Packaging: From guilt-ridden to eco-friendly and reusable! How I soothed my conscience

Early Oojamabobs packaging

I’ve been agonising over my packaging for YEARS. I wanted to provide my customers with a positive ‘unboxing’ experience and to feel good about the product they have bought.
But as a consumer myself, I absolute detested all the unnecessary plastic, wire ties, unnecessary cards and tags held on with yet MORE plastic.

It’s not about the cost for me; plastic is cheap as chips and I could easily package every item in plastic for a very low cost. But for me it’s about finding the balance between providing customers with a positive experience and being an eco-friendly and responsible small business.

I’ve made a lot of changes over the years.

I started with wrapping each individual order in tissue paper with a sticker to seal it, but I wasn’t sure about how widely recyclable tissue paper might be.

I briefly used plastic product bags and although I felt it looked much more ‘professional’, I just couldn’t justify contributing to landfill purely to slightly improve my image.

I changed to wrapping each chew just in flyers, although still using jiffy bags which are plastic lined. But after having a guilty little niggle EVERY time I packaged an order, I started looking at alternatives.

Finally I made the switch to gusset envelopes, which is what I still use today 🙂 These are made of strong paper and are 100% recyclable. Bizarrely, they’re much more expensive than jiffy bags, but I have a much clearer conscience and I’m very happy with them.

When checking out on my website, by default, there is a pre-selected packaging option of ‘NO plastic bag please’ and I’m happy to say the vast majority of customers opt to keep this as is. Very occasionally a customer would select the alternative option of ‘I would like my items in a plastic product bag’.
In the past I HAVE had customers complain about the fact chews arrived only wrapped in flyers (as opposed to more professional packaging), however I have had MANY more customers say they love the fact that all the packaging is recyclable, so that’s what I focus on 🙃

I invested in an embosser recently and I LOVE the way my envelopes look now!

Finally, nearly 10 years after I started Oojamabobs, I have settled on a balance with my packaging I am happy with. Chew Necklaces will now come on a little embossed Oojamabobs card, wrapped in a flyer inside a strong gusset envelope.

BUT! I’d been thinking over the last year how helpful (and nice) it would be, if customers had a bag to keep Oojamabobs in when not in use.
I first looked at cloth, but quickly dismissed this idea, as the chews would pull fibres off and this would be unpleasant for the user to then get in their mouth.
After looking at various options, I had these lovely little soft, flexible, reusable ziplock bags printed and I am absolutely DELIGHTED with them.
Yes, they are plastic. However, they are NOT one-use and aren’t provided simply for transit purposes, like so much packaging we receive in the post.

By default, customers will continue to find the packaging option on my site pre-selected with ‘NO plastic bag please (green option)’.
But now customers have the option to change this to ‘I would like my items in a reusable plastic product bag’!

My hope is that customers will only select this option either as a first time-customer who doesn’t yet have one, or when a bag needs replacing or is lost. I finally found a balance I am happy with.

I really hope you like the new bags and please do add one to your order to store your Oojamabobs in! 😄

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