Chez Baxblog imposes cloth diapers on the Fuss part-time, combining a feel-good nod to 'green' parenting with the kind of old timey frugality that makes Capitalism gnash its teeth in frustration.
Cloth diapers are super cheap & work fine, disposable diapers are not only expensive but an environmental disaster. But nobody wants to deal with a poopy cloth diaper, so plastic won that war.
Our hybrid approach works great when the Fuss is being predictable. Cloth most of the time, plastic when the POOP WARNING flag is snapping in the breeze. Of course sometimes you miss, which is why God invented Oxyclean.
The cloth diapering experience has been greatly improved by another of God's super ideas, the diaper cover. It's the convenience of plastic (Velcro! Waterproof!) minus the problematic disposability.
So, he's started growing out of his old diaper covers & we ordered a new stack. From Amazon, just because I didn't feel like making a whole new account on some baby supply site (why hasn't someone invented a thingie that lets you just buy stuff from wherever you want without creating a whole new account for every web page in the universe?) The Wife had a specific fashion profile in mind, so the order was filled by three separate vendors- Diapers.com, babyearth.com and Target.com (yes, Virginia, Target.com sells through Amazon.com- the corporate Oroboros at work).
Target gets a prize as the most responsible shipper- their package was shipped in a simple plastic envelope, which was plenty of protection for an essentially indestructible product.
Second prize went to Babyearth, who shipped a single cover in small but oddly shaped box padded with the type of paper they make grocery bags out of.
The big loser was, strangely, Diapers.com. You'd expect a company named DIAPERS.COM to be out in front of the challenges of efficiently shipping diapers and diaper related products. And you'd be DEAD WRONG!
Our two diaper covers arrived in a gargantuan oblong box more suited to shipping something like a big toaster oven, or a desktop computer. The mammoth box was stuffed with yards of inflated plastic packing material, presumably protecting the covers from a rogue meteor strike or bullet impact.
As comedy it was a huge success.
As efficient business practice, not so much.
I once received a 12 x 14 x 3 inch box with a cd in it from Amazon. Redic fo sho.
ReplyDeleteWhen I pack stuff, I take all my junk mail and run it through a paper shredder for packing material. Cheap way to keep costs down & recycle.