Friday 16 February 2018

Amazon Paves the way for More frustration-Free Packaging

Amazon recently announced the frustration-free packaging incentive, which supposedly includes millions of products that allow for the giant to be supplied with packaging made for distribution that’s efficient and such. New vendors have also decided they’ll make packaging just for ecommerce too, and with easing frustration more and more people are behind this. Is this good for the long run? Yes! In the short-term, there are benefits too. Some of the benefits of this of course include: 


  • It meets the demands for consumers by using less packaging. 

  • Helps with sustainability goals 

  • Lowers the packaging and transport costs 

  • Lowers the  return rates for damages 

While there is definitely some focus on lowering carbon emissions, frustration-free packaging is another focus, since it does help with reducing packaging waste. The program that Amazon used started in 2018 where the durable goods, soft goods, and consumables that were larger than a certain amount or greater than 20 pounds were considered “non-sort” items. The sort items would be smaller products that fit in certain types of  items as well, including animals, beauty products, and the like as well. 

The incentive will increase the shipments of these types of packaging, reducing the portion of shipments in the traditional packaging, and the appeal that’s there, and also is good to help protect products that go through the supply chain. The flexible packaging is another one, since it is good for those who are looking to handle and eliminate packaging material as much as you can. You can optimize the product protection in order to limit the damages of this, and by expanding on this one you’ll be able to make it certified packaging that’s safe for you. 



Amazon first expanded on this in June of 2021, and right now, this is going to expand the incentives for the frustration-free packaging that is good for products which are sortable. They do range in price depending on the unit, and by unit, they mean a specific type of ASIN, and the number that identifies that. They do have a chargeback for frustration-free packaging that isn’t sortable, but they’re not expanding this right now to the sortable types of options for this kind of packaging. 



The goal of this incentive program is to help with transition costs, helping to accelerate the conversation of the packaging, and from there, make it not only more suitable, but also more sustainable too. All of the product packaging does pass the ISTA 6A text, and it does have its own ship in own container certification for this as well. From there, they look to see if there is a way to reduce the overall size of the packaging, and then from there, ensuring that the packaging is not only easy to open, but also totally recyclable. This new program supposedly reduces or keeps the volume for those who have incentives, so it definitely may reward vendors for maintaining the volume. The deadline for this new program can be as early as October of 2021, or as late as December of next year. But we hope that wit this type of packaging, and with reducing the frustrations of those that are going to be opening this, will definitely improve the way things are, and hopefully, as frustration-free packaging improves, more people will be able to use this, and also help their customers get the most that they can out of this, and also reducing the chances of hassle that come with the types of packaging that this has, and everything that goes on too.  


Friday 2 February 2018

Biotech invents always-Upright Shipping Containers

Biotech, a company that focuses on alternative packaging, has created a new container. This is called the InSphero, which is an InFloat container that keeps everything upright, regardless of the orientation of the packaging. Being able to ship microtissues to bio and pharmaceutical companies along with academic laboratories, this is a strange machine that looks like a gyroscope, with a floating ball that keeps an internal temperature of 20 degrees Celsius, and 40 degrees Celsius all year round, which is good for the contents since they can handle the with pressure changes that go through the air cargo compartments. 


InSphero is one of the biggest leaders in specialized and functional 3D types of microtissue, aiding with drug discovery. These handle delicate microtissues in plates that involve various tiny wells, which are used in drug screeners and researchers. This does preserve the psychological function of the shipping, making sure it’s not trivial. The microtissue plates are totally vertical during all of this, but even then, they can sometimes flip, which is a challenge for a lot of 3D cell cultures since you can’t control everything that happens within the boxes after they leave the bioproduct in places. 

But this product was inspired by seafarers, and this type of system helps with the weights, preventing them from capsizing, using a principal that hasn’t been used in other packaging solution. The InFloat system does reduce the risks of shipping along with uncertainty, since they allows for the carefully packaged plates of tissues to float in water until they get to the destination. They fully patented the concept, and just recently InSphero did approach someone to demonstrate it.  It’s been developed and manufactured by a company called Taracell AG, which is in Switzerland, which is also a company that specializes in particle foam shipping and packaging for sensitive items. 


You may wonder if they’re going to license any of this to other companies, and the answer is yes. They want to create a more adapted version based on this concept so that more companies can benefit from this. Right now, the shipper itself will keep the microtissues alive for up to 3 days between the two locations, however this is dependent on the type of microtissue that they’re going to be transporting. For oxygenated microtissues, they’re still working on the logistics of this since the containers normally aren’t oxygenated. But in one instance, a shipper was held up during a snowstorm in Boston, where the plates were kept intact. The cargo wasn’t live microtissue, but the shipper seemed to hold the contents pretty easily, and hopefully, as they continue to work on getting this together, and making this more functional, they’ll be able to do a whole lot more with this. 



With this type of container, right now there isn’t a total singular type of price on that, and right now, if you’re already working with the company, and have purchased the in vitro models in the labs, you’ll get this, otherwise it’s best to enquire to them what exactly the costs is, and what it would take for you to get this one. As for the sizes, there is currently only one size, and it’s only sized to fit each of these components, since the microtissues do sit with the assay plate technology, sealed in sterile, film conditions, and they’re wrapped to keep the sterility there. But it does come with differ boxes for each of these cultures. Hopefully, as we see more use from this, more people are able to take advantage of this cool type of packaging option. 

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