A woman was baffled when an enormous Amazon package was delivered to her home containing a single, slim item.
Laura, 25, had ordered a garden umbrella, but the size of the box that arrived in, as well as the sheer amount of packaging paper, seemed far beyond what was needed.
Speaking to Newsweek, Laura said she was “a bit shocked” but simply assumed “the umbrella was large as I hadn’t checked the size or dimensions before ordering it.”
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But when she started opening the package, she realized what was happening and began recording a video which she then posted to TikTok. The clip has already racked up half a million views since it was shared on May 27.
An Amazon spokesperson told Newsweek: “We are constantly improving our technology to help us identify the right packaging for each product. Our catalog of products is constantly changing and growing, so this is no easy task—especially for bulky products or unusual dimensions.”
In Laura’s clip, shared to her account @lauraisprobscrying, the enormous package can be seen leaning against a sofa. Laura then digs through piles of packaging paper, included to prevent any damage to the item during shipping.
TikTok @Lauraisprobscrying
Eventually, once all the paper has been pulled out of the box, the umbrella can be seen at the bottom, looking extremely small inside the huge package.
Laura wrote on the video: “I’m just wondering if the person who packed my Amazon order is alright because they seemed to have lost the plot completely.”
The Amazon spokesperson added: “Even though we have more than 80 different packaging formats available in our UK fulfillment centers, sometimes a particular product can be difficult to pack efficiently. For example, umbrellas, tennis rackets and garden tools such as rakes are an awkward shape. We’ve made progress, and will continue to invest in this area.”
Laura, who had ordered the parasol as a gift for her grandmother, told Newsweek she had started unwrapping it in front of her father, “and as I continued to keep pulling out the packaging we both began to laugh as the amount of it was comical.”
“So I quickly grabbed my phone to film it, because if we thought it was funny then some other people might think it was funny too,” she said.
Laura admitted she “didn’t expect to get so many views on the video as it’s literally just me filming cardboard, so this is also so funny to me.”
The nursery worker, who lives in the United Kingdom, added that, judging from the comments on her video, this “doesn’t seem to be a new experience for some people.”
She suggested that Amazon “need to definitely get better with their packaging system as it is a waste.”
“A lot of people who have worked at Amazon have expressed that the machine/computer chooses the box size for them, which I didn’t know, and I wouldn’t have blamed the staff member specifically if I had known this,” she added.
TikTok @lauraisprobscrying
One TikToker commented on the video: “Amazon packaging sizes always have me questioning what the hell I’ve ordered.”
Another user said that a similar thing had happened to them with a “tiny phone wire,” which came in a massive box, but they added, “my cat was happy so can’t complain.”
Other TikTokers also said it kept their pets happy, with one posting: “My dogs LOVE Amazon packaging, lol – I think they prefer playing and rolling around in the huge boxes & scrunchy paper more than the toys that come in them!”
In 2022 alone, Amazon delivered close to 4.8 billion packages in the United States, according to Statista.
This marked an increase from previous years, while other major delivery companies such as UPS, FedEx, and USPS had a decrease in deliveries.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.