Why do they do this?

[aimeeandbeatles]

Why is it, when you buy software in big cardboard boxes, and then open it up, all you get is a tiny little paper wrapper with the CD inside?
And then they up the price compared to the same software in the smaller boxes.
For example, I was planning to buy a game for 20 bucks. Then I found a version in a shrink-wrap package in a "bargain bin" for 10 bucks. Same software.

Why do they do this?

 

[Bigfoot3814]

You can fit more colorful graphics on a cardboard box.

 

[Phlegmak]

Why is it, when you buy software in big cardboard boxes, and then open it up, all you get is a tiny little paper wrapper with the CD inside?
And then they up the price compared to the same software in the smaller boxes.
For example, I was planning to buy a game for 20 bucks. Then I found a version in a shrink-wrap package in a "bargain bin" for 10 bucks. Same software.

Why do they do this?

Oh I HATE that! Packaging for computer products is WAY too big compared to the physical product inside.

 

[Supr49er]

So true. I ordered 2GB of laptop memory, and it came in a 1' by 6" box filled with air pillows.

 

[Murky]

Marketing likes a bigger box for more flashy artwork. They're trying to make their product stand out from the rest on the shelf. If you want, you could just go to getting digital downloads. That way you don't pay for anything but the license.

 

[lndm]

It may help to justify the price. Have you noticed that some boxes are elaborate on the inside too? After the target sales are reached, anything beyond the few dollars it costs to make the CDs and distribute them is profit.

 

[Thorvald of Lym]

I haven't seen a big software box for over six years.

But yeah, it's "justification" for a higher profit.

 

[Rossiya]

Just think, the bigger the box the more bodies you can fit inside.

 

[Narz]

We need stiffer penalties for environmentally idiotic practices like this.

 

[Defiant47]

It's all about marketing. When you look at a lot of things that marketing does, you think "that's really stupid"... until it finally dawns on you that "wow, the average consumer is really stupid".

 

[Bigfoot3814]

We need stiffer penalties for environmentally idiotic practices like this.

Seriously. Overpackaging is very wasteful.

 

[Cutlass]

It's all about shoplifting. The large packages, and the packages that are difficult to open, are there to make it harder to pocket the product.

 

[GoodGame]

Some of it is anti-theft. Hard to pry open in the store and there's usually an electronic anti-theft device in the package.

 

[civ_king]

actually if its a 2gig laptop memory, you do want a lot of padding

 

[The Fishman]

It looks like there is more included if the box is big. They want you to think that 'software package' has a literal meaning.

 

[Leonel]

If you think software boxes were big now, you should have seen them in the 90's. Of course that was really a transition period between floppy disks and compact discs.

 

[GoodGame]

EA, when they were young and cool in '80s used to have beautiful album packaging like vinyl LPs

 

[Narz]

It's all about shoplifting. The large packages, and the packages that are difficult to open, are there to make it harder to pocket the product.

If that was all of it why make delivered (via UPS & the like) packages so huge?

 

[Cutlass]

If that was all of it why make delivered (via UPS & the like) packages so huge?

to not have to deal with 2 different package types, 1 for in store and the other for delivery.

 

[Civfan333]

They obviously like trashing the enviroment I mean seriously, get the twenty dollar one with the nice box, or get the ten dollar one in just a sleeve?