Good Design: Consumer-Friendly Packaging

A new option on Amazon.com allows consumers to choose how some items are packaged before they are shipped.  Genius.

Anyone who’s ever bought anything, from toys to electronics, has experienced “wrap rage” (ie, ‘How the heck are you supposed to open this without slicing off a finger ?!’).  Those plastic-coated wire thingies poking out of mysterious, impossible-to-open blister packs could soon be a thing of a past.  Instead, your item will be contained (and often shipped) in one simple cardboard box, with no excess packaging materials to struggle with or throw away, and no tools or weapons needed to open it.

This seems especially convenient for the upcoming gift-giving holidays, when piles of excess packaging and wrapping paper seem to take over your home.  Although only select items are currently available with the Frustration Free Packaging option, Amazon hopes to continue to add more, until all items in their catalog are included.

This is the very essence of Good Design, where simplicity and ease for the end-user are top priority, and the planet benefits from less waste.  I think this sets a great example, and I hope more retailers will make an effort to follow it.  Afterall, shouldn’t consumer products should be packaged in a way that enhances the customer experience, not in a way that makes you curse and cut yourself?

See Amazon’s Frustration Free FAQs for more information, and a photo illustrating the new packaging.

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