Are you fucking kidding me?!

[Soubriquet]

Least it’s all recycle-able I suppose but seriously?!

@DrMadelineMaxwell I forgot about the nail varnish. I too received mine in the same size box as yours

I would have been furious if my parcel had a tarantula in it

After I screamed the place down first of course

What did you do with it?

I’m guessing you couldn’t release it into the wild as we don’t have tarantulas here...do we?

@LettuceP
Your DH sounds a laugh

Ordered a record from Amazon an it came in a 30cm by 30cm box

Some companies are sending stuff that is boxed already with just an address and postage label.

I my laptop from Dell like that back in 2008!

I understand that they chose the size of the box to fit best in the back of the van going from the warehouse to the depot.

How is the person working on your order going to have the faintest clue what lorry and what other thousands or parcels are going to loaded on it??

DH bought a belt the box was 5' by 4' it was unbelievable

I bought some software licences from Motorola in the US. They were sent to me in an envelope gaffer taped to a pallet.

I ordered a plug adaptor online to collect at my local Superdrug and I’m not kidding you the plastic wrapping it came in could have housed a whole crate of them. Ridiculous...

I ordered a pack of four chewy pencil topper thingies - packet was about 5cm x 10cm. The box they came in was big enough for 6 year old DS to get inside and close the lid. Wish I'd thought to take a photo at the time!

My cats love Amazon though. Humungous package turns up with some tiny thing inside and absolutely tons of that brown paper. They love it - hours and hours of fun. Unlike Zooplus who send their stuff in boxes that exactly fit the contents - no overpacking there - so not as much fun for the cats.

So the box is a bit longer than the umbrella, but otherwise a fairly close fit dimension wise? That looks a decent match to me. Am I missing something here?

Do you expect Amazon to have made to measure packaging for umbrellas? Custom packaging for every order?

Are people who will be fired if they don't package enough orders per hour supposed to make custom boxes for everyone? What did you want them to do?

Because to me that looks like somebody doing a really tough job in challenging conditions successfully located the closest box size they had to your umbrella. They could have put it diagonally in a great big cube shaped box instead.

I think @evilkitten wins the excessive postage competition

@newearrings how big was the belt

Lush use those faux-polystyrene things to protect their products as a lot of them come without packaging. They are completely biodegradable.

Amazon are the worst I find. I ordered an iPad car mount and it came in a box my Rottweiler could sleep in!

We bought two umbrellas

One came in a polythene type bag that fitted around it. No problem

The other came in a box that would have fitted twice if not three times the amount of umbrellas

I hear you, OP.

I ordered a rolling pin, not a boa constrictor.

M&S school order this year came in 13 separate plastic bags and every single item was wrapped in a plastic bag inside - no wonder the planet is doomed.

I once ordered a small thin book from one of the educational suppliers and a huge box came. When I managed to slice it open I was surprised that it was empty, I was fumng to one of my department about this when he noticed something on the inside of the lid. Sure enough, there was the book, it took another few attacks with my trusty Swiss Army knife to remove it.

The Lush 'polystyrene' packaging is water soluble starch. Me and DD have a fab time squishing it down the drain. It literally disappears into nothingness.

I once ordered a Parker pen from Amazon and it came in a box the size of a pillow, about six inches deep.

Least it’s all recycle-able

Except for the umbrella 😉

We bought two umbrellas

One came in a polythene type bag that fitted around it. No problem

Personally I think the too big cardboard box is preferable to the single use plastic wrap.

The Lush 'polystyrene' packaging is water soluble starch

If you dampen the ends, you can build things with it as it sticks to the other wotsits!

I'd heard that because the (low paid and overworked) staff at Amazon are under so much pressure to fulfil orders they just grab the first box that comes to hand that they know the item will fit, rather than take the time (which they don't have due to fulfilment targets) to find a more appropriate sized box...

It’s really not that bad is it?

The box had to be at least that width because of the handle.

Ok it could have been a bit shorter but the don't have every single length needed.

If you order stuff online you have to accept you’re going to get packaging

You’d moan even more if it arrived damaged.

The thing is if they found the appropriate sized box for every single item it would take such a long time. Imagine the hundreds/thousands of different boxes they would need to sort through to find the perfect size.

I was really surprised when the pillows I ordered came in mountains of bubble wrap but obviously it was necessary to protect the soft squishy pillows