Amazon.com's green idea is brown

Classic brown cardboard will replace elaborate plastic packaging for some Amazon.com items.

(Credit: Amazon.com)

Sometimes the greenest technology improvement is going back to the old low-tech option.

Amazon.com announced Monday it's working with retailers to cut back on the packaging you'll need to open to get to your goods.

The Seattle-based company plans to start shipping items in plain brown cardboard boxes, instead of putting a pre-boxed or plastically sealed item inside another Amazon box. The cardboard box will have Amazon, and in some cases the retailer's name, on the front.

Memory cards, for example, are often sold in disproportionately large clear plastic packaging to prevent shoplifting at physical stores. Transcend's memory cards when bought via Amazon will be shipped in a recycled cardboard envelope. Children's toys, such as a Fisher-Price pirate ship set, will be shipped in a plain brown box with cardboard padding and a plastic bag holding the toy people and whatnot.

So, in addition to being less annoying to open, the new packaging will also be more environmentally friendly, according to Amazon.

Amusingly, Amazon refers to the change as its "Frustration-Free Packaging Initiative." (How many companies acknowledge that they may have been frustrating you in the past?)

Consumers can plan to see the change immediately in the U.S., while international shoppers will have to stick it out with the "frustrating packaging" until early 2009.

But not everything you order will be easy to open. Amazon is starting with only 19 products from Microsoft, Fisher-Price, Mattel, and Transcend.

No doubt, the packaging change is also a way for the companies involved to save on materials and shipping costs.

Fisher-Price's Imaginext Adventures Pirate Ship will come like this.

(Credit: Amazon.com)

Amazon.com is getting rid of its box-inside-a-box shipping method for some items.

(Credit: Amazon.com)

[spiffy1001]

Great, so when I order Christmas gifts for my young children from Fischer Price or Mattel I guess they will be excited to see the brown box.... Makes since for some items, but toys should come in their original packaging.

[this1!]

think of how much more surprised they'll be when they open the box, its like an extra layer of anticipaiton

[dugudr]

You can take this opportunity to turn a frown into golden by telling what they want is really is the toys. This will help eliminate one bird from suffocation by a plastic tie. All the other thing cost great environmental damage. This will teach them to be a better and a responsible human being. If they take it imagine the result by multiply to 70 years of their lives.

[dugudr]

You certainly would sacrifice that 30 seconds smile on their face. Then they would threw the toys on top of the mountain in the closet the next day and ask for a new one.

[Leiderdorp]

Are you kidding me? When have the kids been concerned about the type of packaging the toys came in? All they want is what's inside the box... nothing more... nothing less.

[traal]

You could always wrap them.

[mattflaschen]

this is the "original packaging". I think it says a lot that your kids need a big "MATTEL" logo to be reassured that it's a fun toy.

[AMXP]

Nice to see a company doing something to make a difference. Go AMZ!

[AlanHub]

its public relations board is incredibly intelligent with this plan, look it's already working lol

[techman21]

It should be optional.

[iamwho]

Part of Amazon's goal is obviously to cut THEIR costs, so dual packaging options only INCREASE their costs.

[ccouvillion]

@spiffy1001: The pirate ship is available both ways. I don't know about the others, but I suspect you'll be able to get most both ways, or shop with someone else.

If you are going to be giving the gift unwrapped to the child, what does it matter whether it came in a display box or not? I would rather the brown box, it looks like you could use it for storage later on, where most toy packaging is destroyed in opening.

[bluemountain]

That's nice, I hope others follow it as well. The memory cards packaging is the worst.

[kgsbca]

I would swear the way toys are packaged is dictated by Chinese laws designed to create more jobs. It's not enough the toys are encased in hard plastic, they are tied to the packaging with a zillion wires that are twisted in different directions, many times over. I know brick and mortar retailers need to prevent shoplifting, but I find it hard to believe that all that packaging is necessary to stop someone from stealing a $10 toy by removing it from the packaging and stuffing it in their clothes.

A very small CE company that I used to work for used plain brown boxes for web sales, and added a color cardboard sleeve with shrink wrap for retail sales. Given that Amazon is a huge channel for all of their vendors, there shouldn't be a problem with having the plain wrap and store packaged versions of their products.

And spiffy, if you buy your kids xmas presents from AMZ, there's this stuff called "gift wrapping paper" that you can buy, and wrap the presents in. Yeah, I know when they unwrap it, they will wonder what it is, but the surprise is heightened even more.

[Lerianis]

It's about time to ban these plastic boxes from the stores. For goodness sakes, I nearly LOST A FINGER one time when the knife I was using to cut open the plastic box slipped. Same thing with the pair of scissors I got after that to open these plastic boxes, got a BIG OLD slice in my finger from those scissors.

These plastic boxes don't even stop shoplifters. I've seen plastic boxes LITTERING our Best Buy near where I live when I noticed one halfway sticking out from underneath the shelves. When I reported it, they added it up and a friend of mine told me the items in there, their best guess...... the total came to 10,000 dollars!

[ableman]

I hate the NAZI packaging too, but Lerianis didn't cut theirself because of the packaging. They cut themselves because they used a knife improperly. Oh wait you can't even use scissors properly either.

[John_PRoss]

LOL, the scissors too! ha ha ha!

[strongpimphand]

I bought a swiss army knife because I couldn't open my beers without a bottle opener and couldn't open my packaging without a knife!

So, I'm always happy when a company goes back to the basics, like screw caps for bottles and basic packaging for that 7 dollar item!

[solitare_pax]

Makes sense - hopefully it helps the environment by eliminating packaging and reducing fuel costs for shipping.

Well done!

[cemptor]

What about the good old fashioned reuse of boxes? I reuse boxes as much as I can. If they were designed, and I could easily remove labels, it would be easier. Also a lot of companies use disproportionately large boxes for small products. That memory card is a great example.

[Csisson]

Did you ever see a kid who couldn't use a cardboard box to play make believe? Keep the box around for a couple of days and I guarantee the kids will be playing with the box, possibly in conjunction with the toys.

[C433Z]

I agree, my friend's kids had the most fun playing with this enormous, cardboard box and pretending it was a fort, than they ever had with any of their other toys.

[ssampier]

csisson, I am so glad your kids still have an active imagination. It seems toys today are designed for near brain-dead kids that can't imagine anything that it wasn't already there. Legos and similar building block style toys are the obvious exception.

As for less packaging, as long as it product arrives without being damaged, can you honestly say you will miss it?

[MadLyb]

Yay! Kill the blister pack, I am tired of the cuts from opening this crap.

[the_iceman]

Being a dad of 3 young boys I can tell you the plastic coated wires that fasten toys inside packaging is both ridiculous and extremely annoying. Also, I will agree those clear hard plastic packaging also sucks, you basically need a pry bar and a rambo sized knife to get them open, while hoping you don't damage the item in the process.

Good for amazon for taking action against the manufacturers!

[AXG]

I think it is a very good idea. Normally, the online stores ship even small items in large boxes. I have to dispose off these boxes and the packing material. It is extra work for me. However, small packaging may cause shipping damage.

[make_or_break]

Not to be a downer, because Amazon's gesture is indeed a positive way to go...but I'm guessing that toy collectors won't be shopping at Amazon anymore. Those blister packs are what actually ADD collecting value to that consuming crowd.

Funny thing:.now how can you tell is what you're receiving is truly a NEW item, and not a return? I mean, the Creative MP3 player I bought a while back came in its own eco-unfriendly, opener-frustrating, plastic blister packaging. I'm not so sure that for something that I just spent $300 on that I'd accept an OPEN item, no matter how tall the stack of bibles is that Jeff Bezos swears upon as to it being 'brand new'.

[ZephyrVolta]

This is amazing. Not only does it save the environment, it says me a ton of frustration. I hate looking for scizzors/knives/axes/chainsaws to open my newly arrived gadgets.

[katchal]

Love it! Now we won't have to endure 20 minutes of crying for the toys while mom and dad search for the wire cutters and try to open 6 layers of packaging crap while struggling to keep grasping little hands out of the path of the box cutter blade!