Arrggghhhh Amaaazooon!!!
I like ordering things online. I know there’s a lot of extra packaging and transport, but I still like it. I love forgetting that I ordered these things and then receiving surprise packages in the mail. I love the efficiency… I can shop at 2 am in my pyjamas. And I especially like shopping on Amazon, because after all they sell just about everything.
I am prefacing this post with an explanation for the rant to which you are about to subjected. I don’t like to use this blog as an outlet to vent. I want to keep things positive. But I’m going to make an exception today. Stop reading here if you’d prefer to keep things happy.
I needed a pair of knitting needles that I couldn’t find (easily) near me. I’m sure if I had tried a little harder I could have found them in NY somewhere, but I didn’t try that hard because I found them on Amazon, and that was that. I spent about an hour in line today at the post office mailing my lookbooks. While I was there I realized that I had a package waiting for me, so I picked it up. The box measured about 2 feet x 1 foot x 1 foot. That’s pretty big. And it was very light. I had no idea what was inside (see above comment about forgetting that I’ve ordered things), so I opened it up right away because I thought it was empty and someone had stolen my surprise present. Instead I found a pair of number 19 bamboo knitting needles buried at the bottom of this ridiculously large box filled with plastic bubble wrap. THEY’RE WOOD KNITTING NEEDLES! They weren’t going to break, c’mon Amazon! C’mon!
So that’s it. I’m already boycotting one large chain store for multiple reasons, and now I’ve decided to turn my rage upon my one-time online shopping mecca. I’m sorry Amazon, but we’re through. It’s not you, it’s me. Actually wait, it IS you. And I’ve found somebody better. Etsy has never let me down. Etsy sellers recycle their packaging and include cute little surprise gifts with my orders (not pretend surprise gifts that I actually ordered and forgot about, but real surprises). So until you can show me that you’ve changed, I’m going to be spending my paypal dollars on etsy instead.
I think this is a very lame reason to punish Amazon. So, they erred on the side of absurd to protect your needles. You can take the box and the plastic to the recycler and all is well. Write them a nice long letter explaining your views. But to stop doing business with a company that does a very nice job because some minumum wage kid choose too large a box for your needles is counterproductive to me.
And that would be minimum. Don’t you just hate it when someone who didn’t bother to take a minute to proof read then criticizes you?
Actually I don’t mind the criticism (or the typo), in fact I welcome the dialogue. However, I should point out that I do not blame the minimum wage kid for the choice of boxes and packaging – nor do I think that my complaints about Amazon will in any way affect his or her job. Also, you should note that this is not the first time I have received a package from Amazon with a ridiculous excess of packaging, if it were I may have let it slide.
-Tara
At least, as Jaxx said, it could be recycled, although I was told by a paper merchant recently that many offshore paper recycling facilities are closing down due to lack of commercial viability. And another paper merchant then assured me the industry is alive and well. Who knows what is truth and what is greenwashing?
I hate being caught out by packaging, as I was at my daughter’s birthday last year:
http://sorrperth.blogspot.com/2009/11/earlier-this-year-we-enjoyed-our.html