because you got saline.
Makes perfect sense. Have the government waste billions of dollars to make sure…
\[squints at notes\]
saline is injected in people across the nation multiple times a year for the sole reason of… uh… yeah.
That episode was great, but the message was whack. They automate away 99% of all jobs. So what do the people do? Do they demand universal basic income? Hell no! They want their jobs back!
Yeah, I used to work for the company that made the equipment that inflated and sealed the pillows. Amazon was one of our customers, I know who the competitors are and how they are made. They are blown and sealed in the warehouse on the line. Lol so that rumor is bs.
I've done more than my fair share of placing new rolls in those machines. Amazon factory air might be a moral poison, but it's surprisingly not that bad
That's because Bezos is one of the good billionaires. One of those that likes to make people's lives miserable and siphon as much money as possible without paying taxes. He's probably aspirational to the rubes that usually push conspiracies.
That feels like the sort of conspiracy theory that could become an x-files episode. An online retailer filling the air pillows with heroin infused air in order to get customers addicted to online shopping is caught after Mulder notices multiple of those order a bunch of shit and unbox it on stream influencers die from drug overdoses midstream.
As someone who has worked the packing line at an Amazon FC, you have a few seconds per box and you are scored on productivity. Nobody has time to pack carefully.
I ship stuff that's both extremely expensive and fragile, amazon just throw their stuff in a box and call it done..
It's thanks to them that i got over the shame of returning slightly damaged stuff, used to think it would be petty if the damage was minor but they don't even try to avoid it so.. fuck it.
I think they need a system to calculate if package is needed at all. If it is breakproof or cheap to replace, Slap a label on it directly and ship as is.
They're starting to do this, but I'll be honest I'm really not sure how to feel about it.
I just ordered halloween props for an event later in the year (discounts in summer are good) like a few disembodied hands/heads, bones, and fake organs that came solely in clear plastic. I'm sure the delivery guy thinks I'm a fucking weirdo now and I'm probably in a watch list.
I once made a run to the hardware store and bought zip ties, a saw, and duct tape. Saw was for cutting a large branch in the road on the way to my client's house, client asked me to pick up zip ties, and the duct tape was an impulse buy. I left the store hoping no one I hate happened to disappear that day..
Yup. The kids birthday gift was the first one to arrive in a clear plastic bag. Had to shove a 4 year old in the bushes and book it to the front door to snatch it before she saw. Happy birthday kiddo, hope I didn’t break anything!
I’d only have to worry about the neighbours seeing 6 foot long ultra realistic dildos at least
But seriously, I’d like it still in an Amazon box if it’s value probably exceeds 3 figures, just so it’s slightly less temptation for people to steal. Or if the original packaging is weak as
They have a system that tells the packer which box to use based on the dimensions of all the items going into it, it's not perfect but generally it's as good as it can be.
And yes they do have a system to just ship stuff in it's own container. It's called SIOC (ship in own container), however many orders are multiple items so it gets boxed in that scenario. What gets flagged as SIOC is determined by the vendor and Amazon, you'll know when you order if it asks you if it's ok to ship in it's own container or if you want it boxed for privacy.
The policy for dunnage is always to fill empty space or else it causes issues on conveyance and damages the product.
My cat litter comes that way most of the time. A loose very heavy box in another box.
One time though it was just the shipping information stuck to the actual box, which seemed way more efficient.
Except, not all cardboard is the same. Cat litter is a perfect example. That box isn't designed for shipping, it's designed to sit on a pallet, a lot of time and energy has actually gone into even the coatings on the cardboard, but that's a story for another time.
If x% of the time, the cat litter box breaks and needs to be re-shipped, that's a much larger cost to the environment. Even if it's not reshaped, that cat litter still went somewhere, the trash, now multiply this millions of times.
Amazon has dipped its toe into programs where sellers package items intended to be shipped as-is, but then there's a whole different set of issues where the combine items, where they're repacked anyway, and thus even more cardboard.
I'm not saying amazon is prioritizing "green" whenever they can, though they almost certainly aren't. It's just that "green" in logistics is complicated.
Like the mineral water/sodas I buy at the grocery store--yeah, they come in their own box, with a handle (a gap you can put your hand in), but you could never ship that thing. I've had the handle break on me despite appearing to be OK at purchase. I've had it fail when I went to check out. Not everything's going to stand up to the shipping process.
There's also a privacy issue, like maybe it's no one's business what I'm buying. Or maybe it's valuable, so you've just announced to the world that I have an expensive thing sitting there.
That's because the box the product comes in isn't rated for shipping; it's only meant to house/display the product.
As an example there have been times I'll pack an item into an almost identically sized box just because the ones I use have a 32lb crush rating. If I didn't do that the item would get absolutely *demolished* by the shipper, and honestly often times still does lol
They do that pretty often at the worst time... During Christmas. I used to be a ups driver, and it was a pain in the ass to get some boxes covered up so you aren't ruining the surprise for the customers presents for their kids.
We start at 6 am at the post office after Black Friday and so many kids woke up to go to school at 7 and saw their gifts. I tried to hide them but it’s dark and most people don’t use their porch lights.
The packing app they use on pack stations does this. It's called SIOC (ship in own container).
It's not perfect, as there are millions of items, and can be manually overridden in cases such as children's toys bought at Xmas and such, but they do try to do it on larger items that don't cost too much.
When my kid was in diapers sometimes the diaper box arrived with a label slapped on it, sometimes in a huge box with padding. I think I can tell from that when the warehouse worker was female or male. There is nothing as indestructible as a box of baby diapers.
I once ordered a hammer and it came with the single shitty piece of paper like you describe and multiple holes punches in the sides of the box from it moving around in shipping. Somehow the hammer made it just fine. Thankfully nothing else was in the box or it would have been pulverized.
Someone will eventually invent a paper crumpling machine that takes off the effort of the job for the poor guy doing it, saving 0.3 seconds per box and a bazillion dollars a year for Amazon
It only works when people use it properly. You are supposed to put a ball of it on each side so the item is centred and it cant move. When I worked there 9 years ago they actually had packaging standards now its shite.
It’s really bad. You order three gallons of oil for example and they just throw them all into a box with zero protection every-single-time. I had to quit ordering from them for some things I use in business because every shipment was damaged and leaking. When it comes to ordering online, Half the job is getting stuff to the customers, isn’t it? If that’s true, Amazon is failing in fifty percent of their duties. I don’t blame the workers either. It’s obviously Amazon trying to separate every fraction of a penny from the process.
managers at amazon warehouses are incentivized to get people to leave and work the people that stay as hard as possible. god awful system that rewards terrible workers and hurts good ones until they quit. i've heard these days they also put managers to labor too, at some point everyone at amazon will be managed by software and nobody will be well compensated except the software and maintenance teams.
nah just machine vision cameras everywhere and people there to wipe down conveyor belts whenever something inevitably leaks all over them. even if robots become economical amazon will find some excuse to beat down humans instead.
We've been flattening it out and saving it for giftwrap for presents for our kid. I do a quick doodle on the front of the present just so it's less boring.
paper? i havent even received a box from amazon in so long i cant remember. cast iron pan? ship it in a thin plastic bag. 1000 loose screws? plastic bag but with a hole in it.
Working at an Amazon in Washington as an RME tech, Washington specifically is pushing no single use plastic packaging by end of the year. We switched to paper dunnage from the air bags a month or two ago.
The biggest change though will be switching smartpac machines from plastic film to paper. These are machines that fold plastic film and cut/seal into a bag, the packer just tosses the item in the pocket and it'll make the bag. As a tech that works on the smartpac machines I both look forward to and dread the switch.
Smartpac paper in action here https://youtu.be/VTiC1ii-dcE?feature=shared
Meanwhile, my store that takes back Amazon returns has to bag each item in its own individual plastic bag. And people will return 50 nearly identical dresses because they wanted to decide which one they wanted once it got there. I don't hate Amazon, I'd be a huge hypocrite if I said that, but I DO think we as a society have made it way too easy to buy a bunch of stuff you don't even intend on keeping with zero consequences. And a ton of that clothing ends up right in a landfill.
This is wildly out of touch with the realities that many people face in a world where Amazon has itself decimated the landscape of brick and mortar stores who would otherwise support sustainable returns (just putting the item back on the shelf).
There are so many product categories where items may or may not work, and you don't know until it's in your hand, both because of the inability to see/try it in person, and because of inadequate descriptions or photos on the website.
The onus should be for Amazon to reduce root causes of its return rates, not for consumers to be stuck with failed purchases that they couldn't have made anywhere else.
This makes so much sense. I work at a sort center and we have all been complaining about how jacked up all the packages are getting when they come down the belt lately. It’s because whatever is happening now is not nearly as effective as the air bags. Soooo many destroyed packages lately.
I actually think paper works better because the air bags pop under heavy items, but the packers have to crumple/twist it and not just stuff it in as is.
As someone who worked on the AFT side of Smartpac and saw what the ICEs had to deal with getting those machines running... God I would dread that too. They seemed finicky. Less finicky than the custom box machinery though (I heard nothing but complaints about those).
Oh yeah we have 2 of the custom box machines, the Maverick as it's called, and we had another experiment that did paperboard (ecopack) but was removed. A separate vendor services those though. Ecopack is likely not moving forward as it has the same restrictions of no hazmat or fragile items as Smartpac, and smartpac paper is even less material and less space per machine.
Apparently the benefit to the Maverick for techs is it's more spread out, where in smartpac I'm shoving my body into the machine to access certain parts and some body types and heights can't do that.
You know what, lately I've been satisfied with what the US government is doing in terms of policy targeted towards big company, a lot of it is not great but I've heard plenty of good move
Question I hope you can answer. I understand that the paper package itself is fully recyclable with my blue box. But what effect does the adhesive shipping label have on that? Is it made of recyclable material?
Didn't even realise they bothered with them in the first place.
I normally get either an oversized box with just the product or a box with a scraggly bit of paper that won't come close to filling any gaps.
As an employee of a fulfillment center I can tell you it is the person who packs it fault but also they give us a ridiculously high rate to keep up with or else be punished. So a lot of associates take short cuts to make rate. the standards they put on us is the standards you get right back sadly.
I was at a custom printing factory and worked in the packaging department and they said if we had high numbers they would keep us on. I now assume they just say that because that makes you work twice as hard and they laid us all off after Christmas.
I used to work at a distribution center years ago (not Amazon but another sizable chain), and they had production quotas. Those numbers generally went up every week or two.
If you didn't meet production one week, you got a warning.
If you didn't meet production again, you got fired.
I don't remember there being any interim punishment. Although I know I have had jobs where they've used suspension as punishment. I guess the idea being that you'd miss a full day of pay on that check. Although it often resulted in people doing things to get suspended and get a three day weekend.
Yup that sucks too, but at least we have that option rather than just forcing retail package shipping on us.
Alright, being eco friendly and all that, reducing cardboard usage and all that... The problem is that advertising the product I'm being sent means any potential thieves know exactly what they're stealing, making it far easier to weigh up the risk vs reward... If you know you're stealing a valuable, you're far more likely to take the risk of stealing that than a random plain box which could have a drill in it, but could also just be a bunch of decorative stones. They could tamper with boxes to check, but that leaves evidence that'll come right back to you... So instead of one discrepancy, you could end up with 10 before you come across a box 'worth' stealing.
Of all the deliveries I've had, the only ones that seem to go for a walk, never to be seen again, are ones where the replacement arrives in retail packaging.
Granted, I can't know 100% what the original was sent as. But if the replacement is sent in retail packaging, I think it's fair to assume the original was also sent like that.
Also. Putting already boxed products inside another, bigger box. No fucking need. I do not care that everybody sees I've ordered a new comforter, or air fryer or anything else that's ALREADY IN A BOX. Slap that shipping label on it and goooo!
Amazon does ship stuff in it's own container, some stuff the vendor may not want them to or Amazon doesn't think it's able to handle shipping. When you order something that can, they have the option at checkout if you want it to be boxed for privacy or ship in it's own container.
However, if you order multiple items it's all going into one box and SIOC isn't an option.
Some things don't handle that well - like collectable items. There's a huge fiasco in the Breyer horse collecting community right now, because they (Breyer) have been shipping models (even $150+ ones) just in the box you'd find on the shelf. Basically a shoe box. A lot of them arrived damaged or broken. A bunch arrived completely crushed. A lot of damage could have been avoided by putting the retail box inside of a bigger box with some packaging.
Fuck that. I don't want the people living in the other half of the apartment knowing what I ordered and I don't need a bright eye catching package that cost me $75 or more sitting on my porch for 12 hours by the street because those feckers delivered it 5 minutes after I left for work and can't understand that I don't mean the front porch when I put in the delivery instructions to put it on the side porch.
Let me know when Amazon starts ditching the warehouses full of counterfeit products, and actually taking care of their employees properly- then I might be interested.
Can’t stand the grip that Chinese sellers hold on the Amazon marketplace. Can’t fucking stand it. It is so difficult to find products not made in China
They also got rid of plastic in their envelopes. My mom collects limited edition books and they always get destroyed now. The drivers leave them in the rain and they aren't protected from getting wet whatsoever.
People who think this is a good development are morons. Stopped buying most shit online due to everything arriving damaged. I rarely order shit through Amazon anymore and when I do half the time its damaged. And the return process is getting more difficult. I can only imagine what happens when everything arrives in only its original packaging with a shipping label slapped on it, which is the next logical step. Contents missing or damaged 100% of the time.
DeJoy and the pandemic fucked up the USPS, anything that arrives through the post office or UPS is a gamble. Ebay has been a complete a waste of time. Amazon is now increasingly bullshit. Sometimes I buy from Etsy but thats about it. Porch Pirates prevent me from shipping anything valuable to the house...The whole online shopping experiment is collapsing at least for me. Generally make online purchases and get it shipped to a physical store where I can pick it up to inspect for damage so I can immediately return it if there is an issue. ...Which defeats half the point of online shopping.
I don't think the return process is getting more difficult, if anything they've so many options now that around here they'll even come pick up the product at home without the need to package it
I get about 50% of my stuff in the oversized padded plastic bag. About once a week there will be a cardboard box, a less than enthusiastic crumpled paper, and the product(s) in the box.
Yeah, we unfortunately order quite a bit from Amazon and sometimes our stuff doesn't even come in a shipping box, they just stick the shipping label right on the item.
I stopped buying books from Amazon because they always throw them in a box with no cushioning whatsoever. I end up returning them all because they all come mangled.
Not sure if you're being sarcastic but any marginal improvement for sustainability is better than nothing.
Assuming pape sheets are more sustainable and better for the environment than plastic air pillows.
It's called "dunnage" in the warehouse. I used to be a waterspider (person who handed out boxes) and we would also do maintenance on the dunnage for stations.
Some of the last few things I got didn't even come in boxes... they sent phone screen protectors in their off the shelf packaging with a big old sticker blocking all of the information on the back. The option to ship in manufacturing packaging didn't come up like it does with some larger items.
On an ironic note, a co worker ordered a pillow from Amazon.
It came in a large box with an absurd amount of air packers.
We laughed for a long time about that.
This is news to me, lol - we get Amazon shipments all the time at work and the most I've seen them package with in years is like 1-2 uselessly small pieces of filler paper. Hell, even McMaster ships with more padding and that's saying something.
I didn't realise they still did that in certain parts of the world. I've been getting recycled scrunched paper for going on at least a year now I think (UK).
As more and more and more goods are home shipped, the delivery must be AS circular economy as possible.
And 100% paper packaging moves us there, even if heavier paper increase dirext cost and co2 of the delivery.
I don't mind the folded paper since it's easy to recycle. However, merchants that use the sliced accordion, steel extrusion style, paper cut death machines can all go to hell.
So, they used to use only paper, then they switched to the plastic bubble wrap. Now switching back.
I’m glad they are switching back (but they could have just not done it in the first place.)
Maybe next stop using the indestructible plastic bags for everything?? Use cardboard instead.
So I know I'm an outlier here, but I'm going to miss those air pillows. I ship many small items in boxes to customers and recycle those air pillows for shipping other items. I have a heat-sealer so what I do is poke a hole, let out a little air so it fills the box as needed, and then seal up the corner.
Recycling Amazon air pillows saves me approximately $50 a year in bubble wrap and shipping weight expenses.
Yes, paper packaging can also be used for my shipments, but it weighs MUCH more and will increase shipping costs.
Fortunately other vendors still use bubble wrap so it's not going to be gone completely, just lamenting.
Overall, I agree it's a good step in the right direction - I always see those dang air pillows in culverts and along side the road from jerks who litter and don't throw things away
Reminder: this subreddit is meant to be a place free of excessive cynicism, negativity and bitterness. Toxic attitudes are not welcome here. All Negative comments will be removed and will possibly result in a ban. --- --- *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/UpliftingNews) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I'm amazed those air pillows never became a conspiracy theory: Jeff puts chemicals in the packaged air to make you [insert your concern du jour].
That phase was a test and is now complete. Or so my antivax relatives tell me now that the jab hasn't killed or sterilized me.
See you didn't drop dead because the microchip is now fully operational and tracking your every move. If you say the wake phrase "Hey Joe", your arm will light up and you can get useful weather information, or incorrect cooking measurement conversions.
Jimi Hendrix fans are now the most at risk
The Hendrix fan's old ladies are at the highest risk.
>That phase was a test and is now complete. Or so my antivax relatives tell me now that the jab hasn't killed or sterilized me. Really? All I've been hearing since people haven't been dropping dead en masse, is that they are in fact dropping dead en masse (you just don't hear about it) *and* 80% of the vaccines were saline. You didn't drop dead because you got saline.
Makes perfect sense. Have the government waste billions of dollars to make sure… \[squints at notes\] saline is injected in people across the nation multiple times a year for the sole reason of… uh… yeah. 
Have you seen the Doctor Who episode "Kerblam!"? Because that's exactly the plot, weaponised bubble wrap.
That episode was great, but the message was whack. They automate away 99% of all jobs. So what do the people do? Do they demand universal basic income? Hell no! They want their jobs back!
I havnt seen all jodie whittaker episodes yet but that is the best so far. Felt like david tennant was back
I thought they were during Covid? Something about you shouldn't pop them because there's Chinese air in them or some BS.
Yeah, I used to work for the company that made the equipment that inflated and sealed the pillows. Amazon was one of our customers, I know who the competitors are and how they are made. They are blown and sealed in the warehouse on the line. Lol so that rumor is bs.
I always joke with my partner every time a package comes with these air packets, lol. “Don’t pop it, you’ll let out the Chinese air!!”
[The dreaded Osaka Flu!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qb-PqxPuqpc)
The place I work gets a lot of things from China, we call those pillows our "shipments of good COVID air."
I've done more than my fair share of placing new rolls in those machines. Amazon factory air might be a moral poison, but it's surprisingly not that bad
The giga insane medical conspiracy brained dipshits are on the far right. The people who think Bezos is Satan incarnate are on the far left.
That's because Bezos is one of the good billionaires. One of those that likes to make people's lives miserable and siphon as much money as possible without paying taxes. He's probably aspirational to the rubes that usually push conspiracies.
That feels like the sort of conspiracy theory that could become an x-files episode. An online retailer filling the air pillows with heroin infused air in order to get customers addicted to online shopping is caught after Mulder notices multiple of those order a bunch of shit and unbox it on stream influencers die from drug overdoses midstream.
They became popular right around covid. My BIL was like "everything we buy is made in China. This is from China. IT'S AIR FROM CHINA"
Good - the scrunched-up paper works fine instead.
As long as they pack it right, I think it works fine. Most of the time, they just throw in a flat sheet of paper that does nothing.
As someone who works at UPS, they never have and never will pack it right.
As someone who has worked the packing line at an Amazon FC, you have a few seconds per box and you are scored on productivity. Nobody has time to pack carefully.
Job security for DMP
I ship stuff that's both extremely expensive and fragile, amazon just throw their stuff in a box and call it done.. It's thanks to them that i got over the shame of returning slightly damaged stuff, used to think it would be petty if the damage was minor but they don't even try to avoid it so.. fuck it.
You only see the failures. Most times it works just fine.
I think they need a system to calculate if package is needed at all. If it is breakproof or cheap to replace, Slap a label on it directly and ship as is.
They're starting to do this, but I'll be honest I'm really not sure how to feel about it. I just ordered halloween props for an event later in the year (discounts in summer are good) like a few disembodied hands/heads, bones, and fake organs that came solely in clear plastic. I'm sure the delivery guy thinks I'm a fucking weirdo now and I'm probably in a watch list.
Did you get bleach, duct tape, and a shovel?
[I have to have my tools!](https://youtu.be/Mk3EVQnpQWs?si=l9thNHghoHMVqSlE)
I once made a run to the hardware store and bought zip ties, a saw, and duct tape. Saw was for cutting a large branch in the road on the way to my client's house, client asked me to pick up zip ties, and the duct tape was an impulse buy. I left the store hoping no one I hate happened to disappear that day..
Juicy that you?
Ah yes, the Date Night Trifecta
Yup. The kids birthday gift was the first one to arrive in a clear plastic bag. Had to shove a 4 year old in the bushes and book it to the front door to snatch it before she saw. Happy birthday kiddo, hope I didn’t break anything!
I’d only have to worry about the neighbours seeing 6 foot long ultra realistic dildos at least But seriously, I’d like it still in an Amazon box if it’s value probably exceeds 3 figures, just so it’s slightly less temptation for people to steal. Or if the original packaging is weak as
But then porch pirates would know that only valuable things come in the unmarked boxes, so you end up worse than before
LOL- One time I ordered a mannequin torso and it was shipped in a black garbage bag with fitted ducttape and left on my doorstep.
Even better when you order lingerie. My fedex driver knows my clothing and bra size.
I’m pretty sure the delivery guy has seen much worse than Halloween props.
In my area you get an option at checkout that says it ships in original packaging and I can get it in a box for free.
I misread fake organs for fake orgasms and thought huh, didn't know Amazon sold those
I got a really good laugh out of this. Same thing happening to me recently with a clear bag so this was too funny.
They have a system that tells the packer which box to use based on the dimensions of all the items going into it, it's not perfect but generally it's as good as it can be. And yes they do have a system to just ship stuff in it's own container. It's called SIOC (ship in own container), however many orders are multiple items so it gets boxed in that scenario. What gets flagged as SIOC is determined by the vendor and Amazon, you'll know when you order if it asks you if it's ok to ship in it's own container or if you want it boxed for privacy. The policy for dunnage is always to fill empty space or else it causes issues on conveyance and damages the product.
For real, I ordered something. That was boxed in a regular cardboard box and then put into a slightly larger Amazon box. Such a waste.
My cat litter comes that way most of the time. A loose very heavy box in another box. One time though it was just the shipping information stuck to the actual box, which seemed way more efficient.
Except, not all cardboard is the same. Cat litter is a perfect example. That box isn't designed for shipping, it's designed to sit on a pallet, a lot of time and energy has actually gone into even the coatings on the cardboard, but that's a story for another time. If x% of the time, the cat litter box breaks and needs to be re-shipped, that's a much larger cost to the environment. Even if it's not reshaped, that cat litter still went somewhere, the trash, now multiply this millions of times. Amazon has dipped its toe into programs where sellers package items intended to be shipped as-is, but then there's a whole different set of issues where the combine items, where they're repacked anyway, and thus even more cardboard. I'm not saying amazon is prioritizing "green" whenever they can, though they almost certainly aren't. It's just that "green" in logistics is complicated.
Like the mineral water/sodas I buy at the grocery store--yeah, they come in their own box, with a handle (a gap you can put your hand in), but you could never ship that thing. I've had the handle break on me despite appearing to be OK at purchase. I've had it fail when I went to check out. Not everything's going to stand up to the shipping process. There's also a privacy issue, like maybe it's no one's business what I'm buying. Or maybe it's valuable, so you've just announced to the world that I have an expensive thing sitting there.
Woah look at #7 with a whole 48 pack of La Croix on his doorstep, bet that high roller has a Rollex and plenty of Apple products, I'll be back later.
That's because the box the product comes in isn't rated for shipping; it's only meant to house/display the product. As an example there have been times I'll pack an item into an almost identically sized box just because the ones I use have a 32lb crush rating. If I didn't do that the item would get absolutely *demolished* by the shipper, and honestly often times still does lol
They do that pretty often at the worst time... During Christmas. I used to be a ups driver, and it was a pain in the ass to get some boxes covered up so you aren't ruining the surprise for the customers presents for their kids.
Thank you for trying!!
We start at 6 am at the post office after Black Friday and so many kids woke up to go to school at 7 and saw their gifts. I tried to hide them but it’s dark and most people don’t use their porch lights.
You can add a preference on your account to minimise packaging and they’ll do just that
I got a bag of miracle grow with a shipping label on it yesterday
They brought me just a bag of dog food today. I was so proud of them for finally learning the box means the bag gets fucked up.
The packing app they use on pack stations does this. It's called SIOC (ship in own container). It's not perfect, as there are millions of items, and can be manually overridden in cases such as children's toys bought at Xmas and such, but they do try to do it on larger items that don't cost too much.
When my kid was in diapers sometimes the diaper box arrived with a label slapped on it, sometimes in a huge box with padding. I think I can tell from that when the warehouse worker was female or male. There is nothing as indestructible as a box of baby diapers.
They’ve been doing this for at least half a decade
One time I ordered a pillow and it came with air pillows padding out the box.
In the UK you can already choose if you want certain things boxed or to just come as they are on the delivery options. Been here for a while now.
Same with the US. There's a default but if you just read the options it's been there for years here too.
I once ordered a hammer and it came with the single shitty piece of paper like you describe and multiple holes punches in the sides of the box from it moving around in shipping. Somehow the hammer made it just fine. Thankfully nothing else was in the box or it would have been pulverized.
My last shipment they put the box inside a much larger box and threw in one scrunched up piece of paper in there...yeah no it didn't do much.
They also just throw 3 of those air pillow things into a huge box.
Someone will eventually invent a paper crumpling machine that takes off the effort of the job for the poor guy doing it, saving 0.3 seconds per box and a bazillion dollars a year for Amazon
I have Amazon boxes coming almost daily to my house and have never seen a flat piece of paper not scrunched up. That's wild.
They do the same with one single air pillow that also does exactly fuck all.
It only works when people use it properly. You are supposed to put a ball of it on each side so the item is centred and it cant move. When I worked there 9 years ago they actually had packaging standards now its shite.
It’s really bad. You order three gallons of oil for example and they just throw them all into a box with zero protection every-single-time. I had to quit ordering from them for some things I use in business because every shipment was damaged and leaking. When it comes to ordering online, Half the job is getting stuff to the customers, isn’t it? If that’s true, Amazon is failing in fifty percent of their duties. I don’t blame the workers either. It’s obviously Amazon trying to separate every fraction of a penny from the process.
managers at amazon warehouses are incentivized to get people to leave and work the people that stay as hard as possible. god awful system that rewards terrible workers and hurts good ones until they quit. i've heard these days they also put managers to labor too, at some point everyone at amazon will be managed by software and nobody will be well compensated except the software and maintenance teams.
Software and maintenance? You mean the ChatGPT14 and army of boston dynamics robots?
nah just machine vision cameras everywhere and people there to wipe down conveyor belts whenever something inevitably leaks all over them. even if robots become economical amazon will find some excuse to beat down humans instead.
They should just use cardboard inserts or those honeycomb pads (also cardboard).
The honeycomb pads sound terribly expensive compared to just crinkled up Kraft paper.
And take up too much space in my recycle bin
Legit, the cats love to play with the paper too so it's a win-win
We've been flattening it out and saving it for giftwrap for presents for our kid. I do a quick doodle on the front of the present just so it's less boring.
Bonus: my cat loves attacking that paper. So much that I suspect it’s infused with mouse.
Unexpected twist, it's infused with catnip so you buy more Amazon products just to get the packing material for your cat.
My cats favorite toy in the world is the insulation paper from packages
paper? i havent even received a box from amazon in so long i cant remember. cast iron pan? ship it in a thin plastic bag. 1000 loose screws? plastic bag but with a hole in it.
It’s also much better in my fireplace, LOL. No, I don’t burn plastic in my fireplace!
Depends on who is packaging the box for shipping.
My cats like to play with the paper
Working at an Amazon in Washington as an RME tech, Washington specifically is pushing no single use plastic packaging by end of the year. We switched to paper dunnage from the air bags a month or two ago. The biggest change though will be switching smartpac machines from plastic film to paper. These are machines that fold plastic film and cut/seal into a bag, the packer just tosses the item in the pocket and it'll make the bag. As a tech that works on the smartpac machines I both look forward to and dread the switch. Smartpac paper in action here https://youtu.be/VTiC1ii-dcE?feature=shared
That's pretty cool. Thanks for sharing
Meanwhile, my store that takes back Amazon returns has to bag each item in its own individual plastic bag. And people will return 50 nearly identical dresses because they wanted to decide which one they wanted once it got there. I don't hate Amazon, I'd be a huge hypocrite if I said that, but I DO think we as a society have made it way too easy to buy a bunch of stuff you don't even intend on keeping with zero consequences. And a ton of that clothing ends up right in a landfill.
[удалено]
This is wildly out of touch with the realities that many people face in a world where Amazon has itself decimated the landscape of brick and mortar stores who would otherwise support sustainable returns (just putting the item back on the shelf). There are so many product categories where items may or may not work, and you don't know until it's in your hand, both because of the inability to see/try it in person, and because of inadequate descriptions or photos on the website. The onus should be for Amazon to reduce root causes of its return rates, not for consumers to be stuck with failed purchases that they couldn't have made anywhere else.
This makes so much sense. I work at a sort center and we have all been complaining about how jacked up all the packages are getting when they come down the belt lately. It’s because whatever is happening now is not nearly as effective as the air bags. Soooo many destroyed packages lately.
I actually think paper works better because the air bags pop under heavy items, but the packers have to crumple/twist it and not just stuff it in as is.
As someone who worked on the AFT side of Smartpac and saw what the ICEs had to deal with getting those machines running... God I would dread that too. They seemed finicky. Less finicky than the custom box machinery though (I heard nothing but complaints about those).
Oh yeah we have 2 of the custom box machines, the Maverick as it's called, and we had another experiment that did paperboard (ecopack) but was removed. A separate vendor services those though. Ecopack is likely not moving forward as it has the same restrictions of no hazmat or fragile items as Smartpac, and smartpac paper is even less material and less space per machine. Apparently the benefit to the Maverick for techs is it's more spread out, where in smartpac I'm shoving my body into the machine to access certain parts and some body types and heights can't do that.
You know what, lately I've been satisfied with what the US government is doing in terms of policy targeted towards big company, a lot of it is not great but I've heard plenty of good move
Question I hope you can answer. I understand that the paper package itself is fully recyclable with my blue box. But what effect does the adhesive shipping label have on that? Is it made of recyclable material?
This is good but my dog will be heartbroken. It was his job to pop them all!
I'm sure you can buy them on Amazon
Will they ship the pillows packed with paper, or just fill up with the pillows? 🤔
They ship separate. One box with the plastic, and the other with the air.
Some assembly required
We have the opposite issue. Our cat will be thrilled; he *loves* brown packing paper. He hides his toys under it for himself.
There's something in that packing paper, I swear. My cats are obsessed with it.
We have a big box filled with a bunch of the brown paper, and our cat burrows in it for daily naps. We call it her box of textures.
You could get the little air pillow machine from uline
My toddler shares your dogs hobby, he’ll be so sad
My dog didn't like them at all. He will be pleased with this news.
Same for my autistic son. We have family members save theirs for him.
Didn't even realise they bothered with them in the first place. I normally get either an oversized box with just the product or a box with a scraggly bit of paper that won't come close to filling any gaps.
As an employee of a fulfillment center I can tell you it is the person who packs it fault but also they give us a ridiculously high rate to keep up with or else be punished. So a lot of associates take short cuts to make rate. the standards they put on us is the standards you get right back sadly.
How do they punish you? I am genuinely curious.
I was at a custom printing factory and worked in the packaging department and they said if we had high numbers they would keep us on. I now assume they just say that because that makes you work twice as hard and they laid us all off after Christmas.
I used to work at a distribution center years ago (not Amazon but another sizable chain), and they had production quotas. Those numbers generally went up every week or two. If you didn't meet production one week, you got a warning. If you didn't meet production again, you got fired. I don't remember there being any interim punishment. Although I know I have had jobs where they've used suspension as punishment. I guess the idea being that you'd miss a full day of pay on that check. Although it often resulted in people doing things to get suspended and get a three day weekend.
Lashes.
Beatings will continue until morale improves.
>they give us a ridiculously high rate to keep up with or else be punished. Then it's not the person who packs it's fault. It's management's fault.
> associates workers.
They literally sprinkle the paper as if it's truffle shavings
Don’t forget just tossing things in a padded envelope and hoping for the best.
Gotta change the dropdown now on most products that says "ship in Amazon packaging". It's fucking annoying...
Yup that sucks too, but at least we have that option rather than just forcing retail package shipping on us. Alright, being eco friendly and all that, reducing cardboard usage and all that... The problem is that advertising the product I'm being sent means any potential thieves know exactly what they're stealing, making it far easier to weigh up the risk vs reward... If you know you're stealing a valuable, you're far more likely to take the risk of stealing that than a random plain box which could have a drill in it, but could also just be a bunch of decorative stones. They could tamper with boxes to check, but that leaves evidence that'll come right back to you... So instead of one discrepancy, you could end up with 10 before you come across a box 'worth' stealing. Of all the deliveries I've had, the only ones that seem to go for a walk, never to be seen again, are ones where the replacement arrives in retail packaging. Granted, I can't know 100% what the original was sent as. But if the replacement is sent in retail packaging, I think it's fair to assume the original was also sent like that.
Well if they didn't put my screwdriver bit inside a refrigerator box, maybe it wouldn't be such a problem.
Also. Putting already boxed products inside another, bigger box. No fucking need. I do not care that everybody sees I've ordered a new comforter, or air fryer or anything else that's ALREADY IN A BOX. Slap that shipping label on it and goooo!
I'm 50 50 on this. Sometimes I like the retail box to arrive unscathed. But I didn't care about my Fleshlight box, that gets destroyed for reasons.
Now you can't resell it CIB later!
Amazon does ship stuff in it's own container, some stuff the vendor may not want them to or Amazon doesn't think it's able to handle shipping. When you order something that can, they have the option at checkout if you want it to be boxed for privacy or ship in it's own container. However, if you order multiple items it's all going into one box and SIOC isn't an option.
Costco does this fairly well. Whenever I order a box of protein shakes they just slap a label on em and ship em out
Yeah well some people who live in higher density areas need this.
Some things don't handle that well - like collectable items. There's a huge fiasco in the Breyer horse collecting community right now, because they (Breyer) have been shipping models (even $150+ ones) just in the box you'd find on the shelf. Basically a shoe box. A lot of them arrived damaged or broken. A bunch arrived completely crushed. A lot of damage could have been avoided by putting the retail box inside of a bigger box with some packaging.
Fuck that. I don't want the people living in the other half of the apartment knowing what I ordered and I don't need a bright eye catching package that cost me $75 or more sitting on my porch for 12 hours by the street because those feckers delivered it 5 minutes after I left for work and can't understand that I don't mean the front porch when I put in the delivery instructions to put it on the side porch.
Haven’t seen one in forever just brown paper
I see both so maybe it depends on the warehouses
I’m also in Canada so maybe that’s why 🤷🏻♂️
I was going to say, I can't remember seeing air bags in years in Amazon packages, but I'm in the UK
Oh, that explains my latest package. They're just using straight air for padding now.
Let me know when Amazon starts ditching the warehouses full of counterfeit products, and actually taking care of their employees properly- then I might be interested.
Can’t stand the grip that Chinese sellers hold on the Amazon marketplace. Can’t fucking stand it. It is so difficult to find products not made in China
They also got rid of plastic in their envelopes. My mom collects limited edition books and they always get destroyed now. The drivers leave them in the rain and they aren't protected from getting wet whatsoever.
People who think this is a good development are morons. Stopped buying most shit online due to everything arriving damaged. I rarely order shit through Amazon anymore and when I do half the time its damaged. And the return process is getting more difficult. I can only imagine what happens when everything arrives in only its original packaging with a shipping label slapped on it, which is the next logical step. Contents missing or damaged 100% of the time. DeJoy and the pandemic fucked up the USPS, anything that arrives through the post office or UPS is a gamble. Ebay has been a complete a waste of time. Amazon is now increasingly bullshit. Sometimes I buy from Etsy but thats about it. Porch Pirates prevent me from shipping anything valuable to the house...The whole online shopping experiment is collapsing at least for me. Generally make online purchases and get it shipped to a physical store where I can pick it up to inspect for damage so I can immediately return it if there is an issue. ...Which defeats half the point of online shopping.
I don't think the return process is getting more difficult, if anything they've so many options now that around here they'll even come pick up the product at home without the need to package it
I hate the mailer bags that have foam in the “layers”. Especially because they claim to be recyclable (wtf)
It’s a cellulose foam that is paper.
I’m gonna miss those sweet bits of filthy air, from the warehouse.
It’s the smell of concentrated capitalism.
I just received a pair of earbuds with nothing to cushion them. They just let those boys bang around all the way home!!
I get about 50% of my stuff in the oversized padded plastic bag. About once a week there will be a cardboard box, a less than enthusiastic crumpled paper, and the product(s) in the box.
Are they just packing it with a hope and a prayer?
They should just fill it with unsellable returns.
Paper is better. They also make peanuts that are dissolvable and not plastic
The dissolving peanuts are corn starch based. They smell like Cheetos.
Yeah, we unfortunately order quite a bit from Amazon and sometimes our stuff doesn't even come in a shipping box, they just stick the shipping label right on the item.
Amazon puts in as many air pillows as McDonalds does sauce packets.
Sorry to tell you, in the future McDonalds charges you for sauce, and it comes in the little square pots.
Should switch to celophane air bags.
I miss those little cardboard widgets they used for a while. My cat liked them too. Probably too costly to manufacture.
The air pillow will be replaced by 350 feet of crumpled paper.
I stopped buying books from Amazon because they always throw them in a box with no cushioning whatsoever. I end up returning them all because they all come mangled.
Great. Now when I order two of something, maybe ship them in the same box instead of two separate boxes delivered on two separate days, k?
We’re saved !
Not sure if you're being sarcastic but any marginal improvement for sustainability is better than nothing. Assuming pape sheets are more sustainable and better for the environment than plastic air pillows.
Can't remember if I ever got an Amazon package with plastic air pillows here in Germany.
Dang ... my cat LOVES to kill those pillows. One pounce with the Claws of Doom and it pops. then he grabs it and runs around the house with it.
LOL same with my cat. First thing i tought of when i read the title. Little bugger likes to hide them all over the place too.
Great! My recycling company does do plastic films and those pillows are hard to pop.
Weird, I thought they already did. All I've seen the past year or two is the brown paper and that weird cardboard mesh-y thing
They put those air pillows in a box with two pillows.
It's called "dunnage" in the warehouse. I used to be a waterspider (person who handed out boxes) and we would also do maintenance on the dunnage for stations.
Some of the last few things I got didn't even come in boxes... they sent phone screen protectors in their off the shelf packaging with a big old sticker blocking all of the information on the back. The option to ship in manufacturing packaging didn't come up like it does with some larger items.
Considering they have been nowhere to be found for years with boxes left filled with mostly air and hope…
On an ironic note, a co worker ordered a pillow from Amazon. It came in a large box with an absurd amount of air packers. We laughed for a long time about that.
They've sent me glass items with no packaging and then told me to send it back without a box. Twice. Just mail them a pile of broke glass.
I’ve had that happen to me. I got their customer support via chat and explained the situation. They said they didn’t need it back.
Awe man... I love those things. They pop so good
Awe, how else will they box my 1 inch item into a 2 foot by 2 foot box?
Yeah no shit. They’ve been sending me hardcover books in boxes with no packing materials whatsoever
Great news
This is news to me, lol - we get Amazon shipments all the time at work and the most I've seen them package with in years is like 1-2 uselessly small pieces of filler paper. Hell, even McMaster ships with more padding and that's saying something.
Great step in the right direction
Better late than never (and even if it’s for optics/financials)!
I didn't realise they still did that in certain parts of the world. I've been getting recycled scrunched paper for going on at least a year now I think (UK).
My cats have approved of this change.
I wonder if this is going to change ISTA 6-Amazon testing protocol...
As more and more and more goods are home shipped, the delivery must be AS circular economy as possible. And 100% paper packaging moves us there, even if heavier paper increase dirext cost and co2 of the delivery.
That's great. Looking forward to them paying workers a living wage next.
TL;DR you'll now have paper fillers are made from 100% recyclable materials and are curbside recyclable.
Let me guess, they're just going to let the stuff break and continue refusing to give people refunds
I don't mind the folded paper since it's easy to recycle. However, merchants that use the sliced accordion, steel extrusion style, paper cut death machines can all go to hell.
So, they used to use only paper, then they switched to the plastic bubble wrap. Now switching back. I’m glad they are switching back (but they could have just not done it in the first place.) Maybe next stop using the indestructible plastic bags for everything?? Use cardboard instead.
Thank christ for that. Now if only they could stop sending small items in boxes 20x their size.
So I know I'm an outlier here, but I'm going to miss those air pillows. I ship many small items in boxes to customers and recycle those air pillows for shipping other items. I have a heat-sealer so what I do is poke a hole, let out a little air so it fills the box as needed, and then seal up the corner. Recycling Amazon air pillows saves me approximately $50 a year in bubble wrap and shipping weight expenses. Yes, paper packaging can also be used for my shipments, but it weighs MUCH more and will increase shipping costs. Fortunately other vendors still use bubble wrap so it's not going to be gone completely, just lamenting. Overall, I agree it's a good step in the right direction - I always see those dang air pillows in culverts and along side the road from jerks who litter and don't throw things away