Felines are in a frenzy across Europe following the revelation that Amazon is sending more and more orders to customers’ homes without added Amazon delivery boxes.
While cat owners are working hard to cheer up their pets with toys and treats, cats are having kittens about the reduced packaging. Cats love playing in cardboard boxes, as seen in countless internet memes.
“We’re witnessing frowning felines on an unprecedented scale,” said Tom Jerry, a delivery driver working in the UK. “Once-cheerful kitties that greeted us on their doorsteps are now arching their backs and hissing with unhappiness as soon as they see there’s no longer a cardboard ‘playbox’ with their Amazon delivery.”
“Thankfully, the majority of human customers are pleased to be receiving less packaging, but these grumpy cats are inconsolable,” Jerry added.
No added packaging can make shipments lighter, which leads to reduced delivery emissions per package, and means customers don’t need to recycle an additional Amazon cardboard box or paper bag.
Over the past four years, Amazon has increased the number of orders sent to European customers without added delivery packaging by more than 50%.
Why is Amazon not using boxes?
Instead of shipping orders in cardboard boxes, Amazon is ramping up a number of packaging reduction programmes, one of which is known as ‘Ships In Product Packaging’.
For customers, this means the item they order arrives on their doorstep without an additional paper bag, envelope or cardboard box from Amazon. The product is shipped in its manufacturer’s packaging with nothing more than a shipping label applied with the customer's (and cat’s) address.
Thousands of items – from pet food and pans to slippers and showerheads – have had their manufacturer’s packaging designed and tested to ensure they can ship safely this way.
Items which are not included in the programme are many with a high value such as laptops, as well as personal or intimate health and wellbeing products, such as contraceptive devices. For other products, customers can still request additional Amazon packaging as they check out.
When additional Amazon packaging is requested to ship a product, Amazon uses paper bags, cardboard envelopes and cardboard boxes that can be easily recycled in your household recycling.
Since 2015 Amazon has reduced the weight of outbound packaging per shipment by 41% on average, avoiding over 2 million tons of packaging material.
“This is all very well,” said Mr Mausezahn, a cat owner from Munich, “and I get that this is the right thing for the planet, but my Karlo is very cross."
