Royal Mail and the environment

ballisticbrian

Royal Mail and the environment
Quote from their web site: "We're working hard to reduce our environmental impact and helping our customers do the same."

Now your boxes need to be specific sizes to fall into lower price categories, there will be much less opportunity to re-use packaging. No more nipping down to Aldi and rummaging through the free cardboard boxes or re-using those wholesale boxes that arrive in, in order to package retail out.

The number of eBay shop keepers went past the 400,000 mark in 2011 and there are currently millions of UK businesses involved in distance selling, mail order and internet retailing.

zerog

You can always cut up boxes and stick them together in different shapes yourself...

Interestingly I've never paid a penny for packaging and I even reuse tape if it's still sticky enough.. and buyers have left feedback saying my items are well packaged

custardy

ballisticbrian wrote: »

Royal Mail and the environment
Quote from their web site: "We're working hard to reduce our environmental impact and helping our customers do the same."

Now your boxes need to be specific sizes to fall into lower price categories, there will be much less opportunity to re-use packaging. No more nipping down to Aldi and rummaging through the free cardboard boxes or re-using those wholesale boxes that arrive in, in order to package retail out.

The number of eBay shop keepers went past the 400,000 mark in 2011 and there are currently millions of UK businesses involved in distance selling, mail order and internet retailing.

I saw you posted this in another thread and resisted
however
its nonsense
there were already sizes on RMs package services
just not to the same degree
eg I had a set of suspension forks to send and they were just too long
I didnt feel the need to go hack down a tree to compensate

ballisticbrian

custardy, If you've ever emptied a container from China, there's a lot of cardboard in there and most of it gets reused to send out items. I'm not talking about someone selling the odd item.

soolin

ballisticbrian wrote: »

custardy, If you've ever emptied a container from China, there's a lot of cardboard in there and most of it gets reused to send out items. I'm not talking about someone selling the odd item.

I think the difference will be tiny though. I buy loads and sell loads but as I use only business sellers I only ever get new boxes- and as they are the single walled ones they are really not worth reusing.

Likewise all my standard items go in new boxes and i pay less than 20p a box for most sizes. If i had to make my boxes from existing card it would takes ages, so I reserve that for the very awkard sizes that I don't have a standard box to fit. The only ones i ever really reuse are the Amazon one as they are surprisngly sturdy or th eboxes my packaging arrives in. The rest I break down and it goes to the cardboard recycling place.

custardy

ballisticbrian wrote: »

custardy, If you've ever emptied a container from China, there's a lot of cardboard in there and most of it gets reused to send out items. I'm not talking about someone selling the odd item.

and nothing is stopping you reusing it under the new system

RFW

I was buying second hand boxes well before Ebay came along. There are dealers who size them and resell, so you could quite easily find one with some the right size. Most couriers aren't bothered about boxes you use as long as they don't fall apart in transit. I doubt the environmental impact of the price hikes and size changes will be too dramatic. If anything there's likely to be less larger parcels being sent due to the cost.

I'm fairly sure all the supermarkets recycle cardboard anyway.

porto_bello

I reuse packaging wherever possible and for larger items, I obtain cardboard from my local Iceland store. Personally, I'm happy if the item is received well packed - it matters little to me whether the packaging is new or not.

I've found most buyers are similarly happy with second-hand packaging, perhaps in some cases because I only charge for the face value of the postal cost.

... On one occasion, I did have a buyer complain that their 99p item came in a seond-hand jiffy bag and I should have bought a new one! To which I replied that I would have been happy to have despatched the item in any container or by any service that the buyer so wished - IF the buyer had been willing to pay for these additional requirements... never heard no more, but blocked 'em to be sure!