MikeB4:

 

Motor bike riders passing on double yellow lines on the Remutaka Hill road today

 

I get cars doing this, when there is a line of traffic ahead too!

Name and shame time. Hardware stores are near the top, as bad as or worse than supermarkets, when it comes to excessive and completely unnecessary plastic packaging, some of which can also be nearly impossible to get open. So I pointed this out to a Bunnings representative the other day, and got the lame and tired excuse that it was the suppliers' fault. 

No it isn't, Bunnings. It is your fault. You can choose who you buy from and you can tell your supplier what your specifications are. This kind of mealy-mouthed attempt to fob off responsibility is no longer good enough. We all have to own this or nothing will ever change. Our job as consumers is to not buy crap encased in pointless plastic. If that is not possible, then at least let the seller know how you feel about it. If enough complain loudly enough, the retailers will have to act. If they act in concert, the suppliers will have to respond. That is how it works.

Get your act together, Bunnings. It is time to start taking responsibility for the environmental burden you are dumping on the rest of us.

Rikkitic:

 

Name and shame time. Hardware stores are near the top, as bad as or worse than supermarkets, when it comes to excessive and completely unnecessary plastic packaging, some of which can also be nearly impossible to get open. So I pointed this out to a Bunnings representative the other day, and got the lame and tired excuse that it was the suppliers' fault. 

 

No it isn't, Bunnings. It is your fault. You can choose who you buy from and you can tell your supplier what your specifications are. This kind of mealy-mouthed attempt to fob off responsibility is no longer good enough. We all have to own this or nothing will ever change. Our job as consumers is to not buy crap encased in pointless plastic. If that is not possible, then at least let the seller know how you feel about it. If enough complain loudly enough, the retailers will have to act. If they act in concert, the suppliers will have to respond. That is how it works.

 

Get your act together, Bunnings. It is time to start taking responsibility for the environmental burden you are dumping on the rest of us.

 

 

 

 

 

Ask them to open it for you at the store, then buy it and say "It's OK - I don't need the packaging thanks." ;-)

They'll probably just chuck the plastic in the bin...

MikeB4:

 

Motor bike riders passing on double yellow lines on the Remutaka Hill road today

 

Sadly common. I do not think their IQ's are very high. Still, at least the more stupid ones will delete themselves fairly quickly.

Geektastic:

 

MikeB4:

 

Motor bike riders passing on double yellow lines on the Remutaka Hill road today

 

 

 

 

Sadly common. I do not think their IQ's are very high. Still, at least the more stupid ones will delete themselves fairly quickly.

 

And they will. Makes all us riders get a bad name

Rikkitic:

 

Name and shame time. Hardware stores are near the top, as bad as or worse than supermarkets, when it comes to excessive and completely unnecessary plastic packaging, some of which can also be nearly impossible to get open. So I pointed this out to a Bunnings representative the other day, and got the lame and tired excuse that it was the suppliers' fault. 

 

No it isn't, Bunnings. It is your fault. You can choose who you buy from and you can tell your supplier what your specifications are. This kind of mealy-mouthed attempt to fob off responsibility is no longer good enough. We all have to own this or nothing will ever change. Our job as consumers is to not buy crap encased in pointless plastic. If that is not possible, then at least let the seller know how you feel about it. If enough complain loudly enough, the retailers will have to act. If they act in concert, the suppliers will have to respond. That is how it works.

 

Get your act together, Bunnings. It is time to start taking responsibility for the environmental burden you are dumping on the rest of us.

 

The packaging is not excessive if it prevents theft of the products from the store. They have to present themselves well on the shelf so they get chosen, protect the product from handling by people that like to pick things up and fondle them, and stop the item from being taken from the packaging easily leaving an empty packet on the shelf. None of that is unnecessary.

If things are in plain cardboard boxes on the shelf etc then don't act all surprised when you to go buy things, get home and find half the stuff is missing from the box and you have to go back to the store to sort it out.

If you want less packaging on things then shop online and hope amazon finally start selling here, they have made huge advances in reducing packaging that is no longer needed when not letting common peasants handle things before purchase.

Most of what you cite can easily be dealt with. They are fake arguments from someone who just doesn't want to be bothered by change.

I do most of my shopping on-line but if I need an incidental item I don't want to wait a week or more for delivery. 

richms:

 

They have to present themselves well on the shelf so they get chosen,

 

Perhaps it would be better to manage the customer's unrealistic expectations of product presentation?

 

protect the product from handling by people that like to pick things up and fondle them,

 

If customers want to handle the product, then find a way that they can do that, rather than preventing them! Often, a product is in reality somewhat different from the glossy photos on the packaging, so I want to see the real thing rather than a photo. And I sometimes want to examine the product to see if, for example, it is robust.

 

and stop the item from being taken from the packaging easily leaving an empty packet on the shelf.

 

Fair comment.

I also had this discussion with the Warehouse, which would have the same issues regarding display, theft, etc., and they tell me they are making a real effort to cut back on the plastic. Whether true or not, it is quite a difference from the Bunnings response.

Rikkitic:

 

I also had this discussion with the Warehouse, which would have the same issues regarding display, theft, etc., and they tell me they are making a real effort to cut back on the plastic. Whether true or not, it is quite a difference from the Bunnings response.

 

 

 

It might just be a politically correct response from Marketing

If I was managing one of these enterprises, i would need to assess what would be a cool public response to us removing as much plastic packaging as possible, and compare that to the costs of doing this. Things have to be packaged to keep them new, untouched, hygienic, and visible. Cardboard with a cellophane see through piece would seem ideal , but it might look cheap to my competitors bright and colourful shiny plastic?

Now that the single use plastic bags are gone from supermarkets, the Govt needs to create a working group ( :-)  ) and assess all retail packaging, and wholesale packaging, and keep that front and centre in the media

The good news, and it is why I so strongly supported the plastic bag ban, is that it creates a precedent and influences public perception. This is how change comes about. Excessive plastic bothers me so much that the appeal of shiny displays is lost on me, but even if that is deemed necessary, there are ways to do it better. The easiest is just to have one item on display and the rest in a bin. That is how it used to be done. I don't accept the notion that most hardware items have to be sealed in plastic to keep them 'new, untouched, hygienic, and visible. I just bought a bunch of LED light bulbs on-line. I also picked up a couple from Bunnings that I couldn't find elsewhere. The on-line ones were all wrapped together in one bubble wrap bundle and sent from overseas with a label stuck on. No other packaging deemed necessary. Yes, bubble-wrap is also plastic but in this case it is plastic with a necessary protective function, and it is the only plastic used. The Bunnings light bulbs were each encased in individual hard plastic containers that nearly required a chain saw to get open. What is the justification for that? While looking for them I walked past shelves and shelves of other goods, also all enclosed in impenetrable plastic. Even tools, sometimes. What is the possible need to wrap a hammer in plastic, for godsake? I am not against judicious use of plastic where necessary but that is not what I am seeing in most cases.

Rikkitic:

 

What is the possible need to wrap a hammer in plastic, for godsake? I am not against judicious use of plastic where necessary but that is not what I am seeing in most cases.

 

So that it is noisy or hard to remove it from the packaging while in the store, so people cant just walk out with it and say that they bought it in with them to compare to the ones in the shop if questioned when walking out of the place. There is also probably an EAS tag inside the packaging since some places have that to help prevent shoplifting.

People want to buy a new product, and packaging helps to assure them that the store has not just done a warehouse and stuck a return back on the shelf or had it messed with by people in the shop.

I still think there are other ways of achieving those things. Plastic has been the easy option because the true cost of it did not have to be paid. 

The latest small thing to annoy me?  "Videos" on real estate websites (e.g. Trade Me Property).  Been idly looking at listings and a few have a "video" to view, which is just a slideshow of the same images I've already seen, backed by some annoying tinkly stock music track.  What possible use does this serve?  It adds no new information to the listing.  If you're going to have a video, at least go to the effort to give a walkthrough and show what the photos don't (or can't) show.