One Man's Trash.....

...is now apparently MY trash.

I have been having a nightmare of a time lately with some incoming packages and I just really need to vent.

Over the years, I have received many Josef dolls in the mail with all sorts of different packaging materials and padding to ensure my items arrive safe. Of course there is plenty of the usual stuff you'd expect, like packing peanuts, bubble wrap, tissue paper, newspaper, etc.
Nothing out of the ordinary: Wonderful!

But then there have been the packages thoughtfully filled with, what most would consider to be, actual garbage: Less wonderful.

I have received packages stuffed with dozens upon dozens of plastic bags, fistfuls of the sender's junk mail, the plastic wrapping from cases of bottled water, egg cartons, filthy old rags, pounds upon pounds of shredded paper, and busted up bits of Styrofoam (there is a special place in hell for those last two, by the way). Around Christmas time I can expect one or two packages to arrive filled with crumpled up gift wrap and bows from the recent holiday cleanup. I've even received a figurine nestled inside of a shoe. Yes, a shoe. I've had items wrapped in diapers, and on a few occasions, I've had to unfurl those large medical pee pad things, which, I must add, appeared to have seen better days. (I cringe just recalling this. Ugh!)

Hey, before sealing it up, why not just fart directly into the box while you're at it? 'Cause I'm already holding my breath and making a face like you did, anyway.

Oh yes, I have seen some very "inventive" packaging, to say the least.

I'm all for recycling, but this is madness! And quite frankly, in some of the more extreme cases (shredded paper and pee pad people, and Shoeless Joe, I'm looking at you!) I find it downright rude.
When someone is actually emptying their paper shredder bin onto the item I paid for, or when they are stuffing crusty rags, or dingy pee pads, alongside my hotly anticipated purchase, don't these people ever stop and think about what the experience is going to be like for the person on the receiving end of this delivery? Don't they consider what it must be like for someone to count down the days to receive their package, all excited to finally open it up, only to find what appears to be nothing more than a box of someone's garbage?
No. They don't.
But I wish they would because I'm pretty sure it's safe to say that nobody likes being shipped a box of garbage.

And oh yes, then there is still of course the ever pleasing task of having to sift through all that mucky muck, just to get at your long-awaited treasure which, sadly, is buried within its depths.

Yes, I'm glad my item arrived safely.
No, I didn't need that top layer of skin that I am now frantically scrubbing off.

Like I said, I've been dealing with this for years now, but I am finding myself especially fed up these days. Probably because I just recently received 3 doozies in a row.

I feel like when I buy dolls online now, I actually will have to add a message to the seller requesting, "Please do not wrap my doll in your leavings. Thank you!" 'Cause I am tired of having to lug out the vacuum, or arm myself with rubber gloves and Clorox wipes, simply because I'm opening my mail!

So, to anyone reading this who may have recently sold an item and is getting ready to prepare it for shipping: Please don't wrap what may be a precious item to some, in what is garbage to most. Because nobody likes digging through someone else's trash. Unless you are some sort of superstar. Then I'm sure there are people who would love to dig through your trash. But if you're not, just please....don't.

And to the peeps out there who aren't just cleaning out there pantries, or under their beds, and using whatever they find as shipping materials: You keep me sane!

So to recap...

ACCEPTABLE 😃: Bubble wrap, air pillows, CLEAN packing peanuts, tissue paper, and newspaper

UNACCEPTABLE 😠: Shredded paper, busted up Styrofoam, random debris laying around your home, or anything where I need to question whether or not you've actually wiped your ass with it









Now that I've gotten that off my chest, what fun and inventive packaging have you run across?
Feel free to share!
It might make you feel better.


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