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About Those Air Cushions in Amazon Packages

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Re: About Those Air Cushions in Amazon Packages

#141

Post by wybiral »

abalone wrote: post #135
taurath wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Consumption choices is a strange term when every store surrounding someone does double plastic bags all day. If the city is concerned, address the problem at the source and not the leaves where I gaurantee you no amount of social pressure will have anywhere near the effect.

That's consistent with shared responsibility. We work together as citizens to make laws that express collective goals. Some cities have banned plastic bags quite effectively. Perhaps we should federally regulate shipping environmental impacts as well.

Yep, there's a bag ban here in Austin. Stores can't hand them out.

Re: About Those Air Cushions in Amazon Packages

#142

Post by CodeWriter23 »

abalone wrote: post #128
developer2 wrote: post #119

> frustrated customers on forums discussing how many air-filled cushions they were getting > while deflated air cushions can be recycled, many cities won’t collect them curbside Pop them, put them in recycling. It's plastic, it's not my job to deal with the fallout. Either it's recyclable and I've done all I can, or it's the retailers' or cities' problem. The idea that there are "frustrated customers" is beyond me. I…

If plastic bags are not curbside recyclable then throwing them in the bin doesn't help. Consumers absolutely do bear responsibility for the environmental impact of their consumption choices.

In Los Angeles, as they continued to receive recyclables in the blue cans that were deemed inappropriate, they continued to expand the list of appropriate materials to fit what consumers were tossing in the cans. So, it's not cut and dry if putting unlisted items in the blue cans helps or not.

Re: About Those Air Cushions in Amazon Packages

#143

Post by _coldfire »

rtpg wrote: post #126
ekzy wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They should just ship with reusable boxes. Better boxes with inner protections, where you would get some kind of credit if you post/bring it back empty, or reuse for personal mail. Maybe we should only be allowed to send packages with these boxes

Considering transport costs, I don't know how viable that would be. Picking up boxes for recycling from houses alone would make for a pretty big carbon footprint. Not to mention costly. The current box strategy might be more carbon-friendly, oversll

You say recycling but I think you mean re-use.

The energy costs involved in recycling are not trivial and someone still needs to "pick it up from every house".

Its is almost always preferable carbon-wise to re-use, especially in metropolitan areas where pickup is trivial and could easily be performed on the next delivery. A small security deposit would cover the costs, or just keep them if you want some storage boxes.

Re: About Those Air Cushions in Amazon Packages

#144

Post by akanet »

developer2 wrote: post #119

> frustrated customers on forums discussing how many air-filled cushions they were getting > while deflated air cushions can be recycled, many cities won’t collect them curbside Pop them, put them in recycling. It's plastic, it's not my job to deal with the fallout. Either it's recyclable and I've done all I can, or it's the retailers' or cities' problem. The idea that there are "frustrated customers" is beyond me. I…

This is very irresponsible. The reason soft plastics are unrecyclable curbside in San Francisco is that they pose a very real danger to the machines that do recycling sorting. This is possible to overcome with greater manual filtering of recyclable materials, but Recology currently does not have the funds for it. Putting soft plastics in curbside recycling at the moment does nothing but make recycling worse for everyone.

Re: About Those Air Cushions in Amazon Packages

#145

Post by CodeWriter23 »

krapp wrote: post #17

I had to package and tape boxes at an Amazon fulfillment center over peak season one day. One of the "problems" I found with the process is the system tells you the size of box to use. You're not allowed to use a smaller size, even if it would work, only that size or larger. It also tends to overestimate the size of the item, so many boxes wind up with a lot more empty space than would be necessary, and more packing.…

This actually is the lesser problem. The bigger problem is when the packer / supervisor at the FBA FC decides it's ok to put sunglasses in a bubble mailer. #truestory

Re: About Those Air Cushions in Amazon Packages

#146

Post by CodeWriter23 »

joezydeco wrote: post #31
r00fus wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're a nightmare if you have babies/pets and don't clear out your packing materials quickly - I keep my boxes and materials until I validate the item's functional. Disposable peanuts are made from corn/rice so humans/pets can eat them, but it's unknown if they're easily digestible in large quantities and anecdotes about pets hurling them up are out there. I prefer the air-packs, yes it's plastic (my recycler accep…

I ate one of the peanuts on a dare a long time ago, wouldn't do it again. Whatever is on there as a preservative or pet/child deterrent (or possibly both) made me nauseous for hours afterward.

What did you get in return for taking the dare?

Re: About Those Air Cushions in Amazon Packages

#147

Post by anexprogrammer »

developer2 wrote: post #119

> frustrated customers on forums discussing how many air-filled cushions they were getting > while deflated air cushions can be recycled, many cities won’t collect them curbside Pop them, put them in recycling. It's plastic, it's not my job to deal with the fallout. Either it's recyclable and I've done all I can, or it's the retailers' or cities' problem. The idea that there are "frustrated customers" is beyond me. I…

pop them, send them back to the folks who foisted them upon you. They might start using recyclable paper or corn starch instead.

Re: About Those Air Cushions in Amazon Packages

#148

Post by an_account »

akanet wrote: post #144
developer2 wrote: post #119

> frustrated customers on forums discussing how many air-filled cushions they were getting > while deflated air cushions can be recycled, many cities won’t collect them curbside Pop them, put them in recycling. It's plastic, it's not my job to deal with the fallout. Either it's recyclable and I've done all I can, or it's the retailers' or cities' problem. The idea that there are "frustrated customers" is beyond me. I…

This is very irresponsible. The reason soft plastics are unrecyclable curbside in San Francisco is that they pose a very real danger to the machines that do recycling sorting. This is possible to overcome with greater manual filtering of recyclable materials, but Recology currently does not have the funds for it. Putting soft plastics in curbside recycling at the moment does nothing but make recycling worse for every…

There are plenty of cities that do soft plastic recycling. I'm surprised San Fransisco doesn't.

Re: About Those Air Cushions in Amazon Packages

#149

Post by [deleted] »

akanet wrote: post #144
developer2 wrote: post #119

> frustrated customers on forums discussing how many air-filled cushions they were getting > while deflated air cushions can be recycled, many cities won’t collect them curbside Pop them, put them in recycling. It's plastic, it's not my job to deal with the fallout. Either it's recyclable and I've done all I can, or it's the retailers' or cities' problem. The idea that there are "frustrated customers" is beyond me. I…

This is very irresponsible. The reason soft plastics are unrecyclable curbside in San Francisco is that they pose a very real danger to the machines that do recycling sorting. This is possible to overcome with greater manual filtering of recyclable materials, but Recology currently does not have the funds for it. Putting soft plastics in curbside recycling at the moment does nothing but make recycling worse for every…

[deleted]

Re: About Those Air Cushions in Amazon Packages

#150

Post by CodeWriter23 »

cperciva wrote: post #3

I haven't seen any of these for years -- my Amazon packages always come with crumpled paper keeping things in place. Now I'm curious; does Amazon use different packaging in different locations? (I'm in BC, Canada.)

Some shipping methods you pay by the ounce, some by the pound. You'll probably see more kraft paper in methods paid by the pound, because the kraft paper is less expensive than the air pillows, and there's more slack to the next increment when paying by the pound. But for shipping methods paid by the ounce, a more expensive air pillow can keep the package from going up to the next ounce. That's one dimension of determining the proper dunnage. The other is, air pillows are more easily popped by heavier items or items with sharper edges (think blister packs), so the extra weight / shipping cost of the kraft paper averages out to be less expensive than the returns for damaged goods.
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