Dead Trees

I love shopping online. But I can't stand it when my purchase arrives in packaging easily twice as large as the item inside. The cardboard container, the inner packing and the original wrapping all add up to more dead trees than anyone can possibly justify (except UPS or Fed Ex, which both charge accordingly).

What's even worse is the pile of phone books that arrive on my doorstep unbidden. In duplicate! When's the last time you or anyone you know looked anything up in a phone book? At this stage in the millenium, these tomes are little more than monuments to history -- and to photosynthesis gone by. Even my office didn't need them - duplicate sets had been delivered there as well.

You would think that a company in the cellular phone and internet service business would realize the folly of printing telephone directories. And you would expect that online retailers would recognize the economic advantages of sleeker shipping containers. At least I would. Silly me. I never learn.