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Comment by briandear | Hacker News Reader

> In our first year, we didn’t want to use unnecessary plastic, so we didn’t bother investing in individual opp/poly bags UNTIL we learned that a few of our diaries arrived with water damage.

I found this line interesting — many people don’t realize that companies themselves don’t like using unnecessary packaging — most packaging decisions are made for very good reasons. The despised clamshell happened because of shoplifters and on-shelf marketing tests. “Unnecessary plastic” happens because manufacturers know about water damage. Individually wrapped parts happen because of shipping damage or lost parts. What consumers see as “unnecessary” comes as a result of very good reasons and likely thousands of customer complaints when their stuff arrives damaged or with parts missing.

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Perhaps there might be a better systemic way of avoiding e.g. water damage without resorting to single-use plastics. Maybe reusable water-proof shipping containers, or requiring postal workers to remove their tear ducts.

A lot of packaging materials are reusable, especially something as generic as a plastic bag, cardbox, or bubble wrap; why more people don't --- even when they have to themselves ship something --- is the problem. I have a stash of such material that I've accumulated and use to ship things to others, and I give them to friends who mention/ask.

Some of the newer envelopes are designed to be at least reused a single time, with a clean perforation to open it, and a second glue strip ready to be peeled. These are designed for shipping back returns, not really for general reuse.

It would be so nice if they could take it a step further and design the envelopes for true multiple re-use.

For example, the white waterproof slightly padded envelopes from Amazon tear open cleanly (most of the time) but aren't extremely reusable because you have to fold over the open end on itself to tape it shut, which looks terrible, and seems flimsy, so I don't save them that often.

I think the biggest challenge is that the closer you get to full re-use, the closer you also get to making it trivial for someone to pop open the envelope, steal what's inside, and reseal it like they were never there.

I also found it interesting, and depressing. Of course this is off topic, but it goes without saying that plastic is convenient compared to the alternatives. "We made $160k!" but "a few diaries" show up with water damage and their plastic-free plan goes right out the window.

We $160k profit, they could have used wax paper wrappings instead, which are biodegradable if you use the right type.

Hey symmitchry, I'm Tom, the Co Founder of Saint Belford.

Thanks for your comment.

Receiving a wet diary in the mail is a terrible customer experience so from a business stand point, we want to rectify these types of issues as quickly as possible.

Thankfully, the plastic we use is recyclable at the correct locations, and we're educating our customers around using these options while continuing to look for viable alternatives :)

Hey briandear, I'm Tom, the Co Founder of Saint Belford.

You hit the nail on the head with this one.

It's frustrating we still have to use a small amount of soft plastic, but we're doing as much as we can to educate our customers about how to recycle it properly.

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