July 22, 2008
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I hope someone can explain this to me
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/07/18/hp_packaging/17 boxes to protect 32 A4 sheets
Published Friday 18th July 2008 10:27 GMT
We've just had an email from a shaken Stephen Strang who this morning took delivery of a very, very large box from HP:
Stephen said: "Imagine our excitement as we opened it, hoping
against hope that it might contain a copy of some c-class virtual
connect firmware that actually works."Sadly not. What the überbox did contain was 16 smaller boxes "which
in turn [each] contained (wrapped in foam so they wouldn't get broken)
exactly two sheets of A4 paper":
Yup, so that's 17 boxes in total to protect 32 pages. A world-class effort there from HP. ®
Comments (17)
What, uh, is anyone going to DO with those papers after they reach the end user? End up in a box somewhere in a dusty filing room is what.
I'm glad the trees died for that.
Ahhh,don't get me started! Packing/packaging is the biggest waste ,not to mention rip-off. The boxes are more than 2x larger than the item it contains with those little paper shelfs built inside of the box to sit the item so you can even see it. Why does a tube of toothpaste need a box? It is not strong enough to offer any protection.
But we love pretty packages that make us feel good,we are all a bunch of dumb-ass consumers.
That's amazing...
Now I know why I can't work for HP. I'm just not smart enough to come up with something like that
omigod. people--companies--are stupid.
umm...they hate the earth?
That's gotta be a world record.
Maybe their shipping department needs to spend a certain amount in postage or lose some of their allowance, so they're padding the account?? No matter the reason, there should definitely be some kind of fine involved.
You're on the warpath about wasteful packaging and I'm on my soapbox about disposable diapers. Want to work together....LOL
I don't get it.. looks like they contain license certificates, but why do they come in boxes? Why did the person even order those certificates? The article doesn't explain much except to make fun of the packaging. I wish it said something about what was actually being shipped... not that huge boxes would be justified, but maybe there is a reason.
If you go to the software isle, they usually have boxes that are way bigger than what's actually inside... i.e. a DVD case, which in turn contains a much smaller disc inside. My theory is that DVD cases are made bigger than CD cases to make people feel like they're getting something of higher value. So this HP packaging sounds like something along that line... maybe those license certificates a few hundred bucks each?
I'm the person who sent the article about HP's packaging waste to John. There are many good reasons why things (such as toothpaste tubes) are "containerized" in boxes, envelopes, barrels, etc. Most of them have to do with either protecting them or form factoring them for shipping or shelving.
But HP is just ***WAY*** out of line. Those 32 sheets (16 dupes of the same 2 pages) could easily have been mailed in a manila envelope -- insured even! -- for less cost than that huge pile of 17 cardboard boxes.
Honestly, this seems like an ideal e-mail transaction. E-mail the 2 pages to the recipient and let the recipient spread them around as needed. Cost? A bit of electricity and a smidge of bandwidth...and a lot less human labor.
Regards,
ApocalypseSoon
@fratmom -
Hiya,
The likely reason DVD (video) packages are larger than CD (audio) packages is that movies tend to have more pic attachments/promos/credits than music albums. Hell, I like the fact that I can tell my DVDs from my CDs (I have hundreds of each) by the "size of the box". Go figure! The size difference is marginal at best, but enough to let me know what shelve to put the disc-in-a-plastic-sleeve (kinky!) on.
@fratmom - I'm with ya. Even back in 1984 I insisted on our using cloth diapers with our baby daughter rather than disposables, except for when we were traveling. I was the one to wash all the cloth diapers and little plastic panties, so I got no resistance from the distaff side of the marriage. Not for that, anyway.
However...if you calculate the amount of water used to wash all of the cloth diapers, the soap, the energy needed to heat the water, etc....I'm not sure we were actually "saving the earth" with our cloth diapers. Sometimes it seems like six of one and a half dozen of the other.
No matter how you slice it, we humans and especially we American humans are energy-intensive. That's why I've been a proponent of solar and wind energy for so long, and have found it utterly incompehensible why we have failed to perceive their obvious advantages.
@gpspacey - And MY theory is that small items have been put in larger packages primarily to prevent shoplifting. But that can now be done just as easily with those little RFD chips that are placed somewhere on the item.
WOW! And I thought they way my shipments were packed was bad!
You just brought out a whole new world for me!
Who was in charge in this? Ridiculous.
Hmmm - good thing those papers were SO protected - I hope they were at least important papers.
id probably have just downloaded it if i needed it,,, and i may have needed it,,, if it was a game,,, reading material,,, i dont really need,,, unless they are the old style radio shack games that were all printed word,,, then maybe,,,
HP is only one offender. The others (not in any particular order) all appear to be computer related: Gateway (who just sent me a duplicate manual for our new computer in a box that measured 14" X 24" X 3", when the manual is 8-1/2 X 11 and only 1/2" thick), and Dell (who shipped replacement hard drives in a box big enough for one of their printers), and Microsoft (who puts their large software boxes into an even larger box, inside a larger box). Appears to me that these companies are making way too much money. Perhaps if they made less, they'd be willing to waste less?
We've worked hard at being less energy-intensive at home. Laundry is a huge sticking-point for us so we purchased a front-loading washer. It made a huge difference in the amount of water and electric we use.
Sorry I've been so absent. This is truly the summer from hell as far as spare time is concerned.
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