<![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment - Gizmodo Comments]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment - Gizmodo Comments]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> @ubergoose: who do you get supplies from? Fisher Scientific shipping to where I am (UW-Madison) usually pads stuff with brown paper or recyclable airbags, and the boxes aren't ridiculously overstuffed unless you order like one thermometer at a time.

Xenobiologista

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> Hey guys,

In case y'all weren't aware, we at Dell have made moves to address this.

[direct2dell.com]

Noobs-R-Us makes an excellent point that is reiterated in the Direct2Dell blog piece. We catch quite a bit on our own, but it often takes word from folks like yourselves to let us know which areas need work.

Thanks again,
Todd Dwyer
Community Liaison - Environment



ToddDatDell

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> @hooked-on-tronics: well, I eat box on a daily basis

islandhopper

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> wow Dell is so retarded , I hate Dell , the Dell laptop I have sucks , I can't wait to buy a new computer

nikehead

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> I used to work at an indie record store, and sometimes we would get shipments of one cd in a giant box like that. To make matters worse, to keep the cd from banging around the box, they would stuff it with 50 feet of brown butcher paper.

Jtimp

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> Thanks for bringing this to our attention. It looks like the packaging in question came from one of our third party vendors. We hold our vendors to very strict standards, and are working closely on reducing the amount of packaging they use when making these small shipments.

We will come back here to post updates on our progress as it happens, or you can follow Direct2Dell's Environment page. We rely on continued feedback from customers like you to let us know which areas require our attention so we can meet our goal of becoming the greenest technology company in the world. Thank you again for alerting us to this.

Todd Dwyer
Dell Community Liaison - Environment


ToddDatDell

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> You should be glad that the rest of the box is empty. They could have put something to make it even worse, environmentally of course.

celloids

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> There's no reason to over-emphasize the negative aspect of this asinine behavior to the point that it distorts the truth. I've had hundreds of things shipped to me over the course of a decade and I've had this happen to me only once or twice. That has minimal to no impact on the environment or fuel consumption.

crackle

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> @N@tedog: And pay 50% more, and have 80% less to choose from.

I'm just saying...

HeartBurnKid, creepy morbid freak

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> @justinpe: Thank you for saying something that made sense. UPS or Fed Ex don't fill a truck and send the drivers out to empty them - the drivers have a route and they carry the packages that go to the people on that route.

Interestingly enough, ordering that package from Dell probably used LESS resources than you driving down to the store and buying it from Best Buy when you factor in the idea that Best Buy had to have it shipped too.

In all seriousness, recycle it - since you're obviously too old to play with a box anymore. I wish I had a box... I'd pretend it was a spaceship.

Sbudda

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> Just to note, when you are looking at the 3 "R's"; the order is reduce, re-use, recycle for a reason

1) Reduce FIRST - stop using wasteful amounts of material in the first place.

2) Re-use - better than throwing out or recycling, but obviously better to reduce

3) Recycling: This is still pretty energy inefficient. Even if it were more efficient, 1) and 2) are still better options.

So to the people saying just recycle or re-use the box, reduction in materials is ~normally~ a better option.

As to why Dell (and MANY other companies) use too much packaging, it can be boiled down to it being cheaper or Dell is just lazy/inefficient

GregH

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> The main reason this stuff happens is that the item is picked by a machine out of an automated warehouse. Noone's looked at it to figure out that it's a stupid shipping method because its just another line item in the database to all the humans.

Discosis

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> It's cardboard. It's biodegradable. As opposed to plastic bubble wrap.

theespacepope

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> box in a box in a box ...

Fatty

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> i ordered five disks from Dell, the all arrived the same day, hand delivered.... but in different padded envelopes... 5 different ones.

not only does that waste 4 padded envelopes, it also wastes a lot of money, as Dell are paying for 5 couriered packets, not just one.

thistle.john

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> stfu hippie. man you guys really hate big business. First you crap all over the consumer showcase, then you crap all over shipping. Stop bitching and do something useful.

h00ligan

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> I once bought a coin battery from Best Buy online. They shipped it to me in a cardboard box of the same size as the Dell box pictured above, and filled it full of packaging paper.

Obsidian

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> What I find to be wasteful is the fact that you complain about Dell sending you a flash drive in a big box....

maybe the Dell shipping person decided since you would rather pay Dell who overpriced the flash drive just for you that he could use an oversized box as an analogy of you purchasing a flash drive from Dell.

You are aware there are cheaper places to order this type of stuff right?!?

Mosher

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> I've had good experiences with Apple. When I order computers from them they usually ship with the retail box inside of a shipping box of almost the same size. It's a snug fit. Even the Apple TV I purchased came in a box that was only slightly larger than the retail package.

It's not just shipping boxes, though... A lot of companies sell their stuff in retail boxes/packaging that utterly engulfs the product inside.

ZeroCorpse

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> i just bought a Backpack for my Macbook Pro and they send a huge, i mean... this thing was a big box... and it was just full of 'filler'. I'm sure they could have used a smaller box for a backpack. Thats the first thing that came to mind when i saw that picture.

Pepper

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> I meant the flash drive and I would throw away the box not the drive it self

dhlt25

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> I love these big box. They're especially handy when I need to ship something or need boxes for storage. If the driver was ship in the tiny box I would throw it away

dhlt25

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> The funny thing is that in addition to everything else that it wastes, it wastes money. Dell's money. Big boxes cost more to ship than small boxes.

shmokes

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> I had a similar experience with newegg. I ordered 2 ethernet cables; a total of $15. They came in seperate boxes, on different days, and from two different US locations. I actually wrote a complaint but only got some BS auto-email response from customer service. Ridiculous!

Singlespeed

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> Same thing happens at Linens-N-Things all the time. Yankee Candle suppliers insist on putting car jars (cardboard air fresheners) in a huge box. Many times we get three car jars in one box, and these boxes run just about the same size as the one pictured above. And they stuff paper in there too, to protect the cardboard product, from cardboard!

Lindz3r

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> That's wrong. A thumb drive is small and doesn't even need cardboard. A small envelope would have done.

GREEEEN!!!

CutePuppyz

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> Why, it's StupWastefultarded.

ChaoticLimbs

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> @Noobs-R-Us: Dell cost cuts as long as it helps Dell. It took a near boycott for Dell to move customer support back to Round Rock.

And so you know that I'm an equal opportunity slammer, Apple is horrible when it comes to shipping practices. Anything ordered on the website is shipped from Hong Kong when it would be far more cost effective to ship it from a local store (why oh why Apple did you ship my mouse from Hong Kong instead of the Spring St. store).

God made the pretty girls pretty because he likes them more

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> There are minimum size requirements for USPS, UPS and FedEx, you can't ship a tiny box, thier box handling systems can't deal with too small an item. Bubble or regular envelopes might work but I'd be pretty unhappy if item was damaged because it wasn't in a box. Besides, I'm sure there was atleast 3 lbs of advirting material in the box when it arrived, just didn't make it to the photo.

pagercam

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> Thats nothing you should see what Apple ships the little tiny 6" long cable that connects the motherboard to the LCD in..... This wire not much bigger than a twist-tie is shipped in a 6"x4"2" box filled with eggcrate foam. What a waste

jpcubed

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> I know two wrongs don't make a right but Apple is no saint either. I just go my GeForce 8800GT card from Apple Online Store today and they used a box that was like 32"x24"x24" to ship a video card. Yeah, that's right. What a waste of paper. Let me know Giz if you want me to snap pics and email them to you.

apeguero

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> I, for one, will insist that all my future purchases off the Internet are delivered to me in a recycled burlap sack, by a union migrant stevedore on a carbon neutral donkey.

junyo

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> @islandhopper: I worked with the largest box manufacturer in Vancouver, BC and they had about 10 "off the shelf" box sizes, and the smallest was 9"x10". Using any other size instantly drove the price up around double. The "off the shelf" box sizes are determined by the regional market, and while there may be millions of them globally, regionally there are only a few. I'm curious what experience you have with boxes on a bulk scale to be making such claims.

hooked-on-tronics

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> While the product was "ordered" from Dell it was a virtual certainty it was shipped by someone like Ingram-Micro-D. Dell doesn't stock that crap. They pass the order off to another e-tailer who puts the Dell paperwork and crap in the box. If it isn't a computer or a Dell specific piece of a Dell Computer.....its was shipped by a different company a-la Amazon. Used to work there in product development... trust me, they have a bug up their butts about packaging. You can rest assured once they see this article they'll be giving the morons at the e-tailer a call.

Rand

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> @hooked-on-tronics: Dude, they make um, like a million "off the shelf" boxes smaller than the one used. You obviously don't need a custom box for every single item, just more of a range than - huge/ giant/ or fucking ridiculous, especially when Im sure they mail out millions of USB drives and similar small items.

islandhopper

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> @Samifumi: thats just what I want, a bunch of boxes folded up behind/under all my furniture because some dumbass company decided I needed them...

this is one of those things that makes mo sense for the environment, OR for the company on a profit level either. It seems like a no-brainer. Usually, the things that are bad for the environment are done so by companies because they cost less, this is just retarded in both ways.

islandhopper

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> @hooked-on-tronics: Well then there's the answer to this whole article: higher profits = wasteful practices.

ripfire

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> I have exactly the same thing with ATP sending my 2GB MicroSD back to me with warranty RMA.

ecsw

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> You're lucky, mine always come brimming with styrofoam peanuts which end up EVERYWHERE. A few more square inches of cardboard be damned, styrofoam never goes away.

kaneshadow

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> dude, your getting (a Dell) an Empty Box!

(starts smoking pot)

takemetoyourtoaster

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> Should have used the teleporter.

OLEDRevolution

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> @frigg: Good for you or good for the company that's doing the shipping? In the end, small product + most commonly used box = cheaper for the company, and the most commonly used box is typically in the 9"x10"x[adjustable height] range.

hooked-on-tronics

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> I also got a huge box for my 2gb thumb drive from newegg.com, but I loves them.

schmere

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> @Samifumi: I'm sure you could speculate a million other reasons why a company would ship a midget product in a giant box.

But in the end:

small product + small box = good.

small product + big box = bad.

Smaller box = [enter inappropriate reference of choice]

frigg

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> This is why they don't offer free shipping

gamecrazychris

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> @ripfire4: There is such a thing, it just costs an assload to run (big box for $0.25 per or smaller custom box for $5+ per? hmmmmm).

hooked-on-tronics

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> @Giz: thanks for sounding the bell on this. It's a tricky tricky double-edged sword however. Considering the following. I have 5 different shapes and sizes of products that I want ship a bazillion of to all over the world. I need to either produce on my own, or buy from a producer packaging that I can at least fit the largest thing I make into. Now for the box company, they make 2 sizes of boxes, and the machines that make the two sizes are from different vendors from different companies. As a box company, I could try to make the perfect size and shape of box to match every item but have a hard time justifying a whole new set of machines to do it for each size.

But wait, somebody is shipping this shit, and they have at least 3 different shipping containers that all hold different amounts of total boxes and can only accomidate a narrow range of box sizes and shapes. The same shipping company processes the transprotation of said boxes in said containers through package centers all around the world. the package centers will eat boxes that are below a certain size and shape.

This is just a generic scenario for explination of the concept, but it's not far from the real thing. So, when it all comes to your door, its getting as close to the lesser of the evils of waste as possible.

Evan394

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> know = known

Noobs-R-Us

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> @OMG! Ponies!: I beg to differ. His board as well as shareholders are on his back to turn the company around. He has a lot of his wealth tied to the company. They're know for cost cutting. I think this is right up his alley.

He won't know about it unless someone like the us send this stuff to him. I bet he will take a steel toe boot to this.

Noobs-R-Us

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> I've seen it before in the military. Same size box for 2 $3 nuts.
And they were even bubblewrapped.


gizmodohomepage

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> possibly these boxes r set sizes? and that hte smallest they got? i dunno not in the boxing industry =S

Arsenal6

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> @justinpe:
Recycling is a sham. The only thing worth recycling at this point is aluminum products. It takes more energy to recycle papers and plastics than it does to just make new stuff. It's very inefficient right now. Just save that box for a moving, or build a fort out of it.

Rabid Penguin

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> As a truck driver i would load from Dell in Ireland and deliver to UPS Germany approx 1000Kms. On one occasion i delivered a 13.6mtr trailer with just one 6X4 envelope containing SD cards with component authorisation details of previously delivered computer systems.

trucker2812

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> @aec007: I think this explanation makes the most sense. None of these warehouse workers REALLY give a rat's ass about the size of the packaging. One benefit, especially for you intrepid young ebay sellers. Free shipping boxes.

Kaiser-Machead's Chips Ahoy!

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> I work for an Apple reseller and can tell you that despite all the green speak from Jobs, Apple's shipping practices are not any better. I once received a small bag of 10 Powebook feet in a box twice the size of the one pictured in this article. That kind of waste happens all the time with Apple. Dell is not the only offender in this area!

gadgetseh

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> newegg has this practice too..
They sent me a laptop RAM in a box the size of the PS3 or Xbox360 box... WTF!!

and did someone bought a Rockband from amazon? they sent me also a box like 2.5 times the size of the rockband box, now, thats A LOT of cardbox, like a big house for a homeless.. sumthing...

EL_RIEL

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> Ha! You think that's bad? Try HP. We ordered a server and this is how it was delivered to us. Server in a box. Good packaging and neat. Extra memory, in a peanut padded box, small in size. No complaints here. Then... 2 boxes medium size boxes. Like the one shown from Dell. Inside the 2 boxes was stuffed with brown paper padding. Wrapped in the paper padding was a bubble envelope. Inside of the bubble envelope was..... wait for it....

A power cable. One in each package. Nice huh?

_badtziscool

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> It's cool by me. We always reuse boxes we get online anyways. The bigger the more use we have.

Sailorcancer

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> @Seiven: Honey, most of my Dell crap ships on pallets. If the sysadmins want to pop bubble wrap, we have to order it from Staples like everyone else. Now, what I'd really like to know is why Dell pays extra to have each server run over by at least one truck before it's delivered, yet all the desktop stuff arrives pristine.

@Samifumi: (a) No, because anyone who's ordered a small item from Dell knows they ship in oversized boxes; (b) No, because if they stocked sane box sizes they'd have to run out of several sizes before they got to THAT; and (c) Did you just argue that UPS trucks have limited hauling capacity, but infinite volume? Like the opposite of the Disney genie? There's gotta be a patent in there somewhere -- get on it!

kexline

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> Wastefull, sure.
But hey, it could also be something like this...
- Almost quitting time on Friday...
- Oh crap, need the small boxes again and I'm out of them...
- The supply building warehouse needs a box size requisition and transfer form filled in duplicate so I can get the right size box...

- Fuck it. I have a big box here. (sticks shipping label)

- I'm outta here.

(We've all been there....)





aec007

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> @justinpe: Truth

hooked-on-tronics

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> I worked in shipping/receiving a few years back and I never saw a full delivery truck. Most delivery companies make regularly scheduled stops that aren't affected by their load but by the time of day, so 4 boxes or 20 boxes they were still doing the same old routine. I would also like to point out that shipping companies buy boxes in bulk and it is often times cheaper for them to use a larger, more standard size box than the smaller boxes that they have fewer of. This is far from an example "idiotic shipping practices".

hooked-on-tronics

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> @jiggaman: It's funny to me that I saw this coming, yet ignored all the signs.

Kaiser-Machead's Chips Ahoy!

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> I say there should be a machine that can create custom boxes based on the size requirements.

ripfire

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> Sending packages in very small boxes = lots of very small boxes getting lost by UPS, FedEx, USPS, etc. Besides, the minimum box size that you can send a package in would still be way too large for the usb drive in that picture.

Also, this will not save a considerable amount of gas. UPS Drivers never have their trucks loaded completely full (good luck finding a 2"x3"x1" box in there if it is). Also, air freight runs on schedules and are rarely filled to capacity which is measured by weight rather than size.

I can hear the guys down at the airport now, "Hold that plane, we could fit 40,000 more usb drives on that thing and save the world from global warming because they are in a appropriately sized boxes."

I'm all about reducing energy consumption and making the world a better place to live in, but this is stretching it. I believe that encouraging people to recycle these boxes would do a lot more for the cause than complaining about the box being too big.

justinpe

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> I ordered almost the exact same 2 GB flash drive from surpluscomputer.com the other day. $8.99 for the drive and $2.50 for shipping. It arrived in two days in a bubble envelope no larger than 4x6 inches. Why can't everybody ship like that?

EBone

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> @frigg: Throwing away a plastic bubble wrap envelope (torn open) with no potential for re-use is more harmful to the environment that just using a bigger box.

Want to argue that there is potentially wasted space by shipping a box too large? How in the hell would we know how much room is on the plane or truck? I'd argue weight is a more significant factor (as would the shipping companies).

And how do we know that Dell didn't just run out of boxes temporary, and is waiting for a new shipment of the smaller box? Would a shipping delay waiting for a smaller box to ship have been palatable to the customer? Not likely.

Samifumi

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> Interesting subject timing... I ordered a 2gb flash drive from Buy.com today and it came in an envelope not much bigger than the flash drive packaging.

I'm sure others use similar shipping methods for smaller products.

Dell could learn a lesson from Buy.com and others.

chillywilly

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> I had a very similar experience when I purchased a download version of Motorola's Phone Tools. A week or so later I received a box about a cubic foot containing one of those business card sized quick start guides and an invoice (which I had already received in e-mail format). I actually called Motorola CS and questioned this. After laughing about it with the rep he suggested that they are likely required to send something physical to some locations to which I responded that an envelope would be plenty of physical and cost them less.

I would recommend calling the company EVERY time you receive something like this. Let them know that you care and remind them how much more it costs them to send crap this way.

yanni85

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> I hate it even more when that box is full of packing peanuts. I hate those damn peanuts so much, and it's guaranteed I'll spill them somewhere before I can get the box throw away.

GeekyNerdGuy

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> I'm not justifying these companies' wasteful shipping polices/practices, but I've heard some shippers say small items in bigger packaging are harder to get lost in transit, esp when air shipped. Ground ship via USPS is probably less wasteful when packaged in a jiffy bag.

Matt Hadder

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> I love Sweetwater (music equipment website), but they are guilty of the same thing. I ordered a set of ear buds, something that could have been shipped in a box of cigarettes, and they came in a box that could've fit a large toaster.

snowtires

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]>

If you think that was wasteful look what Dell sent us when we ordered 5 of those notebook rubber things

[www.zockbar.de]

I took this pic some years ago so nope, obviously they haven't changed

lloesche

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> @ N@tedog

You obviously have never considered the price difference between online retailers and physical ones...

brillonjn

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> @James: Do YOU have the storage space to keep all the massive boxes you receive, plus all the filler? Cause I sure as hell don't. Space becomes a premium when you're living on your own.

DaOtter

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> I'd suggest walking to the local computer store and bring your own bag if you want to somewhat save the environment. Even with an ideally sized box, ordering stuff online is going to result in inefficiencies in shipping.

roadworm

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> what a bunch of wank-offs

fudged71

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> How about simply reusing the box and packaging yourself!? Stop being a hater.

James

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> I don't care about the environment.

TehBoj

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> This actually seems more like marketing than anything else. You buy something small but a big box arrives and makes you feel that much more important. The company gives you a big box to show how much your purchase mattered to them and how safe they wanted to keep it just so you can come back and buy again.

It'll probably only backfire on you people.

sisedi

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> No no no, I think their is a miss understand.. you buy a BOX and you get a free USB key.

USB key are no fun, boxes are! Yaaaaaayyy boxes! hihihi.

GoodBytes

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> well, this unforgivable! i can´t even believe it...a whole box fot a crappy usb stick, please, copy from apple packages...

Xsteven

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> @Sh3rpa: were you getting your shipments from. every time they come from rowland heights ca i get massive boxes

damnElantra

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> I ordered a microSDHC card from Dell a few weeks back and they shipped it in quite a small box maybe a couple of inches bigger than the outside width/length of the blister pack. They used a bit of crushed paper as padding. I'd prefer that to padded envelopes that can't be easily recycled. I looked for the card locally but no luck.

I remember an ex-co-worker who worked for NBC in NYC at one time. He told me that his office would actually call FedEx to deliver a package from floor X to floor Y in the SAME building without bothering to figure that out. How's that for waste?

wilsonma29

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> @Samifumi: "That bigger box can be RECYCLED to ship something bigger later on. Just collapse the box, put it behind a couch or under the mattress, and use it when you have to move, or you sell something on eBay."

Better yet, braise it in a quart of chicken stock for about 2 hours or until tender, crisp under the broiler, and then serve with a lovely béchamel sauce and pickled fugu... deeelish!

Alternatively, it could be made into the perfect Mr. Wasteful Box Halloween costume, or if you had 10,000 more big wasteful boxes, you could create an enormous wasteful model of an integrated circuit from the 1970s!

So.... Samifumi, you have a point. If only every company could send their tiny little products in unnecessarily large boxes, think of all the wonderful things we could make and eat of them.

frigg

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> I experienced the same thing when I ordered a small Dell laptop sleeve (the really skinny one that hugs your laptop). It came in a box that could have carried at least 20 of those, PLUS it was stuffed full of packing paper.

Uh... it's not a breakable item, and seriously, I could have fit two full desktop computer towers in that box... with packing paper to boot.

Migo

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> I have a better idea. Lets shame Best Buy etc. into not selling a 2gb thumbdrive for $80 so I don't have to mail order just one at a time.

Bittermormon

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> I'm waiting for Steve Jobs (Fake or Real) to make a nice joke about Dell (company + Michael Dell) and then explain how Apple packaging is the most eco-friendly and takes up the volume of said item.

CGrant

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> well, this is a shame! such a giant box only to send a freaking USB stick? Why the fuck they don´t learn from other companies, like Apple, that sends their products in packages as small as the product itself? Oh sh*t, this is stupid!

Xsteven

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> All this talk makes me want a big mac in the styrofoam container... (and everything else Dennis Leary said in that song)... it especially makes me want to park in handicapped spaces while handicapped people make handicapped faces.

jiggaman

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> @Sh3rpa: NewEgg gets everything pre-boxed from their suppliers. They don't even open the boxes.

DaOtter

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> The big thing is cost. Always is. It costs Dell, et. al., more to buy multiple sized boxes to ship from a single plant or warehouse than it does to ship the larger ones, or in many cases, even more than it would cost to defend from some wack-job group like Greenpeace.

"Follow the money, honey."

DaOtter

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> @ damnElantra

huh, I've never had newegg ship me some this large for something so small. Just ordered a HDD yesterday, and it came in a nice and tiny box

Sh3rpa

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> As someone who works in automated distribution I'll say that it would end up bumping the costs drastically as you would have to have more box selections and slow down the shipping process. Plus most big companies use automated conveyors that have minimal box sizes, which means manual processing. Most people already constantly complain about high shipping costs and slow turn around, are you willing to pay more and have it take longer to minimize this?

marc_wtih_a_c

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> so instead of walking down the street, or taking a short drive (or ideally take the public transportation), the person who bought this ordered it through a company which by virtual definition would require this product to go through all sorts of shipping which would eat up gas and destroy the ozone even more. meanwhile, there are plenty of 2 gig cards that come in every shape and size.

dell shouldnt have shipped it the way they did, but buying it this way was also kind of careless.

jrghoull

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> @92BuickLeSabre: EXACTLY!

N@tedog

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> This is a bit hypocritical. What's the BEST way to avoid tiny things being shipped in large boxes. Fruc, go to your local tech store and just buy the friggin thing there and save ANY size box and wasteful cardboard that would result from shipping.

I'm just sayin...

N@tedog

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> @92BuickLeSabre: You and me need to get together. Brooklyn represent.

God made the pretty girls pretty because he likes them more

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> @Kaiser-Machead: Is it Big gay Al's Big Gay aquarium supplies?

jiggaman

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> btw, slow news day, eh?

MrBlahBlah

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> This is why I'm a techlocavore, always buying my gadgets from the local gadgeter's market or walking down to the metal-shops of Brooklyn to purchase from the gadget merchant's factory-farm personally.

On nice weekends, my wife and I will even go out to the industrially-zoned areas to harvest our USB-ports ourselves.

Think Green everyone!

92BuickLeSabre

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> I used to work in a large retailer in the UK and this sorta stuff used to happen all the time. They would often put a single game in one of these boxes and send about 3 huge boxes 5 games on one occasion.

Madhotdog

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> Actually taking a steaming dump in the environment is help full.

(For those who cant comprehend, this was a joke, I have been seeing lately people don't get jokes)

--Tito--

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> Last month I bought six items (5 books and a DS game) from Amazon. They shipped out to me on the same day in 5 boxes. 4 of the boxes shipped from the same place. Each was overly large for the contents it contained, they all could have fit in one box. I understand that sometimes they ship from multiple locations, but seriously this was ridiculous.

krizoitz

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> It only looks too big because you took the packing slips out.

sharmanova

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> I am delighted to announce that no wasteful shipping practices were employed in the delivery of this comment.

frigg

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> @Kaiser-Machead: Probably because ram is pre-boxed for shipping from their supplier. Much cheaper to pay slave, er I mean chinese labor to build boxes/fill them than it is to pay americans to do it. In fact your ram shipment may be directly sourced from China and flown to you. Where as the USB drive is already packaged from another manufacturer and isn't a bulk item.

Basically, the difference between white box and bulk items via Newegg.

Xavoc

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> @Noobs-R-Us: I don't think Michael Dell micromanages like that.

taoprophet, on the other hand, can easily take it up with Steve Jobs secure in the knowledge that some peasant in China, where Apple ships all of their merch bought through the website from, will get reamed.

God made the pretty girls pretty because he likes them more

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> the earth will end one day...can't evade the inevitable

mricyfire

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> Well, figure there's a minimum package size based upon the shipping label needing to be readable.

Why aren't you going after all of these companies that produce vacum-plastic sealed packages? That thumbdrive can go in a much smaller package (including the manuals) and save even more space needed to ship to a retailer/warehouse/in container ships/planes that use way more oil than a shipping truck does.

There are all kinds of places in which waste can be covered. However you're likely going to have to pay for them. Sounds silly right?

Xavoc

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> Look, I know its vogue to join GreenPeace and moan about wasteful packaging practices, but isn't this a bit ridiculous?

That bigger box can be RECYCLED to ship something bigger later on. Just collapse the box, put it behind a couch or under the mattress, and use it when you have to move, or you sell something on eBay.

Recycling 101.

Samifumi

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> I got the same sized box for the new slim apple keyboard i thought that was bad, but this is worse.

taoprophet420

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> You guys should send this photo to Dell and ask him to explain himself!

Noobs-R-Us

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> @Totorototoro:
It's what they do best....


Nathan Drake

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> I thought earth day was tomorrow.

Wess

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> Dell's not alone in this. I don't know if anyone else is a customer of Big Al's Aquarium supplies, but if you order something small and relatively durable, like a plastic pin for a canister filter, they have this bad habit of sending it to you in a big ass box with lots of packaging peanuts, when all it needed was a tiny box or even a padded envelope.

However, why in the name of Satan's ass hair didn't Dell just ship it in the same box they ship RAM in?

Kaiser-Machead's Chips Ahoy!

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> dell is not the only one. newegg does that alot too. buying harddrives or memory returns a box big enough to fit my atx case in.

damnElantra

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> @MrBlahBlah: That's what I thought. Those tiny drive heads could've scratched the tiny platters if it weren't for the proper insulation.

ripfire

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> This is a sign of an extremely inefficient company employing some real morons.

The guy who packed this didn't notice the box was way too big.

The packer's manager didn't notice either.

The regional manager didn't realize he could save the company money by using smaller packages.

The global management doesn't seem to realize that they are not only damaging the environment, but they are wasting their own money on excess packaging.

And what about the fuel/transportation costs? Dell dumps those on the consumer.

Great company.

wallytaco

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> You should see the packaging that accompanies what is needed for university research -- regardless of what it is. This stuff is so dense and tough it's never going away.

ubergoose

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> this is the opposite of Fat Guy In A Little Coat.

DeCerbo

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> WTF, not only the packaging, but this thing took up space on a UPS truck or whatever to get to you - space that could have been used to transport something else that now requires shipment on a different truck further increasing air pollution. If we are talking cumulatively, this is a big impact.

berribrand

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> it must be a slow news day...

[consumerist.com]

B1663R

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> Staples is just as bad. i received a single ink cartridge in a box large enough for david blaine to live in for a week. i complained multiple times, and now won't order from them.

min2d2

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> @ItsRabid: they only use those on servers...when securing your order matters...nothing protects a server like a few dozen bubbles.

Seiven

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> The least they could have done was fill the box with styrofoam peanuts.

God made the pretty girls pretty because he likes them more

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> but the moving parts might have been damaged without as much air cushion!

MrBlahBlah

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> same thing for me when my wife ordered me my Kensington wifi detector

Seiven

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> Haven't they heard of bubblewrap envelopes?

ItsRabid

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> Misappropriation of resources...Bigger boxes means less boxes can fit on those UPS trucks and requires more trips hence using more gasoline. It is wastes like this that will plunge the world into resource wars as it becomes harder to satisfy world energy demands.

duckers

]]> <![CDATA[Dell's Wasteful Shipping Habits Take a Steamy Dump on the Environment]]> Where is Greenpeace on this issue with Dell's wasteful packaging? Too busy picketing Apple, since they are a better headline?

Totorototoro

]]>