Amazon requires sellers to use less packaging

What's more groan-inducing than slicing open a bulky box and wading through mounds of plastic and paper only to find a small gadget inside?

This — plus the box-within-a-box phenomenon — is a common experience for Amazon shoppers. Now the internet giant wants to change that. 

The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that Amazon has instituted new standards for its sellers to make packaging more compact and efficient. 

Amazon reportedly starting issuing the directive last fall. But now, time's up. Sellers were told to make changes by Aug. 1 or face fines.

The effort to cut down on the amount of packaging is a good one, from a cost and environmental perspective. For Amazon, more efficient packaging on the seller end means cheaper shipping costs from the warehouses to people's homes. Amazon has also reportedly been changing its inventory to make every item it ships financially worth it; smaller, cheaper items are now increasingly sold in bulk, according to a separate report from the Journal. Read more...