Wednesday Rant, or For the Battery Wore Clothes
I’m not one of those people that gets bent out of shape over “excess packaging.” I, for one, generally tend to take care of my stuff, so I’d really prefer that my stuff arrive in packaging that protects it from getting all scratched up before I even receive it.
Products don’t just magically arrive on store shelves. They have to be delivered and, if the packaging is insufficient, they could get messed up just by the bump and tumble of transportation. Let’s not forget to mention handling either, because, as anyone who’s ever worked in or shopped in a retail establishment knows, sometimes workers are pretty careless about things.
If it’s scratched or dented, I expect a discount. Thus, manufacturer’s and retailers want decent packaging so that people like me, which is probably like most shoppers, will receive unmarred goods.
Still, even considering that, there are times when the packaging is excessive. Take for example a product I got not too long ago, that actually included a battery, shown below.
Why, I ask you, would a single battery need to be shrinkwrapped? I could understand shrinkwrapping a pair or more to keep them together. I could understand it if there were metal objects inside the packaging upon which the battery could short itself out. I could understand if maybe they were trying to protect the product against battery leakage, should that occur. But, since the shrinkwrap was open on the sides, any leakage would have still escaped, so I doubt that’s the reasoning.
Since the outer packaging was a bubble package, certainly they could have made an extra bubble just for the battery that would have kept it separate from everything else, if that were a necessity. It’s shaped to fit the rest of the product, and there was plenty of room for a tiny battery bubble!
I just don’t see the necessity of shrinkwrapping a single battery when none of the above possible explanations would seem to apply in this case.
Maybe they’re trying a new marketing effort based on “fun size” candy bars. But the battery is still regular size, so I’m confused.
Is it me or has fun-sized candy become microscopic size in recent years? I loathe fun size.
Fun size - my sentiments exactly.
Well, the battery is AAA, which could be considered “fun size” when compared to an AA.
By the way, I wonder if that should be “a AA” or “an AA” as my first choice was “a.” If you call it an A-A battery, then obviously you’d say “an AA” but if you say—as I do—it as a double-A, then you’d use “a AA,” no? But, then it looks funny. I don’t think they ever covered this one in English class.
As for the “fun size” candy, maybe “diet size” would be a better nomenclature?
At any rate, these tiny candies might be something practical nurses may appreciate.
Wikipedia, which is ALWAYS correct, doesn’t even know the correct usage. The text says “an AA” and then the image caption says “a AA.” See for yourself.
Nice bit of self-promotion.
Disregard - it says “a Duracell AA battery.” So Wikipedia, in a surprise move, is not contradicting itself. This time.
[...] Internet at all, there are people that dislike excessive plastic packaging. And, while I agree that packaging is sometimes excessive, there are those that take things to extremes, complaining about the slightest bit of [...]