Will Amazon’s Frustration-Free Packaging Be Frustrating?

I have to admit, I love the concept behind Amazon’s new Frustration Free Packaging. When you’re buying online you certainly don’t need the box that lets you look through plastic to see what’s inside. And I detest trying to open most toys these days.

I just hope they get a better selection in there soon.

Only a very few toys and electronics are available so far in plain boxes. Some of course use less plastic than others, but all the toys involved so far do appear to be plastic themselves. And of course some will save more packaging than others.

They do hope to get more toys into this kind of packaging. I hope so too. It takes some effort to get manufacturers to go along with this, but Amazon certainly has the clout.

I hope to see wooden toys and such in better packaging too. I’ve seen that sometimes, although it wasn’t marketed as such. When I bought my kids a wooden train set last year, the tracks came in plain brown boxes. It was really nice, even if it took a moment for the kids to get excited.

Another great search I’ve found on Amazon is to search under “made in USA“. There are a lot of wooden and organic toys listed there. Some plastic too, but mostly not, at least in the pages I checked.

With the holiday shopping season fast approaching, now is a great time to start thinking about what kinds of toys you’re going to pick for your kids. If you can consider both their wants and the environment, why not? It might be the slight improvement from Frustration Free Packaging, or a more deliberate selection of environmentally friendly, creative toys, but you have a lot of options.

2 replies on “Will Amazon’s Frustration-Free Packaging Be Frustrating?”

  1. I think many people are going to be more careful with their holiday purchases this year – taking more time to consider what exactly to spend their hard earned money on. I know I certainly am. Since I hope to use more care, I will be shopping around for good prices, environmentally friendly packaging, and when it comes to the toys, good clean fun! Any more suggestions of places to look beyond Amazon? I like to support the smaller businesses too when I can. Thanks.

  2. Stephanie says:

    Local craft fairs are always fun. There have been a few recently in my area. http://www.etsy.com is also good for handmade things by individuals.

    For not handmade there are a number of online stores I like. No idea as to company size, although pretty much everyone is smaller than Amazon. Heirloom Wooden Toys, Hazelnut Kids and Craftsbury Kids come to mind. I should really do a post on the smaller businesses soon too.

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