Excessive packaging - Shonky As

Another one for the excessive packaging files - we were emailed this example of Coles Peanut Butter Cookies, with nearly half the pack consisting of empty space!

Do you find this practice Shonky, or not?

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It is a bit hard to tell from the picture but the cookies appear to be higher than the clear plastic tray and the outer so they were presumably shipped sitting flat in the tray and have been stood upright after opening.

If this was the case, then not shonky.

image

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Looks terrible, but if it’s the right weight then: no, not shonky.

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I agree if the weight is correct; to me, it looks more like a fault in the automated packaging process. So few biscuits, in the length of the tray, would be subject to a lot of movement & therefore damage to the contents


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It is likely, that the original pack contained 3 rows of 3 cookies sitting flat.
Approximate weight of each cookie 19g plus packaging to make the 175g stated on wrapper ?

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I can see the same as @Fred123 and @Gaby.

If the biscuits (aka cookies for those linguistically confused) were packed and shipped upright per the tray shot?

It’s likely the weight of the items above would cause them to snap. Unless they are Peanut reinforced? The pack describes them as ‘crunchy cookies’! :yum:

Not a shonky, just poor packaging?

Notes:
linguistically confused?
This appears to include Coles, although it’s product branding might appeal to some foreign investors?

Help save Australian language! First it’s cookies, what will be next? Loss of the word Australia for our nation? It can live on though as the name of the 51st state. :cry:

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Recently bought Arnott’s Simple Batch Vanilla Butter Biscuits. The tray in the pack had compartments and one compartment was 1/4 full while the others were full. No way they could have moved about and the numbers of biscuits still would not have been even no matter how arranged.

While it looked like a packaging error I weighed it, and the net weight was right on with the label. Conclusion, they do not make custom packaging for each and every variety but they use what they have that works (for them).

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OT but consider we poor souls who migrated to come to ‘another country’ only to have our ‘home country’ follow us and then slowly consume us as well as everything we came to. Almost back to where we left from in more ways each year! Might petrol become gas next, and our chips and hot chips conundrum will be reflected as gas and gas at the gas station. :sob:

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Cookies to me are a slightly bigger, and thicker, more moist version of a biscuit, often with nuts or chocolate chips added to the mixture.
A biscuit ( Latin ‘ Bis coctus’ : cooked twice) is usually crisp and flat.

I’m still confused when watching American movies to hear a family around the dinner table ask: ‘ Please pass the biscuits’ and they mean Scones!

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Yes, because the packaging gives an impression that the contents will fill the insides of the wrapper.

However
what is concerning is that the Coles example appears reasonable compared to which we have seen in other countries (esp. Asia). In these countries it it common to have at least three layers of packaging
the external wrapper, contents wrapped in individual serve sizes and a plastic holder to keep the product uniform and somewhat protected in the wrapping. We have seen examples where there has been an additional fourth clear plastic wrapper under the external wrapper. This is real waste, and Coles is not far behind in relation to over use of the packaging size.

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The tray has slots for the biscuits to sit in with spacing between (I think 2 biscuits to a slot). The picture shows what the amount of space the biscuits take up after being placed together rather than in the slots ie about 1/2 the space is just “buffer zone”. A huge waste of plastic and even if the weight was correct, we so often buy with our eyes that the packet looks like it would have more contents than it actually does. If someone saw a packet sitting on the shelf at the price they must charge that was 1/2 the size of a normal packet of biscuits, would most buy it? Perhaps some would if they really liked them but most would tend to go for value for money in my opinion
ie more content and less air.

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Shonky use of space to confuse the shoppers in my opinion, making the package to look like it contains more than it actually does. Also a waste of resources to make larger than needed packaging. Product shinkage perhaps to keep charging a similar price but reduce the amount of product, similar to what has been discussed on another thread about the decreasing sizes of goods but charging the same or more.

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Interesting, thanks for the thoughts everyone :+1:

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Don’t be!
The solution is to stick to what we all know.
If you need a scone, it will be in the bread isle or bakery.
If you need a shortbread or a cracker it will be with the biscuits. (We do call them Jatz Cracker Biscuits still?)
If you need a cookie, you go to Strarbucks or Subway.
If you need biscotti you go to Italy. Don’t forget the almonds.

It should be enough that our uniqueness sets us apart from other nations, while creating identity and shared values.
Given most of us are also recent arrivals we are free to create our own versions and usage?

The impression of part filled packaging though is not one that should be encouraged.

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Here’s another pic of a packet, just opened, showing the biscuits all laid out:

IMG_0411

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No longer ‘New’ as evidenced by the small change in labelling. Perhaps they worked it out?

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Good spotting! It looks to be the same packaging as above to me excep for that difference.

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I see it as deceptive and excessive packaging. It should be in a much smaller package without excess ‘air space’.

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Not defending the packaging, but the ‘new’ product photo looks like someone had transported the boxes on their side and the cookies responded accordingly. The ‘not so new’ photo could be so simple as the boxes were transported properly. Still, not the best packaging implementation.

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Same number of biscuits. I still think the first photo was taken to show how much space was taken up by the biscuits if there was no spacing between them. I don’t think the person opened them to find them arrayed like they are in the picture.

The second photo shows them placed in the 9 slots provided in the packaging from what I can see as the photo cannot be enlarged with enough clarity to see. But they are layered over one another so that no spacing can be seen between them, perhaps an intention of the maker/baker to make it look fuller.

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