Being the thrift store and yard sale diva that I am, I don't often buy things new, and I buy things by mail order even more rarely. Usually it's the price of buying new products that I find seriously alarming; however while unpacking my mixer, I was more than a little appalled at the amount of detritus that ended strewn across the floor:
Compare that large pile of refuse to the size of the product found inside:
I'm sure I can't be the only one who's somewhat horrified. Now, I'm definitely not picking on the company that sent this to me; all products I've ever received shipped in the mail seem to have had an excess amount of packaging. At least styrofoam peanuts seems to be going extinct; I can recycle or reuse all of this packaging material (and my kids and cat got some play value out of the box).
This was a definite reminder for me of how much less waste I'm generating by secondhand shopping! And although I think buying used is the best way to reduce waste (as well as save a bundle of cash), there are times when it's worth it to buy new. This good quality mixer will probably last me 10 or 15 years (since the one I'm replacing, which was not nearly as good quality as this, has lasted roughly that long). And having good quality kitchen tools that make cooking easier means it's more appealing to make foods from scratch and less tempting to grab take out.
I just hope that when I need another new mixer fifteen years from now, that it arrives with a whole heck of a lot less packaging.
I agree completely about the packaging of most new items. I once bought a package of several pair of rubber gloves and was astounded that each pair was in a little plastic bag, inside a plastic bag with printing on it, all inside the plastic bag that held them all together. The mixer I got a few months ago has about the same amount of packaging as yours, way too much. I'm liking the lack of it in preowned things. I have noticed some retailers will keep at least some of the packaging lately though. I know it doesn't eliminate the problem of dealing with it, though, just reassignes it.
ReplyDeleteAnd if you haven't already discovered this, the new mixers are much more powerful than the ones we bought years ago. I had to clean half my kitchen after the first session with mine! Needed a much deeper bowl!
Karen
Yes, I have found out how powerful the new mixer is, lol. WOW! I can't believe how much more effective it is than my old one. Fortunately I was using a nice deep bowl the first time I used it, so not too much mess. I keep mixing up the beater eject button and the on/off switch, the on/off on the new one is where the beater eject on the old one used to be - now *that* has led to some mess!!
ReplyDeleteI soooo get a visual for that!!
ReplyDeleteKaren