Down with Packing Peanuts!
Polystyrene loose fill, often referred to as packing peanuts, is the packaging material everyone loves to hate.
So why are there so many packages packed with peanuts? Two reasons.
Large scale distribution centers store peanuts in overhead bins (sometimes large enough to contain several truckloads of material) with drop stations above each packing table. Packers simply squeeze a valve and peanuts pour into the box - it's like milking a cow. For an operation shipping hundreds or thousands of boxes per day, speed is of the essence. And from a material cost standpoint, packing peanuts are hard to beat - the per cubic foot cost is lower than any alternative yet devised. Material cost, however, does not tell the whole story. Packers sometimes overlook the indirect cost of packing peanuts, which can easily exceed the cost of switching to a more expensive void fill material. Those indirect costs include -
As a sales and marketing professional, I am especially sensitive to the problem of packing peanuts and consumer perception. When I receive a package packed with peanuts, my first two thoughts are, "This company doesn't care about me. This company doesn't care about the environment." When customers think like that, companies not only lose their business, they lose other people's business as well. Why? Because customers are likely to share a bad buying experience with friends, and others are far more likely to be influenced by friends than by a company's marketing message. Would I pay more for a product packaged in something other than peanuts? Yes, and I think most people would. Peanut packers might be skeptical, but I can think of an easy way to test the market. What if an online business gave customers the option of having their order packed in peanuts or, at a premium, packed in an environmentally friendly product? Who knows? Companies might discover they can help the environment and increase profits at the same time. |
