Comment by black_puppydog | Hacker News Reader

Comment by black_puppydog | Hacker News Reader

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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.

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