Too much packaging. You know it’s a topic that gets me going…

I’m even more frustrated when a product that needs no packaging gets bundled up like a porcelain heirloom. I’m talking about “online activation cards” (e.g. You buy a card in store that gives you a secret number or similar, and then you activate the product/account online). I’ve seen a few of these at retailers lately – Box. net is the latest company I’ve noticed with this practice, but it is by no means the only one.

While I can certainly see the marketing advantage of the item – having a visual product in stores makes the product more tangible and obvious – it’s minimized, in my opinion, by the waste it creates. What amounts to a card comes in a box (often large box) – an astounding amount of packaging for a small product. In fact, the product itself is basically invisible – which makes the overwhelming packaging only more bizarre.

Have you seen this type of thing too? And if so where?

Posted on Wednesday, September 17th, 2008 at 2:30 pm and is filed under sustainability. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.