Ok, Why So Much Packaging??!!

The other day, I made a trip to the local electronics store to buy a new printer for my office at work, as well as an HDMI cable for my TV (even though I haven't turned my TV on for a complete month now) because I was told that movies look good with an HDMI cable. When I went to pay, I was stunned to find out what that stupid cable cost, (and embarrassed to tell the cashier that it was too expensive), but I bought it anyway.

I headed back to work to set up the printer, but decided to get a good look at the HDMI cable first. Well, this is where things got a little tricky. The HDMI cable was packaged in that hard plastic shell stuff that you practically need a chainsaw to cut through. I don’t know why I thought I could use my desk scissors to get it open. All they did was dent the plastic shell slightly. So, I ran upstairs to the kitchen & grabbed one of our huge chef knives. My mother looked at me and said, “Why you taking that to the office?” I told her I needed to cut something. She said, “What, a leg of veal?” I told her no, I had to cut out an HDMI cable that’s trapped in some kind of S & M packaging. She just gave me a stern look and said, “Don't ruin the blade on that knife.” (Hmm, and I thought she was going to tell me to be careful not to cut myself. Clearly, the knife is much more important.)

I got back to my desk, and started ramming the knife through the package. It seemed to be working, until the knife got caught half way down. (Damn it!!) So, I pushed harder, and kept at it. Finally, I cracked the little sucker out of its package, but only to discover that it was tightly zip tied to the cardboard backing. (Seriously, are you kidding me?) I could not believe all the packaging that was used just for this freakin' cable. Anyway, I cut the zip ties, pulled the cable off the card board, and (oh, h*ll no) that’s when I noticed that I had bought the wrong length. ($#%$#!!!!!) Well, there was no way I was taking it back (it would take a month just to reconstruct the package that it came in), so I moved onto the printer.

Now, the printer that I bought wasn't very big, but it came in huge box, surrounded by Styrofoam, wrapped in a plastic bag, and seated on cardboard bottom protectors. (*sigh*) Is this necessary, I thought to myself? Really, can someone tell me why companies do this?? I know that they need to protect their products from being damaged during transport, but why so much packaging??!! Why aren't these companies being more environmentally friendly? The printer could have easily fit into a smaller box with much less packaging, and it still would have been properly protected, but no. They have to put small items in big boxes, and make us pay for it all. Then, on top of that, we have to recycle their mess.

I don't know about you, but I think this is wrong. What do you think?

JB

To Plastic Wrap or Not To Plastic Wrap?

I was at work yesterday (I work in a restaurant with my mother and sister) and my mother decided to give my sister a lecture about how the chicken breasts that she tenderizes should be packaged and stored. Those two don’t agree on anything, especially when it comes to chicken & plastic wrap. I always just observe the verbal fireworks between them because no one really listens to me when I try to put in my two cents. Having said that, I don’t recommend ever working with your family. It's like drinking acid for breakfast everyday. I should know. We've been working together for 25 years.

Anyway, this chicken & plastic wrap business drives my sister bonkers. You see, mother likes to wrap 2 pieces of chicken at a time, and then wrap 6 packs of 2 pieces together. (Are you following me??) This drives my sister nuts because not only does it take double the plastic wrap to do this & make for twice the work, it also really slows us down when we're busy. With the chicken wrapped & re-wrapped in plastic, it's not exactly easy to get it unwrapped, especially when we need to get orders out on time. My sister said, "Mom, you use too much plastic wrap. It’s a waste. Why not put 12 pieces in Tupperware containers, since we have them? This would save time & it would be easier to get at the chicken when we need it. Do you know how much plastic wrap you use? One roll a month! That’s insane! It's 5000 feet! What the hell are you wrapping?!

Sometimes, that type of conversation goes on for a good 20 minutes. Mom wraps everything in plastic wrap. I swear she put plastic wrap diapers on us. The woman is obsessed with plastic. I've tried to explain that it's really bad for the environment, but it's pointless. She thinks recycling is throwing everything in the garbage. She says, "I be dead before the earth explodes. Oh, fack off (seriously, with her accent, that's how it sounds). You be brainwashed by TV and that guy, Al Gore. Him he’s fat now because you guys go buying that DVD he selling on Oprah. Stop be so stupid."

You know what's funny, though? Washed plastic bags used to hang on our clothes line with our laundry when I was a kid. No joke! Those bags were wrinkled to the point of being unrecognizable, but washing them in order to reuse them would now be considered recycling. I could bring that up, but I wouldn't dare.

JB