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Amazon Tries To Figure Out the Packaging Box Problem It Created (t.co)
Have you noticed that your tiniest ecommerce items, which used to be shipped in a box, are now arriving in a padded envelope? WSJ reports: Amazon is trying to ship each order in one correctly sized package instead of multiple boxes, responding to rising shipping costs and consumers' concern about the environmental impact (Editor's note: the link may be paywalled) and general nuisance of all that cardboard. That means adding bubble envelopes, tweaking algorithms and negotiating with manufacturers to make smaller packaging specifically for online sales, not store shelves. [...] This year, Amazon added machines in its warehouses that create padded mailers on demand to fit smaller items, all of which used to go into the company's smallest-sized box. Almost half of all of Amazon's products fit into the new mailers and poly bags, says Kim Houchens, director of customer packaging experience. Her team has been working to improve algorithms that help decide which size box and how many items should be packed together in each shipment. The algorithms use machine learning to test out new combinations -- for example, shipping a breakable item in a smaller box with less cushioning. The algorithm can scan customer reviews and other data to see if it worked and adjust as needed.
love the quote" The algorithms use machine learning to test out new combinations -- for example, shipping a breakable item in a smaller box with less cushioning. The algorithm can scan customer reviews and other data to see if it worked and adjust as needed."
so peoples packages are now used for "testing"... well that lamp broke... oh well, try something new....that poor person at the end of it now has a broken lamp to deal with.
It's not a typo if you understood the meaning!
That may be environmentally friendly anyway. A lot of the shipping is done by airplanes, which burn fossil fuels and release a lot of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Air travel in general is very bad for the environment. If this reduces the amount of flights by a significant amount, that might be more significant than the direct impacts of plastic versus cardboard packaging.