Man orders 100 grinding discs off Takealot, receives them in 100 individual boxes

Jul 03, 2023

A screenshot from @chris_guardian’s video.

Published Aug 9, 2023

| Published Aug 9, 2023

Most of us have ordered off Takealot since its inception in 2011 and if you’re a frequent online shopper, you may have found yourself scratching your head in bewilderment after receiving your 4 or 5 small items in separate packaging instead of one box.

In a video posted on TikTok by South African user @chris_guardian, Chris explains that he had ordered 100 grinding discs off Takealot as they were on special and, due to his work, he goes through quite a few and decided to buy in bulk.

Upon receiving his delivery, Chris was dumbfounded when he was met with a hundred small packages which each contained a single grinding disc.

Yes, you read that right, each box contained an individual disc.

Judging from the size of the boxes in the video, each box could fit at least 20 to 25 grinding discs which are around the size of a CD.

WARNING: VIDEO CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE

Other South Africans shared their own experiences with the online shopping giant’s weird and downright wasteful packaging practices. TikTok user Kayla Myers commented that she had ordered a few small beauty items which came in a “huge” box but ordered an electrical appliance which was delivered in a “packet.”

One user @wiesie_schoeman suggested that this is Takealots way of creating employment which is unlikely as packaging is largely automated with machinery sorting and boxing up orders.

While e-commerce has long been a part of the modern digital revolution, pandemic-related global lockdowns significantly accelerated online shopping activities and saw global e-commerce growing by 32% in 2020.

According to Shopify, the industry is expected to total as much as $4.89 trillion (R77.38 trillion) in 2021. Global Web Index revealed that, in addition to new shoppers buying online, existing shoppers purchased more items online than they typically purchased in-store leading up to the pandemic.

All this online shopping means more packaging. Which begs the question, when are South Africa’s online retailers going to sort out their wasteful packaging practices.

IOL