OPINION: The “unboxing experience” is the most wasteful 5 seconds in a shopper's life
Be honest, in the time of online shopping, how many times have you felt you wanted to give a shop an extra star for their luxurious packaging? I admit that sometimes I feel extra giddy when unpacking a beautifully wrapped order. It’s like my birthday but I bake my own cake and eat it too. In reality, I would have been as equally happy with my purchase if I bought it at the mall, the item shoved in a crisp paper bag with its receipt.
Last night as I was scrolling through Instagram, I chanced upon a video ad showing how a shop packs their products. Kraft box stuffed with crumpled kraft paper, item wrapped in honeycomb “bubble wrap”, then sealed with a ribboned twine. The item? A plastic phone case.
A month ago, I received a package in a kraft paper box, items individually wrapped in tissue paper then cushioned with shredded colored paper, sealed with a bright red ribbon. The items? Fabric headbands.
As a meticulous online shopper, I painstakingly check each and every review before buying the item. A lot of these reviews, I would conclude through their wording, are extra forgiving of product flaws because the packaging was a feast for the eyes and the unboxing experience superb. I could never gauge whether the item actually worked most of the time.
For sellers, of course the logical thing to ensure good ratings and remain competitive is to step up their packaging aesthetic. Fresh box, pretty paper, scented paper, smooth paper, colored paper, shredded paper, luxe ribbons, or for some, maybe all of the above. I am yet to order something expensive to find out if someone actually puts everything in.
Of course great packaging is important especially for breakable products. I’d for sure want that extra cushion if I’m ordering a glass bottled serum more expensive than a good steak. But for products that could withstand the harsh conditions of shipping (the heat of the sun during transport, the intense tossing as per viral videos, whatever horrors they face that we are unaware of), the necessity of triple wrapping is nonexistent.
We are so fixated on that 5 seconds of unboxing bliss, we tend to forget that after we take away all the wrapping, the only thing that matters is the product. The wrappers? Trash bin stuffing, dump truck passenger, landfill nobody. All the extra material, no matter how biodegradable, is still unnecessary waste and additional product cost. Wouldn’t you want to pay a little less for a product because no extra packing cost is passed on to the buyers? But that’s beside the point.
As long as we give great importance to the view once we rip off our courier pouches and the luxurious experience of removing tissue paper away from the product we ordered, the cycle of wasteful shopping and selling will continue.
Notes:
As buyers, here are few suggestions of what we could do:
-Check product reviews. If they’re particular about packaging and you think it’s unnecessary, inform the seller of your packaging preference. They will most likely let you know if the extra wrapping is a need.
-Do not fixate on the packaging when leaving a review. Focus on the product. This way, sellers would feel less conscious about making the packaging overly aesthetic.
-Recycle. Save your boxes and stuffing to use for future gift wrapping. Smoothen out and keep crumpled paper for arts and crafts like scrapbooking. Toss shredded paper in the compost pit (do your research first if the paper is good for composting.) Save the huge sheets of bubble wrap (of course make sure to clean them) because you never know when you’ll need it!
-Send your parcels to companies that recycle them! There are a number of pages on Facebook that accept used mailer pouches as long as they’ve been cleaned (and your private information removed!)