I get poor packaging like this as well from various vendors. I have found that smaller vendors will use their head and send in a reasonable size package.

At least one of them came in a reasonable package.

Didn't I tell you? Dell isn't alone in this, and others have been long-time offenders for years before any of these stories popped up. As aec mentioned in the previous thread on this subject, I also suspect that it's just hurried warehouse personnel dumping their crap into whatever box they can find and no one bothers to care.

I was considering making a shipping container one mail-order bride joke, but for the sake of my soul, I won't go there.

Well if the box is already there and there are no smaller ones available is it waste? What you have to look at is when they ship it in a big box, what is the major items they sell and stock boxes for? The ink cartridges shipped in all the packages, thats wasteful.

Yeah. Newegg ALWAYS uses boxes that are WAY bigger than the item you are receiving. Though I usually get multiple items in ONE GIANT box that's still 5x bigger than everything inside.

I just got an external DVD RW from Amazon, but they tend to ship things well.

Maybe it was a last minute, shipping deadline, "this is the only box I can find" situation??

At three + vendors?

I've had the same from countless companies.

I have an Amazon Prime account so I order a bunch from them, they're no better.

But to be honest, I don't care either. I just like my stuff. Paper is recyclable.

Were all the carts from the same warehouse. The only time I've gotten multiple or oddly sized boxed from the Egg is when stuff came from Tenn, Cali, and NJ.

I said it before, but NewEgg is often not responsible for the packaging of items. If they are, then shame. If not, then shame on the suppliers. But it's all down to cost. Buying more sizes of boxes eats up revenue quickly.

At this point in history, the track record of certain corporations regarding the environment and responsible business practices is known to everybody.

If you buy a product from walmart, you are pretty much complicit in whatever wastefulness they decide to hork at you. It's dumb to pretend that you're surprised.

Don't keep buying products from corporations whose policies you don't support!!

See I wouldn't mind, I eBay enough, were the boxes would get used. In reality, giving me a larger package that I can reuse is acctualy better then stuffing somthing in a small box, that will just get thrown out.

Food for thought; not defending the inappropriately sized shipping boxes, but there was probably a reason the inkjet cartridges from the above photo shipped in multiple packages (different warehouses, shipping centers, etc). Aggregating the shipments would involve either a) higher shipping costs, b) longer wait times for the customer, c) both of these. If you're going to slam the internet retailer for not thinking green, be prepared to pay more and wait longer for your purchases.

if the box doesn't fit. . . you must acquit!

This kind of wastefulness will be the downfall of our consumer driven society.

Can someone for IKEA please defect to the big online retailers please? Their boxes are PERFECT with almost NO wasted space.

I recycle Newegg and Amazon boxes.

Newegg gets the "We pack you HD with the minimum bubblewrap required" award.

Amazon gets the "We advertise where you bought from" award.

CDW gets the "We print the contents as a PO on the DHL label so the temp driver can steal it" award.

I conserve the popcorn-packing too.

Newegg just sent me my xbox, controller, hdmi cable, and xbox live card in 4 huge boxes to my desk at work. The humorous part was people trying to guess what I ordered till I arrived at my desk only to have to open them all in front of everyone so I could actually take my stuff home in a backpack. The boxes were too big to carry to my car as-is.

Box is NOT a link to sanctuary...

Box.
BOX!

+ Watch video

Seriously, it's a dumb practice, but it's far cheaper to only buy certain boxes.
Somewhere someone did some math and that's how it turned out.
It doesn't make it right, but I understand the reasoning.

@riqgeez: The man's dead fur Christ sake, may he RIP.

Oh my gosh!... OH MY GOSH!!!! THE BOX IS TOOO BIG!!! Society will crumble. Everyone should stock up on canned goods and head to the mountains. But DON'T buy them from Wal-Mart, their boxes are TOOO HUGE!!!.

You guys are douches.

I bought a battery charger from Walmart.com last month and the box was HUGE. I now use it to store junk.

Not sure about you guys, but last time I checked, cardboard boxes were a recyclable item... If you re-use it, is it really waste? It could be worse... Why don't we stop showering... save water!! Love the earth... bah...

Cardboard is 100% recyclable and a lot of boxes get reused before making to the trash can.

I believe that these guys just have random boxes. IWOOT (iwantoneofthose.com) have got the right system with them all branding the boxes and giving them names depending on their size (the smallest box I recieved was called chihuahua) Also, the invoice tells you who packed it so you can get the company to bollock the guy who uses a massive box for a tiny product.

I think this is a dumb thread. As far as I know shipping costs are all determined by weight (to an extent). While a cardboard box may be a little heavier than a manilla envelope, its reusable, you can always put a label on it, and its standard. You think the minimum wage people in shipping are competent enough to individually package orders when they are getting thousands a day? Ya right, that causes problems and that's why they don't do that.
Once shipping costs change enough, this will as well. Right now this practice is probably saving them money.
Let economics decide this problem.

I just got an HDMI cable from Newegg.com and it was sadly put into a box with a bunch of packing peanuts (sorry no pics, I already threw the trash out). The size of the box kind of matched the cable but really they could have just put it into a shipping envelope and that would have been better I thought. No peanuts and no box! I also got an AppleTV from Apple the same day. The box it was shipped in was a little bit larger and Apple put styrofoam corners so the AppleTV's fit snuggly inside. I wish really there was no styrofoam and the shipping box was just a tad larger than the product's box. I remember when I got an iPod years ago and it was shipped that way, one box just slid in the other. I prefer that.

In defense of newegg I have never had a super huge box come from them. I have had multiple boxes come, but some items came from California, the others came from New Jersey, it all depends on what warehouse it comes from.

@strider_mt2k: One of my favorite sci-fi movies of all time. Too bad they cut out the nude scene. She's pretty hot.

Amazon did this to me too. I ordered a SanDisk SD card. Tiny, with small blister packaging. It came in a gigantic box filled with air cushions. Unfortunately, I think they save money by stocking one box size and using it for everything.

I'm surprised. Newegg always sends my packages in appropriate boxes; I'd expect better from them. Hopefully they'll respond as of all the companies I deal with, I have the most loyalty to Newegg.

But in defense of Amazon, if you order a couple of bookx or CDs, the packaging tends to be very minimal and custom-fit for the products.

Its also the cheapest child toy known to man. The box comes with the item I bought for me. I call that a win win and in today's world that's hard to find.

Yeeeeaaahhh.... I don't know how this is 'giving the finger' to the environment.

If the person that receives the item doesn't recycle the carton box then I don't know how this is the companies issue.

YES, they can definitely use smaller boxes. OK, we all agree on this.

...but, it's going a bit too far when you say these companies are irresponsibly-packing items or how huge of an impact on the environment they are having.

I would definitely categorize your most recent articles relating to the environment as ENVIRONMENTALLY ELITIST, Adam.

It's just a bit over the top, in my opinion.

This all reminds me of Mr. Show's Bag Hutch ad.

"It holds up to 16 bags."

"No shit!"

long live pit pat.

@blindaxs: It's not about the boxes, it's about the space they take up in the trucks.

I think you're getting too wrapped up in the material of the box as being recyclable. The major environmental impact here is fuel consumption and exhaust. if using shipping using boxes that are twice the size that they need to be, half as much product can fit on a plane or truck. that's 2x the fuel consumption which drives up shipping costs and has trickle down effect. AND twice as much exhaust/impact from an atmospheric perspective as well.

don't worry that the boxes are cardboard. that's the least of the problems with this issue.

I reuse all of the boxes I get, so I don't mind getting small items in a large box.

They must be getting killed on shipping costs.

How do these online stores make money again?

@Rabid Penguin, blindaxs, enumerator, and zsleek7: REDUCE, reuse, recycle. There's a reason it's in that order.

I would assume that the reason they don't use smaller packages is because they ran out. Would you rather your shipment be delayed so they can put it in a smaller box?

@XJ_4x4: It could be. I think its just that they aren't organised properly. There should be no reason to run out of boxes of suitable sizes if you are managing things correctly.

"...easy problem to solve that would have a huge impact on the environment."

Really? "Huge"? I am skeptical. I am a data-driven kind of guy. I'd like to know the environmental impact. I am no expert, but you probably have to factor in a lot of variables besides "big box = BAD."

@Noobs-R-Us: she's nudier in "An American Werewolf in London" dontcha think...

"that would have a huge impact on the environment."
Since cardboard doesn't really do much to damage the environment, most people reuse boxes repeatedly, and trees are renewable resources... I'm more concerned about them being wasteful and then passing on the excess cost to the consumer. But that's just me.

I had a newegg order for two ethernet cables that came in separate boxes from two different parts of the country. I think what's even worse than over-packaging the items was the fact that it took two separate trucks to deliver my order! I can't think of a more inefficient process. I know everyone keeps arguing that the trucks and planes will transport regardless of my item, but it seems like this happens enough to have an impact on route scheduling. Just think if every order was in an appropriately sized box and the entire order was contained in one box. I think that would definitely make a difference.

@scarbrtj:
Agreed. I realize this is "Earth Day", but I'm of the opinion that uneducated (and sensationalist) opining on environmental issues should be left in its proper place of environmental blogs, your front yard, or the local coffee shop.