Prime Now, Whole Foods Packaging

I’m feeling love/hate towards the whole Amazon/PrimeNow/Whole Foods delivery thing. I’ve used it probably 10 times now and it is super-convenient. And I think it makes me a better shopper from a food-planning perspective.

That said, when I was getting Whole Foods deliveries this summer the amount of insulated packaging that was being included was insane. Like a whole insulated bag for one yogurt. They definitely use too many bags and moreover too many insulated bags. The latter are not recyclable, by the way.

For my last few deliveries I’ve added in the “Special Notes” section “Please use as few bags as possible.” The request seemed to fall on deaf ears.

Getting better. At least there were none of the non-recyclable insulated bags in this order.

Until yesterday. Perhaps because it is now cooler outside, there were no more of the insulated bags in my order. This, despite ordering a bunch of cold/perishable items. So, that’s a win right there.

They didn’t minimize the number of paper bags in any meaningful way. If I’d been bagging at the checkout I probably would have used 3 instead of the 8 they sent. But we reuse/recycle the paper ones so that’s another step towards reducing the amount of waste generate by Prime Now.

What really needs to happen is a rotating/loaner shopping bag type system where Prime Now delivers the groceries in reusable plastic shopping bags (and maybe even charges you for them) and then when you drop them back off again at the local Whole Foods you get a credit for them.