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Amazon Launches "Frustration-Free Packaging"

Posted by kdawson on from the save-the-earth-and-keep-more-of-your-fingers dept.

mallumax notes Amazon's new Frustration-Free Packaging initiative. Over several years the retailer hopes to convince many of its suppliers to offer consumer-friendlier packaging. It's starting with just 19 products from Mattel, Fisher-Price, Microsoft, and Transcend. Until this program spreads to more products, better get one of these (ThinkGeek and Slashdot share a corporate overlord). From Amazon's announcement: "The Frustration-Free Package is recyclable and comes without excess packaging materials such as hard plastic clamshell casings, plastic bindings, and wire ties. It's designed to be opened without the use of a box cutter or knife and will protect your product just as well as traditional packaging. Products with Frustration-Free Packaging can frequently be shipped in their own boxes, without an additional shipping box. Amazon works directly with manufacturers to box products in Frustration-Free Packages right off the assembly lines, which reduces the overall amount of packing materials used."

31 of 353 comments (clear)

  1. Best packaging innovation ever by CMonk · · Score: 4, Insightful

    How much cost does it add to a product to make it retail shelf friendly (theft, presentation)? Hopefully this will save us money down the line too.

    1. Re:Best packaging innovation ever by Dun+Malg · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Given that they're the exact opposite of retail B&M store packaging (easy to open and steal, likely shippable in it's own box and thus largely unlabeled) I'd say we're not going to see the disappearance of the hand-slashing blister pack. The "features" of a retail package exist because the necessities of retail in-person sales demand them. These necessities aren't going to disappear because Amazon's mail order business isn't bound by those necessities.

      --
      If a job's not worth doing, it's not worth doing right.
    2. Re:Best packaging innovation ever by taustin · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I don't think you realize how cheap those blister packs are, or the economy of scale in packaging everything a given manufacturer makes in the same kind of packaging (even if not the same size). Different kinds of packaging require different kinds of very expensive machines to handle, and that means different assembly lines that can't be easily converted to a product that uses the other kind of packaging. And so on.

      Plus, at the retail end, anything the requires a key to sell requires, if not a manager, at least a senior employeed who has been vetted more throughly than the average cahsier.

    3. Re:Best packaging innovation ever by taustin · · Score: 4, Informative

      I can tell you have never worked in retail management. Now you have to a) train all your cashiers not simple "call a manager/whatever to open the lockup case," but rather at least two (or maybe more) tiers of "if customer wants x, call manager, but if customer wants y, call Joe the Department Manager, but if customer wants z, call Barb the Head Cashier." You also have to train the manager, Joe, and Barb in all this, as well. And no training is perfect (and cashier and sales rarely make more than minimum wage, with expected effects on their skill set), so you also back up the lines with each error made. Plus, you now have multiple lockup cases, which a) require more management to keep functioning properly, and b) require yet more multiple levels of training, different for different employees, as to what goes in which case.

      Plus, you're now gow multiple sets of security systems, all different, to maintain, both physically, and as part of your security policy.

      All in an industry with a net profit margin under 5%, and often under 3%.

      If you've never run a retail store, you cannot even imagine the value of economy of scale, and consistenty in training across all employee positions. And few things cost you money faster than a stoppage at a cash register because the minimum wage cashier can't remember who has the key to the right lockup case (or even which lockup case the goods are in).

    4. Re:Best packaging innovation ever by taustin · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Anything that requires a key requires basically any lackey who works in that department to unlock. No seniority at all.

      Having been involved in retail management for 25+ years, I can tell you, with certainty, that if it's worth locking up at all, it's worth your minimum wage sales drone's effort to steal. Far more theft in most retails stores is by employees than by customers.

      At many stores security usually does an audit at the end of each night to check for theft in all locked areas

      And at far more, that would require hiring security personnel (who are more expensive to employ, and a lot more expensive to hire, since there's no point in hiring a security person who hasn't been vetted with a background check, unless you want them to organize the employee theft ring) specifically to review those tapes, because most stores that have anything worth locking up have quite a bit worth locking up. And, generally speaking, a lot of it is dispersed enough that it's not under a camera. Cameras (and recording systems) are rather expensive, especially if you expect to be able to actually identify even someone you know in the video, and installing them is a lot more expensive. At most retailers that even have security cameras, less than 10% of the total sales floor is recorded by one. And your minimum wage employees won't even have to figure out which lockup cases aren't watched, since that will be part of their orientation (if you know how to run your store).

      The only solution to virtually any security/shoplifting problem in a retail store is, ultimately, to spend money. Generally quite a bit of it. Which comes out of your 3-5% profit margin.

      Retail's a bitch of a business.

    5. Re:Best packaging innovation ever by smoker2 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yes.
      Because then we don't buy the product as it's too expensive, which forces the manufacturer to cut those costs.
      No-one is forced to buy any particular brand. Unless you consider yourself a consumer - ie the lowest form of life, destined to open your wallet every time the tv tells you to. You can tax the manufacturer or the consumer but in the end it's always the consumer who pays.
      Here in the UK we used to have milk delivered every day in glass bottles. The milkman used to collect the empties for washing and refilling, and the delivery was done with electric vehicles. But - it was cheaper for the milk companies to use plastic and get rid of the milkman, so now we have problem plastic going into the ground as landfill AND the milk has to travel much further to regional bottling plants then be re-transported back to its original area for sale in shops AND we have put thousands of people out of a job*. So which is cheaper in the final analysis ?

      * These workers were also delivering bread, vegetables, other dairy products, and also were usually the people who alerted the emergency services when somebody was ill or incapacitated (due to yesterdays milk still being there) and also helped keep burglary and crime down by being around at times when everybody else was asleep. But no, fuck that, we want cheap and disposable. Money rules FTW.

  2. lawsuits... by eeyoredragon · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Why is it people are sued for their coffee being too hot... but people haven't sued the crap out of corporations for packages that quite frankly maim their customers?

    1. Re:lawsuits... by eeyoredragon · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You can dance around it all you like... but it doesn't change the end result. People every day are injured in some way by this "two plastic bubbles melted together" method of packaging. Because it practically requires bladed weapons to open.

      I have instructions on jars that tell me to twist open a cap... I'd say the whole twist cap thing is pretty self explanatory, yet people feel the need to put instructions on how to open jars.

      You know why there's no instructions on how to open a solid lump of plastic? Because it being able to be opened isn't on their mind at all... not that it isn't their "main concern". They'd put it in a solid lead bubble with a cytotoxic theft deterrent system, but sadly that costs them more money.

    2. Re:lawsuits... by fiannaFailMan · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The package doesn't maim the customer, the customer maims themself(sic). There is a proper way to open a package, sometimes it's not all that clear, but it is possible to open a package without causing bodily harm. It's not all that apparent, but quite a bit of thought goes into designing a package; sadly, the end-user isn't always the main concern.

      That's the defence that Detroit used to fight the safety features that they were dragged kicking and screaming into introducing by Ralph Nader. Initially they blamed the victims instead of taking responsibility for producing dangerous products.

      I'm sorry, but packaging should protect the product AND be possible to access safely. If there's no obvious way to use it and avoid injury, the designer is at fault.

      There is no way that I have discovered to get into a clamshell without running the risk of serious injury either from the metal blade that I have to use to cut it, or the plastic blade that is formed when using scissors and always ends up pointing into the path of my oncoming hand.

      Whoever invented plastic clamshells should be sentenced to an eternity of sitting in a dark room opening one of his creations after another.

      --
      Drill baby drill - on Mars
    3. Re:lawsuits... by Firehed · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Even if they did, tin snips still aren't very effective at getting open blister packs safely unless you're wearing heavy work gloves, in my experience. You'll still end up with a sharp edge whipping around, even if you're not ripping it open with your hands (which is undoubtably unsafe).

      The fact that we have to have this discussion at all just goes to show the level of insanity that went into blister packs.

      Frustration-free packaging can't come soon enough. I hope Amazon works out a deal with CD and DVD distributers too. They're not blister pack-dangerous, but still a major pain in the ass.

      --
      How are sites slashdotted when nobody reads TFAs?
    4. Re:lawsuits... by martinw89 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Why is it people are sued for their coffee being too hot... but people haven't sued the crap out of corporations for packages that quite frankly maim their customers?

      The ladder is frivolous in comparison. The coffee case has largely been misrepresented in popular media. Liebeck, the plaintiff, suffered third degree burns on her thighs, buttocks, and genitals. She required 8 days of hospitalization, skin grafts, and $11,000 in medical bills. Liebeck first sought to settle out of court for $20,000 to cover said bills. When McDonalds countered with a $800 offer, Liebeck took the case to court.

      There have been frivolous lawsuits, definitely true. The scalding coffee was not. Other coffee vendors around the city were, at the highest temperature, 20 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than McDonald's coffee.

      Main source.

    5. Re:lawsuits... by anagama · · Score: 4, Funny

      yeah -- but getting the blister pack off the tin snips -- chicken and egg.

      --
      What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
    6. Re:lawsuits... by fm6 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      That woman who sued over hot coffee was not simply whining about scalding her hands. She went to the hospital with 3rd degree burns. Probably the coffee had been reheated in a microwave. One hazard of heating liquids this way is that you can make them superhot without causing them to boil.

      Anyway, we both know that people's hatred for blister packs has nothing to do with the risk of personal injury. (I have several scars on my hands from cutting vegetables or slicing bagels. Not one from opening a blister pack.) It's the extreme frustration you experience while you try to cut away enough plastic to get at the contents. Unfortunately "frustation" aint tortable.

    7. Re:lawsuits... by Valdrax · · Score: 4, Informative

      You expect hot coffee to be well, hot. It's supposed to be freshly boiled water. Otherwise it is luke warm.

      You cook pies at a temperature of 350 F, but you don't serve them to people right out of the oven. Why does coffee get a free pass to be served at temperatures that cause third degree burns in only 2-7 seconds of contact, as in the famous McDonald's case?

      It would be one thing if McDonald's was selling cups of molten lava with a warning that clearly said, "Don't let the stuff touch you until it cools, you freaking morons!" but one generally expects FOOD to be safe to touch to your body.

      Also, it should be easy to add cream and sugar to a cup of coffee without dumping it all over yourself. McDonald's had bad lid design in that respect too. Furthermore, documents produced in court showed the McD's was well aware of the fact that other customers had suffered third degree burns from their product and continued to sell it in an unsafe manner. They even alleged in court that people who buy coffee mostly take it home or to work and drink it there instead of in the court (which frankly doesn't pass the laugh test).

      No, McDonald's was clearly negligent, if not reckless, in their behavior and deserved to be punished for it. Coffee isn't a product that should be that risky to purchase and consume. How exactly does serving coffee at 185 F do anything positive for the customer?

      --
      If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
    8. Re:lawsuits... by Rary · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You expect hot coffee to be well, hot... If you pour hot coffee over yourself, you can expect to be burnt.

      The point of the Liebeck case wasn't that the coffee was hot -- she expected that much -- but that it was significantly hotter than coffee is supposed to be. Coffee served at industry standard temperature can sit on bare skin for quite a while without causing more than a mild burn (redness and tenderness), whereas coffee served at the temperature that Ms. Liebeck's coffee was served at can cause third degree burns (requiring skin graft surgery) in as little as 2 seconds.

      In other words, coffee is dangerous, but this coffee was significantly more dangerous, therefore she should have been warned.

      To put it in perspective: everyone has spilled coffee on themselves at some point in their lives (I've done it, and I don't even drink coffee). Yet her coffee spill resulted in $11,000 in medical bills. Can you not see the difference between this and a normal coffee spill?

      --

      "You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war." -- Albert Einstein

    9. Re:lawsuits... by Creepy+Crawler · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I work at Starbucks. In fact, I worked there this morning from 5am to noon. I've worked there for a few years, so I know what Im doing there.

      Our coffee is between 190F-200F. We only hold it for 30 minutes, and it's warmed during that time. Also, when telling customers how to brew coffee, we recommend 190-200F, unlike green tea, coffee needs very hot water to unlock the flavor. However, we steam lattes only to 180 before giving dire warnings to customers who want hotter. Ill usually say "Grande SCALDING mocha" or something to warn the drinker.

      Ill say this: only a moron puts a boiling cup of X liquid between their legs. Everybody knows coffee is SUPPOSED to be hot. Now, however, lid deign does indeed suck, and fair to sue over. Especially how many lids crack at Sbux. During rush (7-9 am), I perhaps, deal with around 10 defective lids. They could easily cause insta-burning spill.

      --
  3. They could also call this by amRadioHed · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Laceration-Free Packaging" as far as that cursed clamshell packaging goes. I hate that crap, good riddance.

    --
    We hope your rules and wisdom choke you / Now we are one in everlasting peace
    1. Re:They could also call this by sking · · Score: 5, Funny

      And I always figured that this packaging would end when someone hijacked a plane with it.

      --
      The AntiJoey
  4. I'm not crying, I just have something in my eye! by Scutter · · Score: 4, Insightful

    *sniff* I never thought the day would come!

    Seriously, as a parent, I've seen packaging on kids toys get progressively worse. Not just ultrasonic-sealed plastic clamshells, but toys attached to cardboard boxes with dozens (sometimes over a hundred) wire twist-ties and highly strecthy rubber-band-like straps.

    It took me over an hour just to de-package ONE toy for my kid last Christmas. Seriously, there is no excuse for such obnoxious packaging. I, for one, will be keeping a close eye on this initiative and it will likely make me look at Amazon first for my purchases.

    --

    "Tell me doctor, with all of your defenses, are there any provisions for an attack by killer bees?"
  5. Shoplifting by Bios_Hakr · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The current trend in packaging was for two reasons. It allowed the consumer to actually *see* the produce he/she was getting. And it reduced shoplifting. Big box retailers (rhymes with ball-cart) pushed for these even though the consumer didn't want it.

    Fortunately, sites like Amazon can now pressure manufacturers to go back to the more traditional packaging. Maybe I'll finally be able to wrap birthday gifts without needing an additional box/bag. And on Christmas morning, my hands won't be sore from opening 200 packages, cutting wire-ties and tie-wraps, and dealing with having to unscrew the frickin' battery compartments.

    --
    I'd rather you do it wrong, than for me to have to do it at all.
  6. Re:I'll be happy if... by afidel · · Score: 4, Funny

    Turn in your geek card, a soldering iron and heat shrink tubing will fix any power cord from 28AWG to about 2 gauge.

    --
    There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
  7. Better opener by Thaelon · · Score: 4, Informative

    That thing on thinkgeek is a piece of crap. It's a flimsy knife with a weird handle. This is much more effective. And cheaper (since you get three). And you can cut metal with them. They're called tin snips. AKA, the manly alternative to the overpiced ones designed by and for women.

    --

    Question everything

  8. Re:I'll be happy if... by NonSequor · · Score: 5, Funny

    I can't help it! I'm a discrete math major. I'm like 5 layers away from the soldering iron!

    --
    My only political goal is to see to it that no political party achieves its goals.
  9. Oblig. Penny Arcade Link by ASimPerson · · Score: 4, Funny

    The Space Devil will not be pleased.

    --
    In 3010, the potatoes triumphed
  10. Re:I'm not crying, I just have something in my eye by Anpheus · · Score: 4, Funny

    The scissors come in a blister pack too.

  11. Re:How about frustration free snack bags? by clarkkent09 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Exactly. And how about yogurt packaging that doesn't spray your shirt with yogurt when you start peeling off the top? How about soda cans that you don't have to push the opening (that rats were peeing on back at the warehouse) into the soda itself? How about those fancy bottle caps that you are supposed to pull open and closed with your teeth so you only need one hand, except that there is no opening for air to enter the bottle, so when you start drinking you create a tug of war for soda between your mouth and the vacuum inside the increasingly flattened bottle? The list is endless...

    --
    Negative moral value of force outweighs the positive value of good intentions.
  12. Re:Good for them and all, but let's be honest by evanbd · · Score: 4, Informative

    Um, what? Of course they'll use it to cut prices. Unlike some companies, Amazon is in a competitive field. And when people are shopping online, it's trivial to comparison shop, so people do. There are plenty of other online retailers selling the same stuff as them, and one of the reasons Amazon does well is that they're cheaper. Sure, they want more profit -- but once they find a way to cut costs, the optimal way to make more profit is to pass some of that cost savings along as a price reduction, in order to attract more customers. Remember, there are two ways to increase profits -- increase margins, and increase units sold. In highly competitive markets, the optimal use for any cost cutting measure will be a mix of the two.

    Sure, you won't see the whole reduction passed along (at least not until everyone is doing it and they can't afford not to), but who cares? The stuff gets cheaper, and friendlier for the environment, and less frustrating to open. I rather like this idea.

  13. Re:Frustration? Try tamper free by Valdrax · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I've never injured myself with the tool used to open hard plastic clamshell packaging before.

    I have, however, had my fingers or hands cut open numerous times by the cut, torn, or ripped edge of the plastic itself when the packaging finally gave way to my cutting implement. I tell you, Boy Scout training on knife safety when cutting wood or animal skins does Jack to teach you about how to open nightmare packaging.

    Happens with scissors, knifes, box cutters, or whatever. It's the plastic that scratches me up. I'll admit to being a klutz, but that style of packaging is just an irritating menace.

    --
    If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
  14. Re:I'll be happy if... by Firehed · · Score: 4, Funny

    If he has a knife sharp enough to accidentally cut through 2 gauge wire, we should probably let him keep his geek card.

    --
    How are sites slashdotted when nobody reads TFAs?
  15. Re:How about frustration free snack bags? by ObsessiveMathsFreak · · Score: 4, Funny

    How about soda cans that you don't have to push the opening (that rats were peeing on back at the warehouse) into the soda itself?

    Perhaps, but be aware that rodent urine is probably more fit for consumption than the soda.

    --
    May the Maths Be with you!
  16. It's about time! by BLKMGK · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I will NEVER forget being forced to buy a CAT5 cable while on travel once upon a time. Upon returning to my room with it I was faced with one of those damned impossible to open packages. Thanks to TSA I had no knife, no scissors, no normal way to slash open the damned package. I ended up sawing it open on the metal frame of the bed like a madman! Truly disturbing to get so desperate to open one of the damned things.

    I really miss cardboard packaging and I hope that Amazon's example starts a trend...

    --
    Build it, Drive it, Improve it! Hybridz.org