Monday, November 3, 2008

Amazon: No more Wrap Rage!

OK, so maybe this isn't the most high-level IT topic I've covered, but I've got to hand it to Amazon for trying to find a serious solution for a serious problem. They're working with manufacturers to eliminate overpackaged, hard-to-open containers for merchandise!

While on some level, Mother Nature is breathing a sigh of relief, there are also tangible benefits in terms of cost and frustration as well as weight. Heck, there's a closet-industry built up around devices to open modern blister packs!

In my day toys came in a cardboard box, possibly with some assembly required and with at most a small plastic window to see some of the contents inside. The current trend of exposing as much of the toy as possible in a demo mode is so ungodly frustrating to me that it makes me want to strangle kittens. Knowing that I'll be undoing half a roll of tape and a few dozen steel twist-ties is frustrating!

Just package the stuff in an appropriate, but not overdone package. A lot of computer stuff is already very lucky in this regard, but tons of consumer-oriented gear is not. Nobody is putting their greasy mitts on an Amazon product in a retail store. You don't have to compete with other items on the shelf. It's all going to ultimately come in a plain brown wrapper no matter what, so let's save time, material, plastic, frustration, etc. and see some more sensible packaging. Good job, Amazon! Keep it up.

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