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50 Times Product Packaging Was So Wrong It Had To Be Shamed In This Online Group
Interview With Expert
We live in an age of unparalleled convenience, where practically anything—food, makeup, clothes, or even the latest iPhone—can arrive at our doorstep in hours or a few short days.
As impressive as it is, this efficiency comes at a huge cost for the planet. Deliveries are often shipped in absurdly wasteful packaging: massive boxes stuffed with plastic wrap, layers of foam, and heaps of shredded paper for something as small as a pair of earrings. This practice has become so common that people online are now sharing photos of their over-packaged orders, exposing just how ridiculous it can get.
Below, we’ve rounded up some of the most egregious examples. Scroll down to see for yourself, and don’t miss our conversation with climate and environmental consultant Anna Bohushenko about the consequences of such excess.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
All Of This For One Purse. (Cat For Scale)
RELATED:
#2
Individually Wrapped Lemon Slices
#3
Since Oranges Don't Have A Natural Packaging
Bored Panda reached out to Anna Bohushenko, a climate and environmental consultant from Ukraine, for her expert insights on the issue of unnecessary packaging. “The use of single-use packaging, increased consumption on the go, and the growth of the e-commerce sector all contribute significantly to the increase in waste, leading to a social and environmental crisis,” Bohushenko says. “The unsustainable use of packaging materials also increases the demand for natural resources and plastic pollution.”
#4
Ordered 5 Nail Polishes From Amazon
Kabuki Kitsune 11 months ago
Different drop shipment locations. Basically, each one came from a different location, so they have to be packaged separately.
#5
This Box Was For One Little Ds Game
#6
Seen At Target - 2 Apple Slices X 6 Plastic Bags, In A Plastic Box
“Waste is everywhere,” says Bohushenko. “It gets stuck in fences, it is scattered on streets and along beaches and roadsides, and it pollutes waterways, oceans, soil and air. Humanity is estimated to generate about 2.24 billion tonnes of municipal solid waste annually, of which only 55% is disposed of in controlled and designated facilities.”
#7
Not Sure What The Point Of The Plastic Wrapping Is… What A Waste
#8
Included A Lipstick In A Target Pick-Up Order. They Said It Was Out Of Stock Locally, But They Could Mail Me One
#9
For F**k's Sake
As Bohushenko explains, this could rise to 3.88 billion tonnes per year by 2050. “The waste sector is a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity loss,” she says. “Around 931 million tonnes of food is thrown away each year, and it is expected that up to 37 million tonnes of plastic waste will end up in the ocean each year by 2040.”
“As a result of plastic pollution, most sea-birds are consuming plastics on a regular basis and a large majority are becoming sick. They are often injured and maimed by plastic trash, even if they don’t consume it.”
#10
This Tin Of Individually Wrapped Assorted Jelly Beans I Got As A Gift
#11
17-Inch Box For A 2-Inch Item, Including Whole Printed Spiel That It Was “Thoughtfully Packaged” To “Reduce Impact”
Kabuki Kitsune 11 months ago
They're not wrong. That's all cardboard and paper, so easily recyclable. As opposed to a ton of plastic, and foam that can't always be recycled.
#12
"Gift Of Nothing" Is The Gift Of Egregious Packaging
Panda McPandaface 11 months ago
It's not even funny enough to justify being utterly tone deaf.
#13
Some Sort Of Chip My Coworker Received
#14
All This Plastic For A Single Cough Drop
#15
Wasteful Packaging Should Be A Crime. Credit: Gegloon On Reddit Via @get.waste.ed
Nils Skirnir 11 months ago
A lot of this is bc of the jerks who tamper with stuff or pilfer a product. Heck junkies we’re even grinding up lomotil and snorting it when it came in bottles
#16
47,785ml Of Packaging For 5.4ml Of Product. These Boxes All Came From The Same Warehouse Together
#17
Somehow Both Too Much And Not Enough
#18
Pure Absurdity
#19
Just Got A Pair Of Headphones, Why Is The Box So Big
Melody 11 months ago
Amazon employee here. Either the system thought the item was bigger for some reason (this happens sometimes and they tell us not to downsize the box, presumably because we’ll usually have already assembled the box before we realize it’s the wrong size and building another box when you can just use the one you already built is a waste of time) or they ran out of the appropriate box size.
#20
Got My Battery Today From Amazon. They Didn’t Even Add Bubble Wrap Or Craft Paper
Floeckchen 11 months ago (edited)
They just took out the other batteries and kept the box as it is.
#21
"Eco Friendly" Soft Toys All Individually Wrapped In Single Use Plastic
Kabuki Kitsune 11 months ago
The only thing that's "eco friendly" about the toy, is the label. Read the fine print "Printed on recycled paper."
#22
Way Too Much Packaging For Some Batteries 🤦♂️
#23
Two Sleeves Of Pills Came In The Box Of 10
#24
My Chef Saved $2.50/300 Units If They Come Individually Wrapped. So I Spent The First Hour Of My Shift Unwrapping Them
#25
Pixy Stix
Pencil 11 months ago
They're paper tubes with flavored sugar inside. You tear off the top of the tube and pour the sugar in your mouth. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixy_Stix
Load More Replies... 
Beth Wheeler 11 months ago
I wonder how many are in there and $8 a lb, they have lost their ever loving minds!
StumblingThroughLife 11 months ago
We (UK) used to call that Kali (or Kayli) when we were kids back in the day. In bags or thick tubes. Those are tiny, wow! rainbow-ka...84bfd9.jpg 
Featherytoad 11 months ago
I can just go to my kitchen cabinet and dump sugar down my throat, and it would be cheaper.
#26
Forgot About This Gem...this Was 12 Years Ago But I Believe That Was About An 18-In Ruler And It Was Absolutely The Only Thing In That Box
#27
The Box And What It Was Used For. Ordered From An Ink Supplier
#28
A Little Bottle And A Tiny Other Thing
Beth Wheeler 11 months ago
Why is the bottle just rolling around in the box with a bottle of pill?
#29
Christmas Present. A Box With Plastic Lid, Six Useless Cups, 6 Plastic Lids... All For 6 Little Sachets Of Hot Chocolate/Coffee
#30
The Forks At Buffalo Wild Wings
Robin Roper 11 months ago
COVID, a serous illness, has made some people crazy. I know a woman who didn't want a person to touch her credit card but was happy giving them cash and getting cash back.
#31
This Is The Packaging For 8 Serving Utensils From Crate And Barrel. (Banana For Scale)
#32
A Fanny Pack
#33
A Specific Carton Just For A Single Egg
#34
A Presentation Case For A Single Tube Of Toothpaste. It’s Recyclable, Forgetting That They Could Just Not
#35
All For One Book
Huddo's sister 11 months ago
Most companies have cardboard sleeves for single books, this is stupid.
#36
Giant Box To Ship Five 4x6 Photos
#37
Too Much Package For 3 ‘Gourmet’ Cookies. Found At Sams Club
#38
Hannaford Supermarket Hoping To Sell You *a* Donut
#39
Nutrisystem Pizza
#40
Ordered 2 Knives From Crate And Barrel…
SkippityBoppityBoo 11 months ago
Okay... Think about how these knives have travelled to you. How many different ways they've travelled with all the banging around, the parcel probably being thrown onto a conveyor belt etc. This isn't "daftey packaging". It's safety for each and every person who has to handle that package because? THEY'RE KNIVES!!! 😄😄😄
#41
Was The Paper Seriously Supposed To Keep The Two Items From Moving Around In This Huge Box?
#42
The Tomato Aisle In My Local Grocery Store Made Me Sad
#45
Thanks Tesla! All This Packaging For A USB Drive
#46
Wait, Why Wrap Compostable Poo Bags In Plastic?
#47
Why
Robin Roper 11 months ago
Could be the contents of the inner box is fragile. When packing fragile items, double boxes provide a lot of protection. This is fairly standard.
#48
Can't Be Too Careful!
#49
All This Plastic For Just 5 Toothbrush Heads
#50
Some Anti-Egregiouspackaging? I Mean, Thanks, But A Little Discretion Would Have Been Appreciated
#51
Ordered Two Lightbulbs. One Came In This Box. The Other Came In A Normal Sized Box
catastrophegirl 11 months ago
well that's better than the time amazon shipped me a half dozen lightbulbs in the same box as a 12 pack of canned food. which did not arrive, for predictable reasons: damaged in transit. both items arrived in separate shipments two days later after they sent them again.
#52
All This For The Tiny USB Drive…
#53
This Microphone Preamp Came In A Absurdly Large Box
#54
“Eco-Box” Wrapped In Plastic
#55
Ridiculous
#56
Individually Packed 0.7 Pencil Lead
#57
A Single Circular Barbell (Butter Knife For Scale)
#58
More Of This Please
#59
Why Individually Package Them In Plastic 2 Packs When They're Already Wrapped??
#60
This Needlessly Large Packaging For A 20mm Sized Micro Sd Card
#61
This Nail Polish Probably Felt Like It Pulled Up In A Rolls-Royce
#63
Every Damn Fork Was Individually Wrapped
#64
I Was Delighted When Ca Started Free Lunches At School. Early Dismissal Means I'm Seeing It For The First Time And Am Now Horrified
#65
Literally W H Y
#66
Icy Hot
Kabuki Kitsune 11 months ago
Not pictured, the fold out instructions, warnings, and coupons that you find in every box, that the OP who took the photo removed before taking the photo.
#67
4 Bars Individually Packed. Packed In Pairs. Packed In 2 Packs Of Pairs. 😡😡😡
pineapple87 11 months ago
Tbf, kinder bueno do not fare well out of the plastic, so the individual wrapping is actually necessary
#68
This Has So Many Depths Of Fucked Up
#69
Egregious For Other Reasons, My Girlfriend's Copy Of Jeanette Mccurdy's "I'm Glad My Mom Died" Came In Nick Jr Packaging
#70
Why? For What Reason? To What Possible Advantage?
#71
Individually Packaged Slices Of Bread
#73
Just Ordered A 140cm Shower Bar… Maybe I Ordered The Entire Bathroom
#74
One Medium Dog Food Tray, Humongous Box
#75
Does This Count?
#76
These Covid Tests From Costco. Five Per Box And You Cannot Fit A Second Box Into The Package
#77
Kinder Bueno
#78
Individually Plastic Wrapped Chocolates In A Plastic Bag
#79
A Bag With A Box Of 2 Packs Of 2 Individually Wrapped Chocolate Bars
#80
Arby’s Gave Me 4 Fry Containers
Add New Image
What do you think ?
Rainbow Roger 11 months ago
do the original creators of the pics get a share of the revenue generated from premium subscriptions otherwise it's stealing and people can start a lawsuit
Bobby 11 months ago
Of course not. All of bps content is stolen btw. And the idiots paying for premium here is perpetuating more locked threads.
Load More Replies...
Janissary35680 11 months ago
After wading through all the comments to the 80 images (do I qualify for some kind of prize?), it looks like the "egregious" packaging is there for a valid reason in at least half the cases, possibly even more than half.
cugel. 11 months ago (edited)
It's likely there's a kind of standard package size, which at scale, has some advantages.
Load More Replies... Panda McPandaface 11 months ago
Three times with the Kinder Bueno? Yeah, we got it the first time thanks.
SkippityBoppityBoo 11 months ago
As a teenager I worked for a Computer supply company. We had standardised sizes of cardboard boxes but we packaged everything as securely as we could in paper packaging to prevent it from rattling around in the box and getting damaged. That company was ahead of its time because all packaging was cardboard and the internal packaging, such as Amazon uses now, was brown paper and could be recycled. I was taught all the health and safety regulations and exactly how to use to brown paper folding machine safely, where the kill switch was for it etc. I couldn't lift the huge rolls onto it to replace a roll because they're huge. A lot of companies are getting better with recyclable packaging but unfortunately there will still be packaging that can't be recycled depending upon what is being sent, used. My necessary medications packaging, which is plastic, cannot be recycled for example... Extra packaging with certain items such as knives is absolutely essential.
Lorraine Woollands 11 months ago
Want to know what I think Bored Panda, can you at least warn us that we can't read the full list unless we have your stupid Premium. It would save us wasting time reading half a story
Verena 11 months ago
Part is necessary to protect the product. But many could have easily bought local. Don't tell me all these people live on a remote island without shops or are sick/handicapped/whatever prevents them to go shopping.
Floeckchen 11 months ago
You know that most products also need to be transported to your local store?
Load More Replies...
David L 11 months ago
For those working in a warehouse posting out online purchases the packers aren't given the time to find an appropriately sized box.as they work in a timed role.
Sand Ers 11 months ago
Any facility that regimented will also prompt the packer for the correct box. If something is in a comically oversized box, it's because the correct one wasn't available.
Load More Replies...
jjdubs W 11 months ago
FFS with the "premium" stolen content. I will never pay for this. And the people stating that the original content creators don't get any of that premium content, of course they don't. Already we have People stealing from BP stealing from Reddit. I'm wondering if People has the sense to make all of it free? I used to enjoy the other panda comments as much as the content but when you put stolen material behind a paywall? Clusterfuck all the way off.
Kari Panda 11 months ago (edited)
My kid got gifted a doll‘s pram for Christmas and each single part to build it was individually wrapped - including each single screw. Wtf? (All the parts were together in a cardbox so there was no need for the exorbitant amount of additional wrapping. I understand wooden parts to keep them from getting chipped, but screws?)
Sand Ers 11 months ago
I can think of a few potential reasons for that, all of them having to do with steps long before the kit got aggregated into the box. Mostly handling issues because they get used in different quantities for different item.
Load More Replies... Sand Ers 11 months ago
And if you don't like the comments, don't read them...
Load More Replies...
Rainbow Roger 11 months ago
do the original creators of the pics get a share of the revenue generated from premium subscriptions otherwise it's stealing and people can start a lawsuit
Bobby 11 months ago
Of course not. All of bps content is stolen btw. And the idiots paying for premium here is perpetuating more locked threads.
Load More Replies... Janissary35680 11 months ago
After wading through all the comments to the 80 images (do I qualify for some kind of prize?), it looks like the "egregious" packaging is there for a valid reason in at least half the cases, possibly even more than half.
cugel. 11 months ago (edited)
It's likely there's a kind of standard package size, which at scale, has some advantages.
Load More Replies... Panda McPandaface 11 months ago
Three times with the Kinder Bueno? Yeah, we got it the first time thanks.
SkippityBoppityBoo 11 months ago
As a teenager I worked for a Computer supply company. We had standardised sizes of cardboard boxes but we packaged everything as securely as we could in paper packaging to prevent it from rattling around in the box and getting damaged. That company was ahead of its time because all packaging was cardboard and the internal packaging, such as Amazon uses now, was brown paper and could be recycled. I was taught all the health and safety regulations and exactly how to use to brown paper folding machine safely, where the kill switch was for it etc. I couldn't lift the huge rolls onto it to replace a roll because they're huge. A lot of companies are getting better with recyclable packaging but unfortunately there will still be packaging that can't be recycled depending upon what is being sent, used. My necessary medications packaging, which is plastic, cannot be recycled for example... Extra packaging with certain items such as knives is absolutely essential.
Lorraine Woollands 11 months ago
Want to know what I think Bored Panda, can you at least warn us that we can't read the full list unless we have your stupid Premium. It would save us wasting time reading half a story
Verena 11 months ago
Part is necessary to protect the product. But many could have easily bought local. Don't tell me all these people live on a remote island without shops or are sick/handicapped/whatever prevents them to go shopping.
Floeckchen 11 months ago
You know that most products also need to be transported to your local store?
Load More Replies... David L 11 months ago
For those working in a warehouse posting out online purchases the packers aren't given the time to find an appropriately sized box.as they work in a timed role.
Sand Ers 11 months ago
Any facility that regimented will also prompt the packer for the correct box. If something is in a comically oversized box, it's because the correct one wasn't available.
Load More Replies... jjdubs W 11 months ago
FFS with the "premium" stolen content. I will never pay for this. And the people stating that the original content creators don't get any of that premium content, of course they don't. Already we have People stealing from BP stealing from Reddit. I'm wondering if People has the sense to make all of it free? I used to enjoy the other panda comments as much as the content but when you put stolen material behind a paywall? Clusterfuck all the way off.
Kari Panda 11 months ago (edited)
My kid got gifted a doll‘s pram for Christmas and each single part to build it was individually wrapped - including each single screw. Wtf? (All the parts were together in a cardbox so there was no need for the exorbitant amount of additional wrapping. I understand wooden parts to keep them from getting chipped, but screws?)
Sand Ers 11 months ago
I can think of a few potential reasons for that, all of them having to do with steps long before the kit got aggregated into the box. Mostly handling issues because they get used in different quantities for different item.
Load More Replies... Sand Ers 11 months ago
And if you don't like the comments, don't read them...
Load More Replies... 
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