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Blue Apron Plummets After Amazon Files for Meal-Kit Trademark

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Re: Blue Apron Plummets After Amazon Files for Meal-Kit Trademark

#31

Post by naturalgradient »

erik-g wrote: post #27
calafrax wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The packaging waste with some meal kits is a negative but they also eliminate a lot of food waste which is a positive. The traditional food distribution system is massively wasteful but all of that waste is hidden so it is easier to ignore.

How does meal-kit distribution eliminate a lot of food waste?

Presumably because of better portioning. For a lot of meals, you only need a very small amount of one ingredient which you cannot buy in that quantity. Meal kits come with the right proportions for every ingredient.

Re: Blue Apron Plummets After Amazon Files for Meal-Kit Trademark

#32

Post by ghaff »

pera wrote: post #19

Please Amazon, do something different about the huge amount of material waste generated by companies like Blue Apron and Hello Fresh. This is the main reason why I stopped using these services, the footprint is just disgusting: plastic bags inside aluminum+plastic bags inside cardboard boxes with more plastic. Please, invent some form of reusable container that can be easily stored and delivered back so we can stop t…

Some of these companies do. Terra's Kitchen for example. That said, I'm skeptical that shipping a reusable container back to the company which then has to clean it before it's reused genuinely reduces environmental impact versus some plastic bags (much of which I reused the one time I got Blue Apron).

Re: Blue Apron Plummets After Amazon Files for Meal-Kit Trademark

#33

Post by jeddawson »

pera wrote: post #19

Please Amazon, do something different about the huge amount of material waste generated by companies like Blue Apron and Hello Fresh. This is the main reason why I stopped using these services, the footprint is just disgusting: plastic bags inside aluminum+plastic bags inside cardboard boxes with more plastic. Please, invent some form of reusable container that can be easily stored and delivered back so we can stop t…

We've recently tried out Terra's Kitchen primarily because they ship the meals in a reusable container that is returned to them. There's still a small amount of plastic that we have to dispose of, but the overall amount of waste seems to be dramatically lower than the competitors.

http://www.terraskitchen.com/how-it-works/

Re: Blue Apron Plummets After Amazon Files for Meal-Kit Trademark

#34

Post by erik-g »

jbob2000 wrote: post #23
jimmaswell wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since when does Amazon have an association like that?

Since their site was full of knock-offs and half of it ships from China? Every time I shop on Amazon, I have to cross-reference with like 8 different sites to make sure I'm ordering the right thing and that the price is fair.

You don't _have_ to shop on Amazon. But I feel like being a cognizant consumer is your own responsibility. By that I mean I don't have to cross-reference with 8 other sites, I feel like the prices are fair, and as best I can tell I have avoided buying cheap knockoff items. I hear this complaint a lot (here, especially) but have yet to see much evidence of that.

Re: Blue Apron Plummets After Amazon Files for Meal-Kit Trademark

#35

Post by vdnkh »

notyourwork wrote: post #30
erik-g wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does meal-kit distribution eliminate a lot of food waste?

Because the ingredients provided are the exact amounts needed for a meal. If I was making the same meal doing my own shopping I will probably purchase slightly more than I need of some perishable ingredients. These will in a lot of kitchens end up as waste and not used in other meals.

Leftovers?

Re: Blue Apron Plummets After Amazon Files for Meal-Kit Trademark

#36

Post by DoubleCribble »

ProAm wrote: post #7

A meal kit from Amazon sounds gross.

Until you realize you can get a Whole Foods branded meal kit with the Whole Foods smell included (ahh, fresh produce!) delivered SAME DAY with Amazon Prime shipping. Premium product + unmatched delivery network = 800lb gorilla

Re: Blue Apron Plummets After Amazon Files for Meal-Kit Trademark

#37

Post by jonknee »

chaostheory wrote: post #25
pera wrote: post #19

Please Amazon, do something different about the huge amount of material waste generated by companies like Blue Apron and Hello Fresh. This is the main reason why I stopped using these services, the footprint is just disgusting: plastic bags inside aluminum+plastic bags inside cardboard boxes with more plastic. Please, invent some form of reusable container that can be easily stored and delivered back so we can stop t…

Amazon needs to do this with their regular shipments as well. They contain a lot of plastic insulation (air bags). Instead of throwing mine away, I've been saving it until it fills up a closet then I give it to a local UPS store to reuse. My closet fills up in about a month. It would be nice if Amazon had a formal program for this since you can't recycle them with your garbage company.

The manufacturer has a program to recycle them:

https://sealedair.com/product-care/recycling-bubble-wrap-pla...

You can also use Amazon boxes to donate used clothes and household items:

http://givebackbox.com/amazon

Re: Blue Apron Plummets After Amazon Files for Meal-Kit Trademark

#38

Post by erik-g »

notyourwork wrote: post #30
erik-g wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does meal-kit distribution eliminate a lot of food waste?

Because the ingredients provided are the exact amounts needed for a meal. If I was making the same meal doing my own shopping I will probably purchase slightly more than I need of some perishable ingredients. These will in a lot of kitchens end up as waste and not used in other meals.

That's fair, but when I shop I don't buy food with just one meal in mind. Sure, at home maybe I'll have a bit less onion one day then I would prefer because I used half of it the night before, but storing excess in the fridge and buying with leftovers in mind or multi-use items (bulk bag of carrots) means I have very little excess food waste. Certainly excess food waste is far, far less than packaging material from these companies.

Re: Blue Apron Plummets After Amazon Files for Meal-Kit Trademark

#39

Post by 127001brewer »

An article called "The Slow-Motion Trainwreck Facing the Meal-Kit Industry" relates how the meal-kit industry faces the same problem(s) as Groupon:

"The problem Groupon faced was that their initial success validated a model that anyone could copy, and everyone who copied it increased both Groupon’s cost of customer acquisition and its churn rate."

https://medium.com/@byrnehobart/the-slow-motion-trainwreck-f...

Re: Blue Apron Plummets After Amazon Files for Meal-Kit Trademark

#40

Post by kevan »

chaostheory wrote: post #25
pera wrote: post #19

Please Amazon, do something different about the huge amount of material waste generated by companies like Blue Apron and Hello Fresh. This is the main reason why I stopped using these services, the footprint is just disgusting: plastic bags inside aluminum+plastic bags inside cardboard boxes with more plastic. Please, invent some form of reusable container that can be easily stored and delivered back so we can stop t…

Amazon needs to do this with their regular shipments as well. They contain a lot of plastic insulation (air bags). Instead of throwing mine away, I've been saving it until it fills up a closet then I give it to a local UPS store to reuse. My closet fills up in about a month. It would be nice if Amazon had a formal program for this since you can't recycle them with your garbage company.

They've been actively working on that for almost a decade [1]. Most (all?) cushioning in my packages is now heavy brown paper or plastic air bags, a significant improvement from the days of packing peanuts and bubble wrap. I'd like to see the air bags go away too.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/p/feature/zhr3q9mgfqub33r

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