SD cards are getting so cheap that soon the box and the bubble stuff will be worth more.

@HalOfBorg: Maybe they'll use SD cards as a mailing-peanut replacement.

They couldn't just mail it in a protected envelope?

Did the soda come with the SD card?

@ShruggingGalt: They could. Then you will complain about how your precious SD card is not well protected during the shipping process.

Now before we get too huffy, that doesn't look super overly large. For an SD card, it may seem like an obscene size, but couriers and the post office don't like to take boxes under certain sizes because they have a tendency to get lost far more often because they get overlooked, or fall behind something. This probably somewhat larger than the "minimum" size, but there's a reason to use a decently large box.

Also, bubble mailer and padded envelopes have this weird tendency to be "damaged" in transit enough so that small items may go "missing" before they get to the destination. Though I'm not sure if the money saved on shipping would offset any such losses.

@Kogenta:
I agree. I'd rather my package arrived safely in an oversize box than damage in smaller packaging. Also, I tend to reuse the bigger boxes, so this doesn't bother me at all.

haha! the caption on the picture reminds me of Aladdin

"PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWERS!...itty-bitty living space!"

"AMAZON FRUSTRATION-FREE PACKAGING...itty-bitty SD card!"

either one is just as funny

@ShruggingGalt:
Apparently no. As I understand it flats are a pain in the ass for UPS and FedEx to process because their workflow is designed for packages. Thus, in order for Amazon to get discounts from the shippers, they have to have a certain box size as a minimum.

WTF? I sent in a pic last week of a similar, wasteful packaging job from Staples. (Got a reply from Laura saying "thanks for the tip, that's great.") What's the criteria for which ones get posted?

Staples does this all the time, by the way.

I think someone just screwed up on Amazon's side. Maybe they were out of small boxes or someone just grabbed the wrong one and used it.

I purchased a bluetooth earpiece with the "frustration free" packaging and it came in a small box. I'd say it was about 8" on each side with my earpiece inside a smaller box packed nicely with the instruction sheet, power cord and the earpiece all snug inside.

My last few purchases from Amazon have been packed in boxes pretty close to the size of what I was receiving so I think they've started to get the message.

You know, this could get kinda ugly. As a kid, every time I saw freshly opened boxes or discarded bags, it was a sign that there was something new in the house. You know, something of the size proportional to the box. And then I would rush excitedly to my folks and bugger them about whatever the new thing was.

Now if after seeing that box lying open in the corner, if my dad told me that the only thing that came was This! I would be totally convinced that he is lying and keeping something from me. Either because my sister is getting it or because he does not want me to take it apart. Either way, it's not fair.

@Crim Law Geek: that's bs, my dvds and books have been arriving in flat envelopes for months.

@organicgardener: no whinging about not getting your story posted! :)

@organicgardener: Yeah they do. I order from them at work and get a little bag of Sharpies in a box full of air pillows.

At least they give me a ton of the free pillows. I reuse them a lot.

@iam118: But those are already in hard containers. This SD card is in a small plastic case, so if it's put in an envelope, it will flex too much. So they put it on the cardboard flat, which makes it too big for just an envelope.

@PockyPimp: An easy way to tell is that Amazon includes what box/envelope your order is to ship in right on the included invoice/bill. It's usually on the lower right/left corner and is formatted like "Z2".

@iam118: They are probably shipped via USPS media mail if you are getting free super saver shipping on media.

@MostlyHarmless: RE:bugger. I do not think it means what you think it means.

@thisistobehelpful: the gremlins put it there. i intended to say "bug"

@MostlyHarmless: Well, at least I was entertained for a second.

@zentex: Awww.. I love that. Robin Williams will always be the best Genie ever.

@thisistobehelpful: Ewwww.. and with his parents and everything.

@Kogenta: The picture is weird, is it a cardboard envelope that I'm seeing? Or was packaged in the envelope and then packaged in the large box behind the envelope?

@statgrad: last i checked, electronics are not elegigble for media mail.
but technichly an SD card is electronic storage, so maybe it is?

@gStein: Nice thought, but no. "Media mail" is just the update phrase for "book rate".

@ShruggingGalt: They did put it in an envelope!

And then they put the envelope inside a box.

What's so wrong with that?

It's curious that they're so inconsistent, even (apparently) within the same warehouses.

I bought the same SD card -- well, one that was blue and recently went on special, so it's not too big a leap to assume it's the same -- and unless I'm completely misremembering things, it came in an envelope like it damn well ought to have.

@MostlyHarmless: Isn't there some kind of unspoken rule of burglary prevention about what you should do with large boxes?

Something like if you buy things in large boxes, take the boxes apart and take them to a dumpster or cut them apart and put the pieces in a garbage bag, or else would-be burglars may see the boxes outside your house and think you've just purchased something big and pricey.

Fake.

If i get my son's huge box that his playset came in, put some packaging material around it and take a picture with a SD card by it can i get my own story about stupid packaging too?

@CFinWV: They probably stuck the SD card in that large envelope and put that into the box. It's actually quite reasonable when you consider that with the size of the box vs the size of the SD card, someone might think there was nothing in it if the SD card were to slip under one of the box flaps. By sticking the card into a large envelope, it makes it much harder to miss.

Hrm. I'm moving soon. Maybe I should order some cheap small items from Amazon to get the boxes. :)

@HogwartsAlum: They are fun to frighten my dogs with - they make loud pops.

@Papercutninja: OK, I promise I won't "whing" anymore! :)

@BeerManMike:

Only one way to find out, buddy!

@kexline: my understanding of media mail is that you can also use it to ship CDs, DVDs, etc
via [www.usps.com] :

Media Mail® service is a cost efficient way to mail books, sound recordings, recorded video tapes, printed music, and recorded computer-readable media (such as CDs, DVDs, and diskettes). Media Mail can not contain advertising except for incidental announcements of books. The maximum weight for Media Mail is 70 lbs.

@CFinWV:

The envelope is what Amazon use to replace the blister package. Then the envelope is put in the big box.

I just started a new job at an surplus airplane parts warehouse. I wish I could take pictures of some of the stupid packaging we get. I had a 7" x 7" x 7" box that only had an envelope with ONE tiny rivet. It was bad.

I bought an SD card used and it came in a little yellow envelope with bubble wrap on the inside, and the SD card in a plastic carrying case.

That's frustration-free.

Well...companies have boxes printed in certain sizes. Usually it's not cost effective to print ultra small boxes because 1)They'd never use them, and 2)The smaller the box the more likely it get's lost or stolen in the mail.

I don't recall Amazon ever using bubble mailers but I could be wrong.

As someone who spends a large chunk of the day shipping, I think it's important to point out that warehouses can only stock so many boxes, and you really want to use as few sizes as possible. It's unreasonable to expect a company to have a specific box for every single product they own.

That said, an SD card could easily fit into a USPS Small Flat Rate box, and those things take up next to no space. I'm shocked Amazon doesn't use them, or something similar if they don't want to use Priority mail.

Too many details missing. The Perez Hilton style markings on the pic indicate that it is Amazon Frustration Free Packaging but that is not mentioned in the article. Did the OP actually click "Frustration Free Packaging" and get that? Did they even order from Amazon.com or one of the 3rd Party vendors, which unless they are using Fulfillment By Amazon are not eligible for Frustration Free Packaging. That doesn't look like FFP, it looks like the SD card comes to Amazon in that giant brown envelope then when it gets put into the system its product dimensions, for a little SD card, are inputed as the envelope dimensions of 14"x12"x.25" or whatever. So when it gets grabbed by the picker they are told by the machine that that product has to go in a box that can contain a 14"x12"x.25" package. Thus the oversized box since that's the smallest box that can hold 14"x12"x.25". What I've seen of the FFP program the boxes in the image are not consistent with that program. The card should have been sent in a bubble wrap envelope with the instruction sheet that was in the clamshell packaging initially nothing else. And it definitely shouldn't have been put into a box. If the OP actually did click on "Frustration Free Packaging" and still got that then it is a mess up by the packer. It should have just been put in an envelope and sent out. However with no other info in the article I have to assume the OP didn't actually ask for Frustration Free Packaging and so got standard ol' Amazon shipping in an inappropriately sized box. Yeah it sucks but that's part of why they started the Frustration Free Packaging program. At least they are making an effort. Unlike every other shipping company out there.