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About Those Air Cushions in Amazon Packages

theatlantic.com

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Re: About Those Air Cushions in Amazon Packages

#11

Post by madeofpalk »

MaxLeiter wrote: post #10
madeofpalk wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I struggle with a similar problem - I use a weekly food delivery service that delivers in a rather large polystyrene box and two ice packs. They offer to take last weeks when they deliver to recycle them, but leaving it out is rather difficult to do in my large apartment complex so I have to resort to always leaving them in the garbage room and I feel terrible for not recycling.

Out of curiosity, are you talking about Blue Apron? I could benefit from a similar solution

Youfoodz (horrific name, great service) actually. Delivers whole fresh meals rather than raw ingredients http://youfoodz.com

I've used HelloFresh in Australia, a competitor/alternative to Blue Apron and the polystryene box they use is much much smaller because it only contains the small meat items. The Youfoodz box is much bigger https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0506/7861/files/Blog-Zarah...

Re: About Those Air Cushions in Amazon Packages

#12

Post by r00fus »

bwang29 wrote: post #2

My apartment complex has a large delivery bin area and I always wish I can leave the packaging boxes and padding/cushions in that area and only bring back the content of the box (provided that nothing is sensitive and nobody is watching). Would it be great if the delivery person can unbox the item at the delivery location with a fee and then bring the box back for recycling?

Ok - what about returns? I have to remember to keep the box (at least) and packing materials (to suppress any complaints) for a week or two until I can ascertain that the item is fully functional/undamaged.

Re: About Those Air Cushions in Amazon Packages

#13

Post by semicolon_storm »

agumonkey wrote: post #8
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.)

Differences in weight maybe ?

I'm betting this is it. My packages that heavy/dense enough to potentially pop air cushions if dropped seem to all use crumpled paper.

Re: About Those Air Cushions in Amazon Packages

#14

Post by jasode »

vinhboy wrote: post #6

These little air bags makes a lot of sense to me, I wonder why it took them so long to become popular. How did everyone live through the packing peanuts phase and not realize this is a much simpler solution?

The air bags where each cell was independently inflated and sealed[1] were recently invented (2002) and there are a lot of patents for it.[2][3][4]

It took several iterations of ingenuity to figure it out because the previous sheet of air bags had one inlet to inflate all the airtubes. All the tubes were connected to each other like the tubes of a waterbed.

Since I've been seeing those inflatable air bags for more than 5 years in shipments from Amazon, Newegg, etc., it looks like industry adoption has taken less than 10 years.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflatable_air_cushion

[2] https://www.google.com/patents/US7150136

[3] https://www.google.com/patents/US20050103676

[4] https://www.google.com/patents/US6565946 used in this $1500 machine: http://minipakr.com/the-mini-pakr/

Re: About Those Air Cushions in Amazon Packages

#15

Post by mmanfrin »

justinator wrote: post #9
vinhboy wrote: post #6

These little air bags makes a lot of sense to me, I wonder why it took them so long to become popular. How did everyone live through the packing peanuts phase and not realize this is a much simpler solution?

the last package peanuts I seem to remember finding in a package were disposable by putting them in compost, which seems like an advantage over plastic bags.

Recent ones you can, but those came about during the ascent of packaged air. Old ones were just plastic.

New ones you can even eat. They're made of corn.

Re: About Those Air Cushions in Amazon Packages

#16

Post by ianai »

mmanfrin wrote: post #15
justinator wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the last package peanuts I seem to remember finding in a package were disposable by putting them in compost, which seems like an advantage over plastic bags.

Recent ones you can, but those came about during the ascent of packaged air. Old ones were just plastic. New ones you can even eat. They're made of corn.

It seems silly to use something with finite supply for something so simple to substitute.

Re: About Those Air Cushions in Amazon Packages

#17

Post by krapp »

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.

I'm sure this bias is intentional, but I found it odd at the time.

Re: About Those Air Cushions in Amazon Packages

#18

Post by colinbartlett »

bwang29 wrote: post #2

My apartment complex has a large delivery bin area and I always wish I can leave the packaging boxes and padding/cushions in that area and only bring back the content of the box (provided that nothing is sensitive and nobody is watching). Would it be great if the delivery person can unbox the item at the delivery location with a fee and then bring the box back for recycling?

We order a from Amazon Prime Now occasionally and that stuff always just comes in a paper bag. No huge boxes, no packing material at all. Just a bag.

I imagine that's because its time in transit is far lower and it's handled by only one currier. In the end, probably less efficient but at least on the packing materials side it's more efficient.

Re: About Those Air Cushions in Amazon Packages

#20

Post by r00fus »

justinator wrote: post #9
vinhboy wrote: post #6

These little air bags makes a lot of sense to me, I wonder why it took them so long to become popular. How did everyone live through the packing peanuts phase and not realize this is a much simpler solution?

the last package peanuts I seem to remember finding in a package were disposable by putting them in compost, which seems like an advantage over plastic bags.

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 accepts them if they're collapsed and not loose), but a small amount given the size of the packages.

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