Officeworks slammed as mum's online order turns up in 23 boxes
An Australian woman has taken to social media to complain after 38 items were delivered in 23 boxes.
An Aussie mum has hit out at Officeworks over the excessive packaging of her children's booklist order after receiving 38 items delivered in 23 boxes.
The woman asked Facebook group followers of the Mum of Boys Australia page to "explain the logic" behind the packaging after she submitted her children's back-to-school supplies list. "Could someone please tell me the logic behind Officeworks' delivery system? I ordered my kids booklists for the year and this is how it was delivered," she said, sharing an image of the stack of cardboard cartons.
The post sparked hundreds of responses from other online shoppers who were also "fuming" after receiving their small online orders in several large boxes. “Mate, don’t get me started,” one commenter said after receiving a small packet of 12 pencils in a medium-sized box. Another follower said “the box to contents [ratio] is always off these days".
Several people suggested it may have happened due to the items being delivered from several warehouses, but the woman confirmed they were all sent from the same store, with the same delivery stickers on each box. Others suggested it's happening because more retailers are using artificial intelligence, and machines to pack orders in their warehouses.
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Officeworks responds, blames technical fault
An Officeworks spokesperson told Yahoo News Australia the company has isolated the incident to their Perth Customer Fulfilment Centre and say it was due to a technical fault.
"We are working to rectify this with our supply chain teams to ensure minimal materials are used when packing orders," the spokesperson said.
"We are sorry to hear of this customer’s recent online delivery experience. At Officeworks, we want everyone to have an enjoyable shopping experience with us — whether it be shopping in store or online —and we are disappointed that on this occasion, this did not occur.
"Additionally, at Officeworks, we take our environmental impact very seriously. We have been working towards more sustainable packaging solutions for our products for several years, and this commitment continues to be a strong focus area across our business.
Retailers slammed for excess packaging
Officeworks isn't the only retailer to come under fire over excessive packaging and waste. A Sydney Mum hit out at retail giant Kmart, after they sent one bath bomb in a box so large, several plastic air pockets were included to cushion it. Many have also called out Amazon for using huge boxes for one or two small items.
Supermarkets have also been slammed for their excessive plastic use on fruit and vegetables. Customers urged the big chains to do better when it came to their sustainability practices and not wrap so many items in single-use plastic.
Australia's waste issues
According to Accumulate Australia, the average Aussie discards 130 kilograms of plastic per year. That equates to 20,000 plastic bags, 7000 plastic water bottles or the weight of three bar fridges. Shockingly only 12.4 percent of all waste is recycled.
LucentGlobe, two brothers on TikTok who want to change our habits when it comes to waste, say the amount of plastic waste Australia produces could fill the MCG nine times.
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