Excessive packaging agh!

I agree with you about Tesco and what they have done to some towns. However, other supermarkets are still available.
We have a few shops still in my village I am happy to say- some people travel miles and queue outside one of them, and there is a Tesco just up the road, but they sell what Tesco doesn't and that makes the difference.

Back to the packaging, yes but it is a downside of internet shopping! There are sites which will use eco-friendly packaging.

Yes. There are a few mail order suppliers if you know what you want ahead of time, keepingquiet. And there are a few specialist cake decorating shops still of course - but the one in my town has closed and the next has limited stock. There's a market stall that isn't great.

It's very expensive to hold everything "in house" if you are a small business so lots of them have to order in what you want.

I used to know 3 places fairly nearby but now have to drive some distance to get to one that carries a fair amount of stock. If, however, you suddenly want, say a red panda mould you aren't going to find it very easily!

Has it occured to you that so much stuff is now only available on Amazon because they now have the monopoly?

It used to be Tesco putting everyone out of business. It was certainly Tesco that took out our Butcher, Baker, Greengrocer and Italian shop. In our nearest town it's now stocking all the Polish essentials too - so it won't be long before our Polish shop goes I expect.
In the old days we had toyshops too.

It is not all Amazon.
I'm afraid I've given up feeling guilty about using it when there's no alternative.

We all make choices. I don't ever buy Nestlé.

Anyway, I digress, this us about packaging really...
One thing I hate about some small-business packaging is that they often give you a "free" packet of Haribo sweets or put your purchase in an unnecessary canvas pouch or gauze bag.
I'd rather have a too-big box than that.

MissInterpreted

Isn't that a bit of a Catch-22 situation? If it's only available on Amazon, where else are you supposed to buy it?

Other suppliers are available (for now) maybe you just have to do a little more homework?

I shall ask my niece- she has a cake making business- I haven't given up on finding you an alternative supplier!

@keeping quiet

I think you have a point but with cake decoration I think it is most likely to be because not many people decorate their own cakes anymore, I imagine they prefer to buy one in a supermarket etc. or have it made in a bakers shop where cake decorations are bought at a wholesalers.

Isn't that a bit of a Catch-22 situation? If it's only available on Amazon, where else are you supposed to buy it?

Babs03

NotSpaghetti

keepingquiet you don't have to be a fan of Amazon (I'm not!) to use it.

Oh wait -people use Amazon because they're cheap?
No, lots of things are quite a lot more there than elsewhere.

I used Amazon 4 weeks ago for a cake decorating item that would take 55 mins to drive to a shop that had it (only open certain days/times) and 7-10 days if posted from the manufacturer's online shop. I could get next day delivery from Amazon but it was £12.49 instead of £8.99 in the shop.
I thought it was worth the extra to be able to make use of 2 hours and not drive at awkward times for me...

I also buy cake decorating stuff from Amazon. We can’t buy this anywhere near us, have tried. So when making birthday or Xmas cakes I have to send off for it.
And it can be expensive but we have no choice. Supermarkets are very limited with regard to this, probs they expect us to buy their own ready made cakes.

Has it occured to you that so much stuff is now only available on Amazon because they now have the monopoly?

Small shops and even large supermarkets just can't compete and therefore close, causing people to buy it from Amazon?

Soon it will be the only site available.

That's why I don't use it.

Chestnut

Sallywally1

I ordered a small bar of lavender soap which I love from amazon. It came in an enormous cardboard container, which would have fitted at least 12 bars of soap! Just, why?

I would never order one small consumable item like soap. I'd get a pack of them, or order several different things to be sent out together. Even then you get a box with lots of packing, but if you saw the conveyor belt system in an Amazon warehouse you would realise there isn't time to measure and pack each item carefully. No-one was looking at your bar of soap and wondering how best to pack it. It was thrown into a box and sent on it way.

I do the same as you Chestnut. If I'm buying food online I try to order a whole boxful. For example I know that my big bags of coffee come in boxes of six - that way I just get the tightly packed manufacturer's box rather than a box with lots of filler. The same with orders of mixed nuts or sweet chilli crackers, if I order enough to get free postage it is normally packed tightly into a good sized box.

I prefer to buy locally if possible, but I recently looked for the paint that I needed for my out door wood cladding at the website of a local supplier, and the cost was £113. I checked on Amazon, and the same product and size of tin was £74. I understand that independent businesses may not be able to compete with larger companies, and I would be willing to pay a little more, but that was a step too much. Sorry, I know that this isn’t a thread about about online shopping, but it has been mentioned a few times. I agree about packaging. Even some foodstuffs in the shops have more packaging than necessary.

I have an asthma inhaler that is packaged in a foil bag and then a cardboard box, both being far bigger than the inhaler. I use an online pharmacy who then put it in a big box far too big to go through the letter box. Annoying.

henetha

Perhaps we should tell 'em. It's so wasteful.

You can try - the post office and various transport firms have tried to get us all to realise that transporting large boxes containing small items is basically a matter of transporting air.

Doing so, increases the cost of deliveries and the time, as obviously you cannot get as many large boxes in a van, as you can smaller boxes.

But no-one seems to listen or appreciate the point.

Other suppliers are available just saying.

I used Amazon for the first time in 9 years recently. The item I ordered couldn't be found elsewhere and I needed it delivered to a different address.

My fault but I didn't check the delivery address and it was sent to the former address of the people I sent it for. That's how I know it was nine years ago.

Other suppliers are available...

I work for a small business and do my best to use minimal packaging. But sometimes the smaller box is just a tiny bit too small so I have to use a bigger box and use more padding. We use recyclable packaging where possible and we reuse packing peanuts from our deliveries- I’m diligent in scavenging every piece!

keepingquiet

Why Amazon? There are so many other websites making hand made organic soaps that smell wonderful and last ages. They are beautifully packaged and would fit through your letterbox.

Oh wait- people use Amazon because they're cheap? Not to the planet they aren't.

I use Amazon all the time. I get free, usually next-day, delivery with my Prime membership and can often order things on there which I can't get elsewhere - or if I can, they are more expensive by the time you've factored in delivery. Like it or not, cost is probably the most important factor for many people.

Yip annoys me too. Amaazon is one of the biggest culprits for this!

NotSpaghetti

keepingquiet you don't have to be a fan of Amazon (I'm not!) to use it.

Oh wait -people use Amazon because they're cheap?
No, lots of things are quite a lot more there than elsewhere.

I used Amazon 4 weeks ago for a cake decorating item that would take 55 mins to drive to a shop that had it (only open certain days/times) and 7-10 days if posted from the manufacturer's online shop. I could get next day delivery from Amazon but it was £12.49 instead of £8.99 in the shop.
I thought it was worth the extra to be able to make use of 2 hours and not drive at awkward times for me...

I also buy cake decorating stuff from Amazon. We can’t buy this anywhere near us, have tried. So when making birthday or Xmas cakes I have to send off for it.
And it can be expensive but we have no choice. Supermarkets are very limited with regard to this, probs they expect us to buy their own ready made cakes.

It’s because the people who work in their warehouses who aren’t robots, work to targets. They aren’t going to look around for a pack of smaller envelopes when they’ve ran out, they will just use a different size until the smaller ones are replenished.

Enjoy your holiday ❤️

Have a lovely break!

I usually do buy the everyday sort of soap from local shops, but it is difficult (and expensive) to get lavender locally. I wanted it to take on holiday, which is soon!

My family had two shops both mum and dad ran retail businesses so I'm sympathetic to independent shops and do use them whenever possible.

To get some things in the old days would have actually been easier. There is no decent art materials shop near me now, for example.

I don't think this thread was really about retail but about packaging.... and that can certainly be all-or-nothing!

keepingquiet you don't have to be a fan of Amazon (I'm not!) to use it.

Oh wait -people use Amazon because they're cheap?
No, lots of things are quite a lot more there than elsewhere.

I used Amazon 4 weeks ago for a cake decorating item that would take 55 mins to drive to a shop that had it (only open certain days/times) and 7-10 days if posted from the manufacturer's online shop. I could get next day delivery from Amazon but it was £12.49 instead of £8.99 in the shop.
I thought it was worth the extra to be able to make use of 2 hours and not drive at awkward times for me...

I find a fragrance brand called So.....? and The Cat Gallery in York, Waterstones, WH Smith, Sainsburys and Coopers of Stortford are brilliant, they only use the amount of boxes/packaging that they really have to use but those are personal orders.

As I own a shop I have to use others for ordering stock and find Amazon etc. to be ridiculous! Something small they stuff into huge boxes with giant amounts of bubble wrap that could easily have gone into a medium or large padded envelope!

Why Amazon? There are so many other websites making hand made organic soaps that smell wonderful and last ages. They are beautifully packaged and would fit through your letterbox.

Oh wait- people use Amazon because they're cheap? Not to the planet they aren't.

At least the cardboard can be recycled.

Sallywally1

I ordered a small bar of lavender soap which I love from amazon. It came in an enormous cardboard container, which would have fitted at least 12 bars of soap! Just, why?

I would never order one small consumable item like soap. I'd get a pack of them, or order several different things to be sent out together. Even then you get a box with lots of packing, but if you saw the conveyor belt system in an Amazon warehouse you would realise there isn't time to measure and pack each item carefully. No-one was looking at your bar of soap and wondering how best to pack it. It was thrown into a box and sent on it way.