Dignity in packaging

Packaging is both an art and a science.

In Japan.

Where every small item you buy tends to get the full origami treatment.

In most other countries - outside of luxury shops - a dumbed down version of the science aspect dominates,  with Styrofoam peanuts, bio-degradable peanuts, or plastic bubble wrap in the cheapest possible box.

The thought of "dignity" in packaging first came to mind when we found ourselves making funeral arrangements for a friend. We'll skip the casket stuff and all that to go straight to the final package.

A plastic bag inside a grey plastic container inside a satin drawstring bag.

The satin drawstring bag made all the difference.

Our next encounter with dignity in packaging occurred when we started to put our household into boxes for shipping across the oceans. A large private shipment like ours would probably be inspected by customs. Jumbled, mixed boxes must be attractive to customs, we thought.

And easy because they can check them at their leisure. Household goods are not time critical like a heart transplant that you can put on a few pounds of diamonds like in one of the older James Bond movies.

We tried to be nice and put like and like together. And we washed our clothes, not out of consideration for inspectors but because the thought of dirty underwear and, more so, dirty socks in a tightly sealed box for two months seemed awful.

None of this, however, sparked a blog post.

What did, was when some of the ladies here commented on the packaging of an adult toy one of them had bought a while ago. The cardboard box was light grey instead of generic brown, the loose filler material looked like small cardboard boats -- their similarity to simple origami started this post. An inner paper bag with a sticker modeled after an old wax seal and a handwritten card congratulating on the purchase completed the "dignity in packaging" aspect.

If you move your household across borders and have some very private items to ship, how about going the extra mile and adding some dignity in packaging?