That’s why Amazon often sends small parts in huge boxes

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• Negative records in packaging waste
• Small products often in oversized packaging
• Amazon uses software to calculate carton sizes

Clearly, the trend these days is towards online trading. From clothing to technical products to groceries: More and more people prefer to order online instead of going to a brick-and-mortar store. However, the shift from retail to online trading is also being heavily criticized: In addition to the CO2 emissions caused by the transport of goods around the world, some consumers also complain about the amounts of packaging waste that are produced. In this regard, criticism of the online retail giant Amazon is also loud.

Cardboard boxes way too big for products

After an Amazon customer vented his anger at the rbb consumer magazine Super.Markt and sent photos of his order – a windscreen wiper in a huge box with a lot of filling material – Amazon responded to research into this case with a statement.

Amazon justified the choice of packaging material with practicality. In the particular case of windscreen wipers, it was not possible to place the shipping label on the original packaging, so larger extra packaging was needed.

In general, 30 different carton sizes are mainly used for the large mass of products, with Amazon using algorithms. Stephan Eichenseher from Amazon explained to chip.de: “Amazon is keen to find the optimal packaging for each product, which enables resource-saving shipping and at the same time guarantees the quality of the products. In the Amazon logistics centers, software calculates the optimal carton size basis of the dimensions of the ordered products”. When an item is shipped for the first time, the most important key data, such as size, weight and shape, are saved and the appropriate carton size is then recommended at the packing station. Ultimately, however, the employee decides in which packaging the article ends up. However, Amazon has no influence on the choice of packaging for goods shipped from independent retailers on Amazon Marketplace.

time is money

Cost reasons are not the reason why the mail order companies no longer have different carton sizes in stock, a company that produces cardboard boxes told rbb. Instead, it is simply more time-saving to offer as few different boxes for your products as possible. Because the packers do their job faster the smaller the selection of boxes in different sizes. In this way, labor costs can be kept as low as possible.

Although oversized packaging is not the norm in online retail, it happens again and again with a wide variety of providers. Whether the amount of packaging waste – not only in online retail, but also in other areas – can be noticeably reduced in the future for the sake of the environment remains questionable. But according to the Federal Environment Agency, 18.7 million tons of packaging waste per year that were produced in Germany alone in 2017 set a negative record and should be an incentive to change something about this problem.

Editorial office finanzen.net

Image sources: Sundry Photography / Shutterstock.com, Hadrian / Shutterstock.com