A $30 Box

So I ordered Alina's birthday present from Amazon.com. I'm super excited about it - I got it with free shipping and it'll be here on the 18th (just in the nick of time!) so I'm glad it worked out so much!

BUT! Let me tell you something I learned about Amazon's little thingy called "Frusteration Free Packaging."

So, according to Amazon, "Frustration-Free Certified Packages are easy-to-open and come without hard plastic clamshell casings, plastic bindings, and wire ties. Frustration-Free Packaging will protect your product just as well as traditional packaging, and what's inside is exactly the same. Products with Frustration-Free Packaging can frequently be shipped in their own boxes, without the need for an additional shipping box."

While it sounds nice and eco-friendly... here was my question:
Why does the Frusteration-Free Packaging cost $16.99 when the Retailer Packaging costs $44.99?
WHAT?!!?!? That's right. A whopping $28 difference to opt for the recyclable box!!

So what's the deal? They don't save $28 by eliminating the box... here's my only guess (which nothing on Amazon supports this guess but it's the only explination I can come up with); Alot of boxes are damaged in shipping and in transit. My thought is that these "frusteration free" packages were actually sent in their regular retail boxes but got rained on or smashed or something. So, Amazon does a little test to make sure the product still works, throws out all the extra crap and puts it in a simple box and discounts it and creates a name for it, because no one will buy the smashed boxes anyway.

I simply could not believe that I saved $28 because I took the recycled box. Man, it sure makes Amazon look all eco-friendly and green but my guess is that the fact is they just are selling things they would have to discount because the box got ruined. I remember working at Journeys (Shoes) and having customers - especially at Christmas - get upset if the box was squished or something. There wasn't a scratch on the shoes, they weren't bent or anything, but the customer would want a non-smushed box. They even would buy the wrong size sometimes so that the box looked nicer.

Well, that's my outrageous tale for the day. Tonight I am going to McKay's Used Books for the first time ever. My mother in law goes all the time, and a girl I work with who is in school for teaching swears by this place. Its much like an EB games or clothing thrift store where people trade in their old "gently used" stuff and use store credit to buy new stuff, or you can just buy if you want. It's all used so its discounted alot. I am excited because I want to look for a few books for Brent that I'd been looking at online (for $8 or $10 each which is cheaper than like Barnes&Noble but used is just as good really). It also occured to me that I could buy several books for Alina and give them to her as Christmas presents... and kids books are like 25 to 50 cents each soooo that's a great price for a Christmas present! I'll have to share some of my finds with you all tomorrow!

On the list to look for Alina includes Max & Ruby books (previous post about these) as well as Sesame Street, Dora, and Disney Princess books... maybe some classic kids books... I'll have to see what I find! They also sell DVD's and CD's and Audio books and video games so I'll HAVE to look around and see what they've got and what kinds of prices they have. I'm WAY TOO EXCITED about this!!!