Lost Art Press

Unbox This

Posted on by Lost Art Press

You don’t see many “unboxing” videos of our books and tools on the internet. And that is 100 percent by design.

We put a lot of thought into our packaging. But our goal is to get the product to you using the minimum amount of packaging. And with most – if not all – of the packaging being recyclable.

Elaborate packaging is disgusting to me (I tried to come up with a nicer word than “disgusting,” but I thought of only meaner ones). Not only does it waste resources and labor, but it lays bare the manufacturer’s priorities – marketing instead of meat.

Instead of making fancy embossed boxes tied with ribbons and other hoo-hah, I would rather do one of two things:

  1. Lower the price of the tool/book.
  2. Improve the quality of the book/tool.

I’ve had to endure a lot of fancy unboxing ceremonies (we own Apple products, and I have a Hamilton watch). And every time I open one of these crazy boxes I think: What a waste. Then I have to disassemble the recyclable parts from the stuff that has to go in the trash (really, a cotton cloth box for the instruction manual?).

Usually my disgust subsides if the product works well. But recently I bought a new ultrasonic cleaner (it’s the only thing that will remove the sawdust from the crevices of my eyeglasses). The packaging was exactly like opening an Apple computer. Crazy boxes inside of boxes with elaborate cord wraps and whatnot.

The product is a stinker. It couldn’t clean a turd if I loaned it a toothbrush. 

OK, crotchety publisher signing off.

— Christopher Schwarz

36 thoughts on “Unbox This”

  2. Worse is when you sort all the “recyclable” from the rest and it still ends up in the landfill.
    Turns out plastic is not really recyclable, plus most people mix the trash all up and just fill up the garbage cans. I believe Amazon is one of the worst offenders.

  4. I admire the simple, honest packaging of the Crucible tools I’ve purchased.

    For tech products, I don’t mind the fancy ornate boxes as at least with this trend they are entirely (or nearly so) paper and the whole of it can be chucked in the recycling bin. The alternative would be plastic clamshells and baggies.

  6. I’ve seen people resell Lie-Nielsen boxes on Ebay, which just baffles me. They’re as basic as cardboard box you can get, with just logo and type of plane on it, and yet people are apparently willing to pay serious money for just an empty box. It’s quite perplexing.

      1. I turned mine into a four drawer nail cabinet. Sawed up the lid to make the drawer compartments. Removed the screws and drove nails in their place. The plane resides in the lower compartment of my dutch tool chest.

  8. I suggest that any plastic entering or produced the United States must be easily recyclable by the year now.

    1. I’ll see your suggestion, and raise:

      All products should be a validated for womb-to-tomb hazards. Example: How many batteries are made every day… and go where, when they’re used up?

      Also goes for paints, packages, electronic toys, chemicals, anything containing a pollutant should be appropriately evaluated. No, I’m not trying to push a hippie agenda, just recognizing the financial reality of consumer, and post-consumer safety.

      Start thinking about where the product will end up, beyond the shelf on the store. And more importantly, how much it will cost to safely handle that waste.

      It’s the great myth of throwing something ‘away.’ There is no such thing, really, as ‘away.’ It’s just ‘over there. No… no, farther away…’

      2. Absolute endorsement! Coincidentally, I had a revelation this morning: in German, we have a term for throwing something away that quite literally means ‘de-worrying’ (entsorgen). No doubt a euphemism created by some smart industry brains. It is even used by the most fervent waste reduction advocates as a more sophisticated synonym of ‘throwing away’. Only that chucking something in the bin does not mean one does not need to worry about it anymore. We should use terms that more accurately reflect what happens to the waste we throw away every day.

  9. I bought an ultrasonic cleaner from Harbor Freight. Inexpensive, works well and came with minimalist packaging. Of course, it’s from China…

  10. I buy cheap prescription eyeglasses at Costco. I blast with air in the shop, and set them in the upper rack of the dishwasher. Sparkling clean after that.

  12. I received an order from Microjig containing accessories for the Matchfit system. The products were great, but they were all packaged in clam shell packaging. When they asked me to review their products, I wrote that they are great products, but the packaging is extremely wasteful. It would not be that hard to use the clam shell packages in stores and send the mail orders wrapped in paper in a simple box. This might cost a little more, but they could use it in their advertising to tell us what a great company they are. One person’s opinion is not going to change anything. Lost Art Press has a platform that might influence the woodworking industry. If woodworkers could post their experiences with different companies, they might start to listen. I don’t think that even the best companies are aware of this. I just receive a Veritas flushing chisel from Lee Valley that was packaged in a clam shell. I my experience they are one of the best and most aware in the industry. Thanks for letting me vent.

  15. High pressure water and dawn soap baby!! Rinse it then lather it up. That is what Costco recommended to me once and ive used it ever since. Works great and never scratches my glasses. That is unless you wear some fancy ones idk. I wear spy cyrus brand cause the lenses are huge then it saves me from using “eye protector” glasses–which never seem to fit on top of Rx glasses anyways. Check them out, you may like them and convert from the pair you own. ;-D

      1. It makes me happy to see a John Michael Greer article posted here. Fellow Fans of his writing are hard to find in the wild. Off to read the article now.

    1. I bought a Vevor core drill, breaking my rule of not buying the cheapest thing as I only needed two holes. Soft start broke somewhere round the third trigger pull and when it bound up I found out the safety clutch either didn’t work or was just dreamed up by marketing. I had a bruise the size of a dinner plate for weeks and was lucky to have my wrist in one piece. I got my money back but still. Not a brand I’m fond of.

      1. I thought Sinn’s were made out of submarine steel.
        Must be one mean disposal !
        I’m taking it that it was beyond repair?
        (The watch, not the disposal)

  19. I think Apple has gotten a bit better with their packaging – phone/watch mostly pretty much cardboard (but nice cardboard!). I think part of the “solution” is to have pricing/fees that include more of the cradle to grave cost of products and use the money to support recycling.

    And, I was going to make a crack about getting you a “keep off my lawn” sign, but someone beat me to it!. But hey, it’s your blog – say what you want!

  20. I have no objection to simple packaging when objects actually arrive in proper new condition, but minimalist packaging in this day seems not always to make this happen, and the “fancy” that seems wasteful sometimes has other uses.
    One nostalgic item older people seem to miss now is bandages that come in tins.
    J&J was known for this for years, and I think I still have one or two of the tins sitting in a drawer holding small items somewhere. Unfortunately, J&J stopped selling bandages in tins.
    The tins Twinnings loose leaf tea comes in are also useful. The tins stack when the same size, and are the perfect size for a pound of certain sizes of nails and screws.
    Apple packaging could be made useful if the box inserts were removable, since the boxes tend to be well, especially the phone boxes, and would be perfect for storing the various cables and charging blocks I’ve collected.
    Unfortunately, a lot of packaging is not really designed well for continuous or future use, and users have different preferences once they purchase an item.
    One of my most hated packaging items were the giant plastic tool boxes that come with certain power tools.
    Most were poorly or atrociously poorly designed for holding accessories, particularly in the quantities a serious user might actually want to keep with the tool.
    Some can barely fit the way too short cords that come attached to the tools.
    Steel tool cases usually didn’t have the same issue, since the insides weren’t molded and allowed lots of room for accessories. The now coveted German interlocking tool boxes also have a decent amount of room within.

  21. I’ve got a different view on the Apple packaging. There is something nice about opening a product with multiple pieces and clearly seeing that every piece was carefully considered as part of an assembly, in a way that is both intuitive and visually pleasing. My father was an engineer and usually had little time for frivolous things like packaging, but I remember him saying how opening an Apple product was pleasing in a way he didn’t think a piece of hardware could be.

Comments are closed.