Infringed by various business marketing routines? Is there no way to complain about the fault of the purchased goods? The Black Cat Complaint Platform helps you solve your consumption problems around the clock【 In case of consumption disputes, complain on the black cat 】
Source: Legal Daily
□ Our reporter Zhao Li
"It was a pleasure to place an order for a while, but after a pile of goods arrived at home, there was trouble - they could not be dismantled." Zhao Pingping, a Beijing citizen, "complained" to the reporter of the Legal Daily that she had no way to start with the three layers of packaging inside and three layers outside, so she had to use scissors to "cut the mess with a sharp knife". Finally, the disposal of this pile of packaging waste was also a headache. After an operation, I was really tired.
In the interview, many "hand chopping party" expressed similar distress to Zhao Pingping: after receiving the online shopping goods, they opened it and found that the products only occupied half or even less of the space of the express box, and the other half was filled with foam and other fillers, which became a trouble to deal with.
The reporter's recent visit and investigation found that such a situation is not uncommon, especially during the just ended Spring Festival, the phenomenon of over packaging of goods is common. In some popular gift boxes, the products have not changed much, while the outer packaging has become increasingly large and luxurious.
The problem of over packaging of commodities has a long history, and relevant departments have also carried out supervision and spot checks for many times, but the effect is not very good ideal 。 So, what is the difficulty of packaging "slimming"?
The hardcover gift box is flashy
Layers of packaging became a gimmick
"I had to go twice to throw all the packaging garbage into the garbage can downstairs after I dismantled four gift boxes yesterday," said Zhao Pingping.
Uncle Zhao, a cleaning worker in Qinan Community, Xicheng District, Beijing, also has a deep understanding of the overflow of packaging waste. He told reporters that, especially during the holiday period, the number of packing boxes increased sharply. "This New Year's Eve afternoon, I sorted out the packing boxes for nearly two hours. If I didn't sort out the boxes as soon as possible, it would easily hit people if they were stacked high. Some packages were too thick and large, and the trash can could not be put down at all".
During the interview, the reporter met Ms. Yang, a Beijing citizen who was throwing garbage. She was holding a express box, a gift box of a certain brand "soybean+walnut+black sesame", and three glass cans. When talking about the packaging, she angrily told the reporter: "Just looking at the outer package of the product, I felt that there were three large cans of powder preparation inside, but after unpacking the layers of packaging, I found that the gift box contained three glass cans, each of which contained a small bag of powder preparation, which made me speechless."
Xiao Wang, who lives in Beijing, is a college student. She told reporters that this New Year, she received a strawberry gift box from her friend. "First there is a box outside, then there is a gift box inside, and then there is a gift box again... Open it layer by layer, and finally there are strawberries. Do you know how many strawberries are sold for hundreds of yuan in such a large box? Only 25.".
Such packaging is not the most exaggerated.
Previously, we media with tens of millions of fans released a unpacking video of a strawberry "black gold gift box". In the 42 second video, the unpacking process takes 37 seconds. Aluminum film insulation bag, foam box, plastic packaging, hardbound paper box, vacuum bag, sponge opening pad, plastic tray... The hardbound gift box is wrapped in 7 layers from the inside to the outside. A box of 24 strawberries in a hardcover gift box has become its biggest gimmick. In response, some netizens in the comment area commented that "price" and "intention" were spent on packaging.
Hu Mengya, a college student from Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, told the reporter that she once bought a case of snake fruit. "The net content on the package was ten jin, but in fact it was only seven or eight jin. The net content on the package included the weight after packaging, and she felt cheated.".
In addition to the food category, various brands of cosmetics have also prepared various gift boxes at such nodes as the Double Tenth Festival and the New Year's Day. Li Yan, a Beijing citizen, bought a set of 1000 yuan cosmetics gift box at a flagship store of a brand before the New Year. There were three cosmetics in the box. But in addition to the box of cosmetics, the store also used three large boxes to separate each cosmetics.
"I once bought a limited lipstick gift box for the Spring Festival, and the package was really beautiful. From the express box to the mouth infrared package, the lipstick package inside was a cube with a length of 15cm, a width of 15cm, and a height of 15cm." Wu Fei, a graduate student in Beijing, said that after opening the box, first it was covered with two layers of paper. After taking out the paper, there was only one lipstick and two or three pieces of cosmetics in the middle of the box, The remaining two-thirds of the box is filled with raffia grass.
"In order to make consumers feel that the goods are worthy of this price, some businesses have enlarged the packaging, added plastic sealing film, and added greeting cards, as well as a series of product introductions. In addition, some will also add souvenirs printed with the brand logo, packaging the goods inside separately, and adding a layer of bubble film respectively." Wu Fei said.
Over packaging is growing
Online shopping has become a disaster area
Many interviewees "complained" to reporters that online shopping is a disaster area with excessive packaging.
It is understood that the Shanghai Municipal Market Supervision Bureau once conducted a random inspection on the packaging measurement of biscuits, cosmetics, tea and other commodities sold on the e-commerce platform. The results showed that 12 of the 50 batches of goods sampled had the problem of over packaging. Among them, the unqualified rate of tea and coffee packaging is 20%, and that of cosmetics is as high as 70%.
Ms. Wang, who sells in a high-end buyer's shop in Beijing, told the reporter that, to a certain extent, exquisite and meticulous packaging can improve the shopping experience of consumers, and also can bring some consumers a sense of ritual for their own use or gift giving. Offline shopping has become a major strategy for many businesses to attract attention by focusing on packaging.
In addition to attracting customers, businesses also have their own reasons. Chen Xiao (a pseudonym), a shopkeeper who has opened an online store for nearly six years, told reporters that the problem of violent sorting forced businesses to increase their protection of goods. The sorters are understaffed. Under the high intensity work, the pursuit of efficiency has become the primary task, which is easy to cause damage to the express delivery. In order to ensure that the goods will not be returned, the merchants have to strengthen the packaging to avoid damage.
As for the definition of excessive packaging, the China Consumer Association has clearly pointed out that if the packaging volume significantly exceeds 10% of the commodity itself and the packaging cost significantly exceeds 30% of the commodity price, it can be judged as "commercial fraud" that infringes the rights and interests of consumers.
"The over packaging of goods looks gorgeous, but in fact it is flashy, which not only increases the burden of consumers, but also easily leads to the pursuit of luxury in society, which is contrary to the green and low-carbon life philosophy." Cao Mingde, director of the Natural Resources and Climate Change Law Research Center of China University of Political Science and Law, believes that over packaging wastes both resources and energy, The production and processing of these redundant packaging parts requires a lot of raw materials and electricity.
According to Hu Jing, a professor at the Institute of Environmental and Resource Law of China University of Political Science and Law, some goods are mainly used for gifts during the Spring Festival. People always think that gifts for relatives and friends should be beautiful, and they will definitely choose goods with beautiful packaging when buying. This involves changing customs, not overnight. I hope that in addition to meeting the basic needs of packaging, we can try to simplify packaging.
Strengthen supervision source governance
"Slimming" for over packaging
In order to solve the problem of excessive packaging of food and cosmetics, in September 2021, the newly revised compulsory national standard of "Food and Cosmetics with Requirements for Limiting Excessive Packaging of Commodities" was released and will be officially implemented on September 1, 2023. The new standard strictly limits the number of packaging layers, modifies the limit requirements and calculation methods of packaging void ratio, and adds the detection and determination rules of outer packaging volume and the necessary space coefficient of different commodities, so as to "slim down" excessive packaging.
In Cao Mingde's view, a series of national standards, such as "Restricting Over Packaging of Commodities, Food and Cosmetics", can effectively curb the problem of over packaging, but now there are also problems of inadequate supervision and enforcement by law enforcement departments. The newly revised national standard Food and Cosmetics Requirements for Restricting Over packaging of Commodities emphasizes again the requirements for commodity packaging, which is to reduce resource consumption and packaging waste generation from the source and reduce the burden on consumers.
Cao Mingde believes that production, circulation, consumption and other links are mutually causal, and the administrative department needs to strengthen supervision, so that enterprises can strictly implement relevant laws and regulations in the production process to avoid excessive packaging. Consumers need to cultivate the concept of green, low-carbon, conservation and environmental protection. When businesses take this consumer psychology into consideration, they will naturally reduce excessive packaging. "In terms of over packaging, we also need to really form a social consensus to allow the public and some social organizations to participate in the supervision".
In Hu Jing's opinion, it is very important for producers and operators to produce green packaging that meets the standards. If all green packaging is in circulation on the market, even some consumers can't buy luxury packaging, so there will be no problem of excessive packaging waste.
Hu Jing believes that, with the introduction and implementation of the mandatory standards for restricting packaging, on the one hand, producers and operators should consider some basic functions of packaging, such as safety and health and prevention of damage during transportation; On the other hand, we should consider how to reach the standard of green packaging. How to balance the relationship between packaging and the environment may require the country to further develop corresponding policies.
