We’ve all been had by packages, such as the one pictured below, that seem to unnecessarily hermetically seal our latest purchase, sometimes to the point where finally unwrapping the product seems like enough of a victory that the purchase itself takes second fiddle to the triumph of finally uncasing the memory card from its Fort Knox-like case.

That’s why today, as I went to Amazon.com to pick up my new read for the weekend, I was very pleased to see the retailer’s attack on wrap rage with the introduction of Frustration-Free Packaging.

Not only does the new initiative cut down on the tools/time/effort required to enjoy many new purchases, it also takes an important green step towards reducing the unnecessary, and often environmentally harmful, containers and accessories used to package many consumer goods.

The reduced packaging often takes the form of recyclable (but ugly) cardboard casing in lieu of more attractive, but also less ”green” clamshell cases and plastic bindings.  Now aside from aesthetics, which don’t matter nearly as much in an online platform like Amazon, where attractive packaging bears little impact on purchase, there doesn’t appear to be much downside to the switch.

Customers win with easier-to-open packaging, Mother Nature wins with reduced plastic-based products, and companies win by producing lower cost packaging.

While not yet widely available on many products, the frustration-free and less harmful packaging alternative is a step in the right direction and here’s to hoping many more collaborative partnerships between retailers and manufacturers are to come based on similar win-win(-win) situations such as the one highlighted by Amazon and its partners - especially in the area of packaging, where it seems there is still a lot of room for creative all-round winning solutions.