Over-packaging hazards and their prevention (1)

Abstract: Appropriate product packaging can protect and beautify goods and enrich people's economic life. However, excessive packaging of goods not only infringes on the interests of consumers and affects the sustainable development of enterprises, but also wastes resources and pollutes the environment. China should fully learn from the successful experiences of foreign countries and start with countries, industries, consumers, etc. to jointly cope with excessive packaging of goods.

Keywords: commodity packaged goods excessive packaging green packaging

Since reform and opening up, through summing up the lessons learned at home and abroad and vigorously developing the packaging industry, China has basically solved the backward packaging situation of first-class products, second-class packaging and third-class prices during the planned economy period. The development of the packaging industry has enriched the society. Economic life has promoted the development of the market economy.However, in recent years, some companies have sought to exalt higher interests, over-emphasizing the functions of packaging, and appearing excessive packing of goods with packaging values ​​far exceeding the value of the contents, The society, businesses and consumers have caused great harm and must make great efforts to prevent and control it.

I. Implications and hazards of over-packaged goods

Commodity packaging refers to the use of containers and external dressing in accordance with certain technical methods to protect products, facilitate storage and transportation, and promote sales during the production and distribution process. The purpose of packaging is to protect the product and avoid damage and deterioration of the product during manufacturing, transportation, warehousing and sales. The second is to beautify and promote products and promote sales. Excessive packaging of goods is a function and excess value of commodity packaging. Over-packaging of goods, from the quantitative point of view, the volume is too large and virtual bubble, such as the use of too much material, the volume is too large, decorative luxury; qualitatively, the performance of the packaging is distorted or suspected of fraud, such as protection, communication , convenience, and decorative features are excess.

“Excessive” is the opposite of “not” and “does not pass too far”. It also deviates from “middle” and is moderate. In order to fully satisfy the people's living and consumption needs, we advocate proper packaging. The “degree” of moderate commodity packaging differs depending on the time and space of the product and the level of consumer demand. For example, consumers of low-income consumers consider “excessive” packaging of goods, and consumers seeking for beauty and seeking may be considered “not worth it”. . In general, there is a convention standard. Germany's 1991 Regulations (Packaging Regulations) stipulate that the empty space in commodity packaging containers must not exceed 20% of the volume of the container, the gap between the goods and commodities in the packaging should be less than 1 cm, and the gap between the internal walls of commodity packaging containers should be kept below 5 cm. The packaging cost should generally be less than 15% of the total cost of the product, etc. Where the packaging volume significantly exceeds 10% of the product itself and the packaging cost significantly exceeds 30% of the product, it should be determined as an infringement of consumer rights and is a "commercial fraud." The hazards of excessive packaging of goods mainly include the following two aspects.

First, excessive packaging of goods infringes on the interests of consumers and affects the sustainable development of the company.

The pulling of consumer demand is the main survival of over-packaging of commodities. One of the forces that demand stimulates is the purchase of public funds or private purchases for the purpose of power trading. The second is vanity consumer demand. The over packaging of goods meets the consumer psychology of some people in terms of preoccupation, focusing on the “face”, congruence and extravagance.

However, consumers, especially vanity consumers, are the most direct victims of excessive packaging of goods. Excessive packaging of goods mainly appears in the food, health care products and cosmetics industries. Most of the commodities in these industries belong to posterior goods. Consumers usually rely on packaging to determine the value of goods. Manufacturers in order to obtain high profits, by increasing the packaging costs, exaggerating the packaging features, the huge amount of packaging costs into value-added products, imposed on consumers, in violation of the interests of consumers. For example, the value ratio between ordinary moon cake boxes and moon cakes is 1:1, and the value ratio between high-end moon cake boxes and moon cakes during Mid-Autumn Festival is 2:1. With over-packed visual impact, it gives people a high-grade illusion. It was discovered at the time of consumption that it was not the mooncakes that were purchased at high prices, but a pile of useless packaging consisting of foam and hard paper.

On the other hand, companies relying on excessive packaging of goods may short-term reach the goal of attracting consumers and increasing the market share of the goods and bring in high profits. However, in the long run, this practice seriously damages the image of the company’s reputation and causes the company to lose its core competitiveness and ultimately affects the long-term development of the company.

Second, excessive packaging of goods wastes resources, and pollution of environmental goods excessively wastes resources. The cartons used for packaging are taken from trees. According to statistics, for every 10 million boxes of moon cake produced, at least 400 to 600 trees with a diameter of 10 cm or more must be consumed. China produces an average of 1.2 billion shirts per year, and the packaging box has a paper consumption of 240,000 tons, which is equivalent to cutting off 1.68 million thick-cornered trees. The rapid disappearance of the forest has caused serious soil erosion and desertification, and the regional ecological function is disordered. China's total terrestrial water resources are 280 million cubic meters, ranking sixth in the world, but only 2,200 cubic meters of water resources per capita, only 1/4 of the world's average level, ranking 88th in the world. Water caused the company to stop production and reduce industrial output value by 100 billion yuan. At present, there have been a number of forests that have become packaging paper. Over-packaging of commodities has added to the depletion of natural resources. Excessive packaging of goods also pollutes the environment and increases waste disposal costs. All sorts of exquisite and luxurious packaging, turned to consumers instantly become rubbish, lost its value. According to statistics from the sanitation department: Of the nearly 3 million tons of garbage produced in Beijing each year, about 830,000 tons of various goods are packaged, of which 600,000 tons are over-reducible packaging. Domestic garbage is an important source of pollution that afflicts urban environmental governance. At present, the most effective treatment method for domestic garbage is to reduce, recycle, and recycle, of which the reduction is the first place in governance. Only reducing the amount of garbage at the source can reduce the burden of subsequent governance. It takes more than 200 years for plastic products used for packaging to be absorbed by the soil. These chemical wastes cause serious environmental pollution. Of the solid waste that can be comprehensively utilized in China and renewable resources that can be recycled and reused, more than 50 billion yuan has not been recycled. After the Mid-Autumn Festival in 2004, only the discarded moon cake boxes in Guangzhou can tile 2,500 football fields. In addition to iron boxes, most of the boxes in the moon cake boxes are thrown into the garbage compressor together with ordinary household garbage. Shipped to a landfill. This way of handling did not really make the value of the moon cake box come true. To a certain extent, it is purely a waste.

Second, the reasons for the formation of excessive packaging of goods

(1) Incomplete legal norms and lack of industry self-regulation

China's packaging industry started relatively late and flourished more than a decade after the reform and opening up. The relevant laws and regulations are not perfect. Under the drive of profit maximization, enterprises often resort to unfair competition means to freely exaggerate the volume of commodity packaging, use luxurious materials to decorate and package products, and mislead consumers from value judgments. The state administrative department cannot rely on it, and it is difficult to effectively control over-packaging of goods from the source and through legal means. Industry self-regulation can restrict the improper behavior of industry members, maintain the overall reputation and image of the industry, and promote the healthy development of the industry. However, China's packaging industry has a short development time, there is no clear industry standard, and the professional ethics and regulations are not perfect. It is difficult to effectively supervise the implementation of excessive packaging of goods in the industry through public opinion and practice standards.

(B) changes in consumer habits

The rapid growth of the national economy has increased people’s living standards while increasing their income. People have begun to gradually develop from packaging that ignores goods to focusing on the packaging of goods and even pay attention to the packaging of goods. In terms of food consumption, for the sake of consumers' hygiene and convenience, some foods have changed from bulk to packaging and from large packages to small packages. In terms of gift consumption, people demand luxurious and beautiful packaging. In the extremely rich social life of commodities, exquisite packaging and various media advertisements full of humanistic emotions reflect the new consumer mentality of consumers seeking brand names and pursuing grades. Whether commodity packaging is elegant or not is almost the most important criterion when people choose the value of commodities. The old bulk commodities gradually fade out of the market. People use packaging to understand commodities, choose commodities, and identify commodities. In short, the increase in spending power has quietly changed people’s consumption habits and changed people’s perceptions of product packaging. Some companies are precisely grasping this mentality of consumers, working hard on the packaging of goods, and exaggerating the value of goods through packaging.

(3) The need for corporate product promotion

With the transformation of the national economy from a planned economy to a market economy, the market has become more and more open and commodity competition has intensified. From product price wars, function enhancements to pre-sales and after-sales services, multi-faceted competitions have begun. Manufacturers have carefully optimized and conceived products from production to sales. While improving product functions, lowering production costs, increasing investment in advertising, and reducing profit margins, manufacturers have focused on the packaging of products. Fine packaging can produce The visual impact attracts consumers' eyes and induces people's desire to purchase, thereby increasing the market share of the goods. The visual impact brought by luxury packaging has enabled products to quickly enter the high ranks. The selling price of goods has doubled and sales have not decreased. As a result, many companies have been willing to increase their costs, over-pack, and earn huge profits.

The reason why enterprises are pursuing over-packaging of goods is, in the final analysis, to increase the promotion effect of commodity packaging and pursue excessive profits. As shown in Figure 1, P represents the price, Q represents the quantity, D is the demand curve of the product before the over packaging promotion, and D' is the demand curve of the product after the over packaging promotion. After excessive packaging and promotion, the product demand curve shifts from D to D'. In the case where the OQ of commodity sales remains basically unchanged, the price of the product before over-packaging is OP, and the price of the over-packaged and promoted product is OP: The result of excessive packaging promotion is that the price of the goods has increased by P. With P units, the company’s short-term sales have increased significantly.