I purchased an iPhone during the refurb sale that AT&T had last week. In two working days I got my 16 gig iPhone, times two. Two identical boxes, two identical iPhones and two identical charges on my debit card. Given the good deal, I decided to keep both (yes, despite the impending update). Imagine my surprise when my wife called me at work the next day to report that a third box had arrived from AT&T via DHL 2-day shipping, and that it was twice the size of either of the iPhone boxes. Given the previous day's spoils, I couldn't wait to get home.
Arriving at my house, I located the box and sat down with it on the couch. It was very, very light, but I've become accustomed to good things not weighing much. Pulling out my trusty Swiss Tech Utili-Key, I carefully sliced open my unexpected delivery. Inside was a packing slip with a single line item:
75011 MISC iPhone PPA BAG ... $0.00
Yes, it was an unsolicited, rush delivery, plastic iPhone bag. This is definitely not a first for AT&T and the monetary waste involved in packing and shipping a completely unnecessary plastic bag is, I assume, passed back to the consumer. Next time you look at your AT&T bill, you can think about my MISC iPhone PPA BAG ... which I'll be cherishing forever. Or at least until the novelty wears off.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
5-22-2008 @ 3:04PM
John Spehn said...
Thats pretty funny!
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5-22-2008 @ 3:10PM
bobics said...
Funny yet sad. Reminds me of when I ordered an iTunes card from Amazon and it came in a box. So much packaging waste. Thanks for sharing!
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5-22-2008 @ 3:12PM
Adam said...
When I purchased an iPhone the day it came out at the ATT store, the employees were required to use those bags and then seal them shut before you left the store. Guess they still want you to have the bag.
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5-22-2008 @ 3:16PM
Dave said...
I can't believe what I just read. Not because of you, Brett, but because of AT&T.
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5-22-2008 @ 3:16PM
psxp said...
whats the bag for exactly???
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5-22-2008 @ 3:22PM
Joseph said...
Actually, you will receive a second shipment (with the second bag) for your duplicate phone ;-)
5-22-2008 @ 3:24PM
Jon said...
He should put the second iPhone bag up on ebay. See how well it goes. You should use the same box it comes in minus the shipping label for you.
5-22-2008 @ 3:31PM
Galley said...
My refurb came with the bag, and yes, the bag was listed as a separate item.
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5-22-2008 @ 3:37PM
Brett Terpstra said...
My original iPhone shipment had bags for both iPhones. This was shipped separately, in its own large box, the next day.
5-22-2008 @ 3:38PM
Nate said...
Haha Wow pretty ridiculous! Do big companies have that many problems where someone in the shipping department feels the need to send a plastic bag?
-Nate
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5-22-2008 @ 3:58PM
Sebastian said...
Bold.
But: At least they didn't charge you for either the bag or shipping, so I wouldn't be too shocked about this waste of packaging (and contents), what sucks is if a company (or eBay sellers) charge you these immense prices for shipping a small item that they ship in a huge box. If there wouldn't be just a plastic bag in it, I wouldn't even care about the packaging, because if you have to ship something it does pretty much the same damage to the environment, if it's a small package or a big one, same way, same gas/emission, the only thing that makes a difference is the cardboard for the box.
What I'm saying: It almost makes me sick seing these stories in tech blogs complaining about companies shipping a flash drive in a huge box and them not caring about the environment (because of THAT) when there's so much out there that's wrong, much worse than some company shipping a tiny item in a big box. And then blogging about it…? Such a blog post including all the readers that write comments on it probably consumes more energy than producing a friggin box. Plus, they probably went to the post office themselves to pick up the package in their big ass SUV because they weren't home when it came.
I know, this right here actually is wrong, so the above doesn't apply for this blog entry, but it just reminded me of some posts I saw on gizmodo a while ago…
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5-22-2008 @ 7:42PM
shakeboy2k said...
I'm sorry, this really aggravates me.
It's far less a waste of energy to blog about it than do nothing. This is how people are educated and eventually demand changes!
Blog more, PLEASE.
We all need to complain to AT&T about this blatant waste of materials and have them change their policy. It worked with their novel-sized data usage bills of the early iPhone days. It has to work here. There is absolutely no reason for this.
As for plastic bags in general...you don't need one for your pack of gum and you don't need one for your bagel or cheeseburger. In fact, if you bought one or two things, you don't need a bag period. Toughen up and carry the damn things. Your minor "inconvenience" is hardly worth the wasted one-use piece of plastic built on foreign oil or predominantly virgin paper bags made with trees from our beautiful but diminishing forests.
Oh, and you can be polite when you decline: "I don't need a bag, but thank you."
This isn't about being a tree-hugging hippie, this should just be common sense.
-Marcel Ray
5-22-2008 @ 4:00PM
Martin said...
This is funny. I have ordered 2 Refurbished iPhones last week from ATT too (8GB and 16Gb(, and none of them showed up yet. When I check status of the order I get an error...It seems like that bozos at ATT ships units left and right depends how they feel at the moment... Congrats on your second iPhone.
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5-22-2008 @ 4:27PM
Davey Shafik said...
I'm actually shocked you only got one. I'd expect yet another box to arrive shortly with a second one.
- Davey
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5-22-2008 @ 4:28PM
Aztec said...
I got my ATT bag! :)
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5-22-2008 @ 5:30PM
kurt.tappe said...
AT&T is such a wasteful, horribly bloated, uncaring, anti-social, anti-environmental behemoth. I'm going to have to do some serious conscience-swallowing when I get my 3G iPhone. I truly want nothing further to do with AT&T as long as I live after some previous experiences, but I've already cut off my nose to spite my face by not getting an iPhone so far. This once I'll set my morals aside and sign my 2 year deal with the devil, but I'll have trouble looking myself in the mirror each morning, knowing I'm in bed with the plastic bag shipping Death Star. *sigh* Curse you Apple for you exclusive agreement here in the U.S.
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5-22-2008 @ 5:38PM
JP said...
Read the bag. It's a "quick start" FAQ for what to do next. Rather than being wasteful, it appears that AT&T figured out that they have to give you a bag anyway, so they saved both paper and man-hours by printing what you need to know on the bag. No doubt that every iPhone is directed to be bundled with the "information sheet." This is why you got the bag. There are hits on Google for other people whose shipping confirmation shows "75011 iPhone Accessory."
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5-22-2008 @ 6:00PM
Raheem said...
Seriously what is going on there across the pond? Over here (in England), everyone's on a anti-bag craze, with Marks and Spencers (one of the biggest, richest retailers) trying to charge me 5p (10c) for a bag that THEY automatically put my goods in and ring up on the till! I told the guy to take my stuff OUT of the bag and void that item, nothing wrong with my pockets!
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5-22-2008 @ 6:23PM
Sir. Poopy Pants said...
Common sense seems to be nonexistent over here.
The amount of plastic bags "wasted" on carrying groceries home is ridiculous. The groceries stores have cloth bags you can buy but everybody just walks by them. Start charging 25c per bag and they'll stampede for cloth bags.
5-22-2008 @ 6:27PM
KKyle said...
This story is exactly the same as mine. I received a second unsolicited 16gig iPhone. AND I received a third shipment of a bag.
I believe the second iPhone is because of a credit card mixup where AMEX held the charge...
And if I had to guess as to why I received a bag, I think it is because one of the iPhones was not correctly sealed in the bag... (They were supposed to be sealed, so ATT would know if you opened the bag)... But I have no idea what sending me a separate bag solves. :)
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