Packaging

Supply and demand coupled with on-time delivery guarantees. The demand for appropriately-sized containers to ship a CD may have exceeded the supply at Amazon's local warehouse, so they sent it using the next-best available box. Likely an automated process.

If your CD arrived intact and ASAP, that was the goal and they met it. If you're seeking packaging efficiency, ordering from smaller sellers on ebay and the like could satisfy provided you're willing to wait another day or two. IME, these sellers ship successfully often via reused packaging.

That brown paper that seems to arrive with every Amazon box makes an excellent firelighter if twisted into clumps.

Bruce

I have received a modem router from amazon that had the name and address label attached to the "cellophane shrink wrap" cover of the box, so the delivery guy could see I had network fetish. Amazon relied on the internal packaging of the product box.

Which was a sensible packaging decision. 

The real question is, are you pleased with the cds?

wenger2015 posted:

The real question is, are you pleased with the cds?

Good point, and so far I’ve not listened to them, I’m on a vinyl jag at the moment, so rips are getting little play, but I am looking forward to them from my recent introduction to the artists.

'Amsterdam' is a great listen!

I ordered 32Mb of HP printer memory for a Laserjet 5 , so this was quite a while ago whilst I was working for MOD(RN).

It arrived in a washing machine sized box on a pallet.

Perhaps Amazon want everyone to see the postman walking up to your house with the same recognisable Amazon box that features prominently in their current TV ad's. A little padded envelope wouldn't have the same impact. I notice that they're not using much plastic, which will be keeping the establishment happy now that the Chinese are refusing to take it off our hands.