14 DAY TRIAL // Online retailer Amazon.com is proud to announce that its battle against what Jeff Bezos, i.e. the company's founder and CEO, calls “wrap rage” is going according to plan. Otherwise put, Amazon's Frustration-Free Packaging initiative has proven fairly successful.
For those unaware, Amazon rolled out its Frustration-Free Packaging initiative back in 2008. At that time, Jeff Bezos wrote a letter to the online retailer's customers, and explained that he was too well aware of how annoying it was to try to open a package made of thick plastic.
“’Wrap rage’ describes the frustration we humans feel when trying to free a product from a nearly impenetrable package.”
“Some products are hermetically sealed inside plastic clamshell cases, while others (especially toys) use plastic-coated steel-wire ties. Without the right tools, wire ties can be painful and time-consuming to unwind,” Jeff Bezos' letter reads.
The Frustration-Free Packaging initiative was expected to solve this problem by getting companies to sell their products in packages that are not just easy to open, but also sustainable and recyclable.
Environmental News Network says that, when Amazon debuted this green oriented project, just 19 items from companies like Mattel and Microsoft were shipped in customer- and eco-friendly packages.
Since then, over 2,000 other manufacturers have gotten behind the online retailer's initiative, and now deliver their products in cardboard boxes that are fairly easy to open, not all that big and, most importantly, recyclable.
“Launched in 2008 with 19 products, participation in the initiative has grown from 4 to over 2,000 manufacturers, including Fisher-Price, Unilever, Belkin, Victorinox Swiss Army, and many more.”
“Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging also reduces waste for customers. So far, Frustration-Free Packaging has eliminated 58.9 million square feet of cardboard, removed 24.7 million pounds of packaging, reduced box sizes by 14.5 million cubic feet,” Amazon details in a press release.
Since this initiative was kicked off and until present day, over 75 million Frustration-Free items have been sent to 175 countries.