How Unboxing Elaborate Packages Became an American Pastime | Hacker News Reader

How Unboxing Elaborate Packages Became an American Pastime

theatlantic.com

38 pointsprostoalex14 comments

I love that the hook is the picture here. It's the perfect summary of unboxing and even giving a fuck about the packaging at all. I think I understand the reasoning of companies to sink time & money into this, but the fact that it works, while maybe unsurprising from a psychological viewpoint, makes me sad about the state of humanity.

I mean, if we can't disentangle our opinion of a multi-thousand dollar device (thinking macbook) from the sub-dollar packaging it comes in, how can anyone still say that consumers (and thus markets!) make rational decisions? Sure, people might say they distinguish the two. But honestly, the only rational thing then is to use the beauty of the packaging as a negative indicator for the thing being sold to you. At best, it should be irrelevant beyond "does it protect the product to the degree necessary given the distribution channel?"

As such, the whole boxing & unboxing stuff just illustrates to me why we need political guidance on big problems: climate change, public transit, pollution, repairability, 2nd-hand markets etc (yes these are all related but also distinct) need political change. Because a market full of consumers who'll decide what to buy based on some Peacock Design(TM) box won't solve them.

As a personal anecdote from just a few days ago: I just bought a second-hand paper book, as I tend to do more and more. Something about this makes me very happy, even though I don't think that (fiction) publishers are anywhere near the evilness of academic publishers or tech companies. Maybe in ambition but at least not in terms of impact.

The book arrived in what I consider the perfect packaging [1]. It's easy to open, made from easily recyclable material (and is supposedly recycled already) and protects the book to exactly the degree it is needed. I don't care about a scratch or bump here or there. That's not gonna change the nature & usability of the book at all! Sure, if you're shipping a macbook, or want to give the book as a gift, you might want to choose something more carefully packaged. Except if you're giving the book to me; in that case, please use something like this any day! :)

[1]: https://ssb.muchmuch.coffee/&AFCdOXGdAb0seJdsUeUEYe08pYL26dk...

Edit: oops, pasted a localhost link :D

Yeah, while I think the packaging a lot of PC laptops use is kinda gross, I think Apple is ridiculous about packaging. That said, I'll give them a pass because they package their headphones and little dongles and stuff IN CARDBOARD BOXES or those soft plastic bags. Apple never uses plastic clamshells. Thank goodness. Especially not the kind you have to cut open with scissors. Those are truly evil.

My understanding is those hard plastic cases that you almost need a saw to open, are usually retail packaging (to prevent people from removing the contents in the store and walking out with them.).

I remember some episode on tv where Larry David needs to rescue his boss by cutting the seatbelt of his car. He has a newly purchaaed knife lamentably in one of those unopenable plastic cases.

I was under the impression that the softer plastic cant be recycled (isn't worth it) and goes directly to the landfill. The harder plastic is worth more (barely) and has a larger chance of being recycled back into pellets.

Here in Perth, AU the government seems to be pretty switched onto this. We have a system called FOGO (Food Organics, Green Organics) for recycling, and soft plastics can't be recycled but we as a household put them in a bag then recycle them once a week when we go to the shops, as they have a dropoff point there.

Amazed me how much we cut down on waste once we started to think about it properly.

Recycling is NOT the same as putting in a drop-off point. Having worked in waste management, I can assure you they are not recycled the way you think (either sent to a victim country who needed to accept your countries' plastic in exchange for an extension on an IMF loan, or straight to the landfill - only paper and its derivative, if well cleaned, had any sort of value for reuse where I worked).

Reuse yourself, or get stuff that existed 200 years ago (wooden boxes, soft papers, leaves, whatever) if you want to "recycle", but nothing modern is made with recycling in mind, since you refuse to think beyond the trash bin with a green logo on it when you decide to pay.

I googled FOGO, and it's nice but it's not really new recycling, it's "more targeted recycling", where instead of feeding the local worms in some random place you threw your oganic wastes to, they will specifically reuse them as compost for more productive agriculture. Which can reduce the use of other type of chemical composts, so it's positive certainly.

That's why I said we cut down on waste, we reuse a lot. Things we can't, we recycle.

And it actually is with redcycle: https://redcycle.net.au/faqs/

We bring the collected plastic back to our facility for initial processing, then it is delivered to our Australian manufacturing partners:

Replas (https://www.replas.com.au/), based in Ballarat, Victoria, who convert REDcycle material into a range of recycled products including indoor and outdoor furniture, bollards, and signage. All products are extremely robust, as well as water and termite resistant. They won’t crack, splinter or rot and will never need painting. Replas products are perfect for use in schools, park, public spaces and commercial premises. Close the Loop, based in Somerton, Victoria, who utilise REDcycle material as a component of high performance recycled asphalt additive for road infrastructure known as Tonerplas (https://www.closetheloop.com.au/tonerplas/)

Plastic Forests, based in Albury, NSW, who use REDcycle material as a component of products such as mini wheel stops and air conditioner mounting blocks for the consumer market (https://plasticforests.com.au/product/air-con-mounting-block...).

The soft plastic bags are also much less common nowadays in my experience, at least among first-party tech products. Random accessories purchased from smaller manufacturers will often include more plastic bag packaging.

It’s too early in the morning for this much materialism, I’m sorry. This article is everything that I see wrong with America and the world right now. The belief that “This thing I buy will bring me happiness.” despite a literal lifetime of discovering that isn’t the case. It is such a weird brain amnesia. Unboxing videos make me ill.

While I agree that fancy packaging is a waste of resources and time I see one main thing driving it that the article hints at but doesn't go into, that this seems like a case of pure Pavlovian conditioning. Every time you open a package you are greeted with something nice, a brand new thing you bought, a reward for opening the package. Thus the reward inside the packaging gets associated with the unboxing. I'd guess this is the primary reason people watch unboxing videos, it stimulates that reward circuit.

Apple (and subsequently everyone else) taking advantage of this conditioning by making the packaging itself a small reward is smart, but evil.

The hyperreality of Youtube Unboxing Porn. Better than the real thing.

Pure fetish.

Baudrillard would have been thrilled, they buy the simulacrum because it gives them more pleasure. [0]

Makes sense, they are themselves just simulacra in the interior design they call their consciousness. [1]

Cheese analogue to some, vegan cheese to others. Just depends on the box your're opening.

So, what does it mean, when people start to have more fun with the package than the content, like little children ? [2]

Some sort of profitable, market induced mild form of Immature Personality Disorder ? [3]

...

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulacra_and_Simulation

[1] Thomas Metzinger, The Ego Tunnel - The Science of the Mind and the Myth of the Self, Basic Books 2009

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5895503-the-ego-tunnel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=di9SPPx8Jic

[2] https://theconversation.com/heres-why-young-children-often-p...

[3] https://icd.codes/icd10cm/F6089

"Packaging" is an industry; they've been looking for more opportunities to seel their product for a long, long time. Individually wrapped potatoes and bananas are an often cited example. Big packages of (even generic) paper towels now have each roll within individually wrapped in plastic.

How much money goes into the design phase of these fancy things? I wonder if the manufacturer of the item buys that, or the people who make the box do, on the same principle inkjet printers are cheap but the ink costs a bomb. "Sure Mr Apple, we'll design you a fancy box, and then charge $15/unit for them" ... Mr Apple don't give a damn because its a $1k item.

"It feels good to dig through all those layers and unearth a little treat, no matter if it’s just hair dye or sweatpants."

This doesn't ring true for me at all. Is there a particular personality type that finds this enjoyable?

Not sure if it's personality. Though I do enjoy a few retro unboxing episodes of LGR. My guess is it's mostly nostalgia and a bit of wonder and discovery. Ultimately I'd probably be just as satisfied without the box part.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com