Comment

Comment by dpwheels on December 1, 2010 at 2:05pm

The way I see it, you have two things to gripe about, language and boxes. Let's not get picky about language, just because the person worked in an "English" speaking company, doesn't mean they can speak or write it fluently. I've heads/seen people butcher the English language and they've never stepped off shore. Give the guy a break. Now onto boxes. If you are going to overkill in packaging for "safety" sake, then make sure there is enough padding to do the job. That foam will not hold the air card securely. It will bounce around when the box gets tossed by UPS or USPS. All of the overnight freight companies handle boxes sized better for shipment of something so small. Apple just want to save money by not carrying the different sizes. Lot of wasted tree in that box for that card.

Comment by Anubis on December 1, 2010 at 1:06pm

Apple is not killing the environment. And I rather have some thing shipped in an over protective package than an under protective one. This is a bit much, this doesn't make sense from a profit point of view. But hey, their company, they can do what they want.

-Anubis

Comment by infosynth on December 1, 2010 at 9:32am

@Gavin:

We live in a global marketplace. It is important to understand and tolerate variations in the English language. This is especially important for native American English speakers (such as ourselves) who tend to be unfamiliar with other forms of English. Your comment is a case in point.

Not only does your comment about "Apple are" contain many grammatical errors in US English, it also betrays a lack of knowledge of other forms of English that are used internationally.

In British English, the plural form of the verb "to be" is often used for collective nouns that we (in the US) treat as singular. The usage can be debated either way: "Apple" is both a unified entity (singular) AND it consists of many employees (plural). You might also read, "My family are..." for similar reasons. The choice (in British English) is based on whether the emphasis is on the collection (singular) or on the individual members (plural) and by tradition.

Here is the link to a Wikipedia article that describes some of the differences between American English (AmE) and British English (BrE). Scroll down to the section Grammar/Nouns/Formal and notional agreement for a discussion of how plural vs. singular verb forms are selected for what are known as "collective nouns" (like company, committee, family, team, etc.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_differences

Ultimately, what is "wrong" in US English is not necessarily wrong in another dialect.

What is wrong is for us to criticize a "different" usage without doing some homework first.

Comment by Tracy on December 1, 2010 at 7:06am

I work in retail & am disgusted when I see overuse of shipping containers/packaging for tiny items.

In the case of electrical, however, I will err on the side of caution...Some fragile items deserve their larger containers.

Comment by DTM on December 1, 2010 at 5:52am

Uh... I've always been impressed with how Apple cultists turn a blind eye to it no matter what Apple does or doesn't do. Lets talk about that Apple Mfr. Foxconn factory in China for example...horrible working conditions, suicides. I hear the stampede of Apple feet coming now to protest the Sacred Cow being skewered... lo

Comment by Gavin Roskamp on December 1, 2010 at 1:07am

That's the same exact box that my Magic Mouse replacement came in. I had mine sent in the mail though. That does look rather wasteful.

One thing though. This person who wrote the comment above the picture needs to learn English. Apple is singular. You don't talk about Apple like it's a group of people, you talk about it like it is a single company. For example, you say "Apple is a tech company," not "Apple area tech company."

This bugs me to no end.