Amazon, the online retailer, has promised to end the frustration that ruins many parents' Christmas day: packaging rage.
Harry Wallop, The Telegraph 18 Nov 08;
It has pledged to stop sending toys, computers and other goods out in difficult-to-open plastic boxes.
The shopping website has joined leading manufacturers, including toy company Mattel and software giant Microsoft, to come up with a solution it says is both eco and customer-friendly.
Called "frustration free packaging", the company aims to replace plastic wrapping with a simple, recyclable cardboard box.
Amazon has started the scheme in the United States after complaints from customers of cuts and bruises from existing packages.
It said that it would come over to the UK if the project was successful in America. "Every initiative that works in the US makes its way across the Atlantic," said a spokesman.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said: "I shouldn't have to start each Christmas morning with needle-nose pliers and wire cutters. But that is what I do, I arm myself, and it still takes me 10 minutes to open each package."
Waste Watch, a British refuse charity, welcomed the move. Spokesman Mike Webster said: "Amazon has to be applauded for this, and we would call on the rest of the industry to follow their lead.
"Every Christmas we produce an extra three million tonnes of waste, and this could impact significantly on that. But we need manufacturers to think about this too - it really comes back to the product design stage, and that needs to be re-thought."
