Like most of my friends and family members, I do a lot less shopping in person and a lot more ordering stuff online these days.
Amazon is my go-to. I simply ADORE the “free shipping.”
Of course, dabbling on and off in handcrafted items myself, I am also a big fan of ETSY. There “free shipping” is hit or miss.
Last night I searched for “kids picture frames” on Etsy. I found two very similar items – one had free shipping and the other one did not. You guessed it: the seller who offered the free shipping had just added the cost to her selling price – so it was a toss-up on which to purchase.
Usually when I order something, I have a mental image of the packaging. Sometimes I’m annoyed when I order a book and the box is comfortably larger than the book’s dimensions. Sometimes, I get mad at myself for ordering two items hours apart only to realize what a waste I have incurred when they arrive in two separate deliveries.
Nothing, however, rivaled what was delivered to me this morning.
Last summer, I had ordered some ridiculously expensive under eye cream, whose manufacturer was “a pioneer in anti-aging cellular therapy” and whose origins can be traced back to the famous La Prairie Clinic in Switzerland. Not surprisingly, it was touted to do the following:
Lift
Nourish
Firm
Hydrate
Reduce under eye bags and
Restore firmness
Who could resist????
And to be honest, the stuff worked – gradually – but it worked. So I ordered it again!
Below is a photo of the packaging for a jar that weighs .68 ounces and measures about 1.5 inches in diameter.
I’m speechless.
So I start to do a little research.
Shopping online creates five times more emissions from packaging for online orders than from emissions of things bought in a store and put in plastic or paper bags (or the consumer’s own carriers), so says Anna Baluch is an article entitled “Is online shopping more sustainable?”
On the other hand, online shopping eliminates car trips and their emissions. Retail space then can be re-configured to carry less inventory and utilize less energy and less heating and cooling.
On the other hand, online shopping leads to five times more returned products, increasing the environmental footprint. One online study showed that approximately 40% of online purchases are returned, as opposed to 7% return in the case of brick-and-mortar purchases.
And when shoppers go to the mall? They usually make a greater number of purchases as compared to their forays into online shopping. In addition, mall visits are often tied to other activities as part of their trip.
It’s confusing but one thing stands out:
Consumers seek Price, Speed and Convenience when buying online, according to earth.org.
In the case of my eye cream, the price was about the same online and in person.
The online delivery time took quite a bit longer, but was more convenient.
However, Neiman Marcus, a store I rarely shop at – sells the eye cream. It is located 6.3 miles from my house. Google maps gauges my drive time to be 17 minutes.
After what I witnessed as the absolute worse excess of shipping materials, guess where I’ll be buying my next jar of under eye cream?
Keep Preserving Your Bloom,
