It's like one of those box-inside-a-box-inside-a-box puzzles!

It's like a reverse dick in a box joke... I get it.

I dont see why people make such a big deal out of this. Unless they markup the shipping who cares. I agree it is rather funny that this happens but I certainly wouldn't take pictures and post on the cosumerist for it. I think they should take the box and give it to some kids. That would make an awesome fort or house, my nieces love stuff like that.

It is easy to see why she is married. Good sense of humor, and cute to boot.

@Wants A CU Labcoat_GitEmSteveDave: For some reason I have yet to find a girl in a box I purchase. :(

@Darrone: I considered "chick in a box," but decided against it.

Had the clock arrived in a smaller box and it was damaged in shipping. Im sure the complaint would be that Target did not pack it in a big enuff box.

Let's step back a second. I highly doubt such a large box would have been used had the shipper not ALSO elected to pay for gift wrapping. If you look at the pictures, the gift wrap box is itself a bit oversized (but not unreasonably so), and to accommodate the gift wrap box, an even longer box had to be used.

The issue here should, therefore, not be the length of the box but its depth. Since I am sure they have a limited inventory of box sizes, they probably did what they could. Certainly had they cut down the sides of the box and folded over (Mailboxes etc will do that), there would be a posting as to 'look how ugly the target box is').

Oh no...I registered for that same clock for my wedding....better just ask for gift cards.

It matters because it's a waste of resource (i.e. trees, fuel, etc.). Even if we PERSONALLY do not incur a cost (at the present) from the misuse of packaging, misuse accumulates and can be damaging.

Therefore, we should care when big companies waste on packaging.

@sasquatch28: Because over time it really does add up. Bigger boxes can cost more to ship. You also get fewer of them onto a plane or truck, which means more planes and trucks need to go out to ship the same number of things. Then there's the actual waste of having X many extra square feet of cardboard, and of the packing material used.

So one box? No, really not a big deal at all. But worth keeping an eye on, because as a trend it'd be problematic.

Maybe the box was intended for a clock Flavor Flave ordered.

I call BS on 90% of these "stories".

Hey! Free giant box!

I think this story is bogus. John actually received a mail-order bride and got the clock as a thank-you-for-shopping-with-us gift.

So they ran out of small size boxes in some shipping department somewhere. Whoa big deal.....

Time to complain to whoever sent you that for opting for gift wrapping. Target didn't check the box, it's not their fault.

@jdmba: I think they could have usesd both a smaller gift box and shipping box. ;)

You know what! I'm starting to doubt the veracity of these shipping gang stories. Shipping that clock in such huge box is so damn imbecile, I refuse to believe it.

@BeerManMike: I call BS on 90% of your "statistics."

@sasquatch28: It's a huge waste of resources and material. And it does cost more to ship.

I'd buy her for a dollar.

Wow! Mail order bride! I'm off to my local Target to get me one of these!

I hate the waste, but I can almost believe Target could be using extra special care for wedding registry shipments. You know, like "whatever you do don't let the box get dented because I remember the last bride who came in and went all psycho about her wedding gift box being dented."

Having learned the hard way, I know some women can go totally non-linear about those things.

Just a thought.

@Applekid: I got a rock.

Yo dog, i heard you like boxes...

I actually understand why Target did this. They probably have a one-size wedding gift box. This being the best size. Look at it, it's the perfect size for any random wedding gift, blender, plates, toaster, whatever you decide to get them

@Anathema777: Well, if it's a female rock I think you got a one-up over me.

Wait that's a Time machine box!!!!

Don't blame yourself for late homework.

@Applekid: I have, but the money-back return policy wasn't good enough. :)

@veg-o-matic: 5 out of 4 people know that 78.9% of all figures are made up on the spot. BTW, I got that figure from wikipedia, so it has to be true.

@veg-o-matic: How? i just made it up in the form of my opinion. Really though, no need to be a jerk, i can get 100's of big empty boxes here at work and throw in some random stuff, does that mean CDW, tigerdirect, etc.. are all shipping small things in big boxes? no i just made that crap up, but OH NOES let alert the internets!

where can i order a bride and a clock?

@Wants A CU Labcoat_GitEmSteveDave: Forfty percent of people already knew that!

@BeerManMike: "Really though, no need to be a jerk,"

Oh, but you can be a jerk? LOL.

@Bertmanintx: Russia?

She's cute!

It's the intermediary box. You need at least 3" clearance on all sides for shipping to cover damages, and you can see from the left-right sides of the last pic, that their enormous box barely even meets that requirement (I think its actually short). Given that restriction, this was likely the smallest box they could have used. Sad but true.

Be sure to save the box in case you need to ship a body somewhere. If you ship over-seas, it's preferable to ship multiple small packages, however, since they charge by size as well as weight.

@BeerManMike: I have to agree. This lady obviously found a big box, grabbed a roll of clear packing tape w/Target Logo's on it, applied it to the box, and then cut it open. She then found one of those "Target gift wrap boxes" that you always find(with bow and card attatched,BTE), and shoved a Target branded clock into it, then took photos and sent it to Consumerist. Something anyone who works in any office building could find, right?

I used to work for Innotrac, (which is target.com's fulfillment partner for the .com orders.. That box looks like its a size 255 (largest box they have). It looks like someone in pack-out was careless when they picked the box size for that, and pushed it out on its merry way, or they were out of the long flat boxes, and it was near quitting time.

@nakedscience:

It actually does cost more to ship if the dimensional weight is more than the actual weight.

This would be great for me. I'd get a clock, and my kids would get a giant box to play in. Double win. Boxes rule.

@AldisCabango: Wouldn't a smaller box be less damaging..since the clock wouldn't shift around as much?

Also, this is pretty much overkill

@MelanieArsinoe: I asked for a giant painting, and it came appropriately packaged...I suspect that it has more to do with the fact that Target has fewer boxes that can fit a flat piece of art, so it came in the right size of box because there was no room for box size error.

I hate ordering gifts and having them shipped though, especially if I'm going to the wedding. I much prefer to have that nice, pretty gift sitting on the table. One of the best parts of the wedding is opening the giant pile of gifts. It's like Christmas.

There's an Outlaw Star and/or Firefly joke in here somewhere.

@Etoiles:

" Bigger boxes can cost more to ship. You also get fewer of them onto a plane or truck, which means more planes and trucks need to go out to ship the same number of things "

No, not according to UPS/FedEx. Boxes up to 3 cubic feet in volume are billed at actual weight with no oversized/underweight surcharges. Infact UPS/FedEx encourage the use of relatively oversized boxes to minimize their handling costs and to prevent product damages.

Why is there minimal worry about oversized boxes? Because of me. The products I ship have a product density up to 100 lbs per cubic foot. I am not the only dense product shipper. There are 100's, no 1000's of us. Therefore, the average UPS long haul trailer is typically weight limited not volume limited.

IF UPS/FedEx were to become volume limited, we would quickly see a change in their policies.

@H1N1_GitEmSteveDave: Anyone could draw those little Target logos on with a red marker!

@BeerManMike: Let's just pretend that these are mostly BS, then. I would not be annoyed at the dirty lies as much as I would be at the lack of creativity.

If they really wanted attention, they could do something fantastic, like set the lawn on fire or have a giant monument to themselves built that shoots fire and screams "REMEMBER ME!" but no..

"I know!! I shall spin a tragic six-sided tale of empty space and misery: a great United Parcel blizzard of packing peanuts and tissue that will rain down sorrow and woe, heralding a silent terror that will fly in on corrugated wings of cardboard!"