🎁 Welcome to the Age of the Empty Box

You know the feeling. You order something online, and when it arrives, the box is big enough to house a small alpaca. You open it—and there’s your item, nestled in a sea of bubble wrap like a diamond in a desert. Congratulations! You’ve just been bamboozled by Package Inflation™, the corporate strategy of making things look bigger so they can charge you more.

This isn’t just a packaging problem—it’s a psychological hustle. And the worst part? It’s everywhere.

🥣 Cereal Boxes: The Original Scam

Let’s start with the OG offender: breakfast cereal. Walk down any grocery aisle and you’ll see boxes taller than your toddler, promising “20% MORE!” But open them up and you’re greeted by a puff of air and a sad little pile of flakes.

Kellogg’s, General Mills, and Post Consumer Brands have all been called out for shrinking the actual contents while keeping the box size the same—or even bigger. In 2022, General Mills quietly reduced the weight of its family-size cereal boxes from 19.3 oz to 18.1 oz, while keeping the price and packaging identical. That’s not breakfast—it’s a cardboard buffet.

📦 Amazon: The Emperor of Empty Space

Amazon, the king of convenience, is also the king of overkill packaging. A USB stick? Shipped in a box the size of a shoebox. A pack of batteries? Wrapped like it’s the Ark of the Covenant.

In 2023, Amazon faced backlash for its excessive packaging practices, with environmental groups pointing out that the company’s packaging waste had increased by 18% year-over-year. And while they’ve pledged to reduce waste, the bloated boxes keep coming—because big boxes look like big value.

💻 Software Bundles: Now With 12 Features You’ll Never Use

Ever bought a software suite and realized you only needed one feature? Welcome to the world of bloatware.

Adobe Creative Cloud is a prime example. Want Photoshop? Great! But you’ll also get Illustrator, Premiere Pro, After Effects, and a dozen other apps you didn’t ask for—all for a monthly fee that rivals your car insurance.

And don’t get us started on Microsoft Office 365, which bundles Teams, OneDrive, and Excel into your Word subscription like it’s a corporate charcuterie board. You’re not buying software—you’re buying a buffet of confusion.

🍎 Apple: Dongle Nation

Apple’s packaging game is sleek, minimalist, and… missing half the stuff you need. Buy a new iPhone? You’ll get the phone, a cable, and no charging brick. Want to connect headphones? You’ll need a dongle. Want to connect anything else? Another dongle.

Apple’s strategy is simple: remove essential accessories, sell them separately, and call it “environmental responsibility.” In reality, it’s a masterclass in accessory inflation. In 2024, Apple made over $20 billion in accessory sales alone. That’s a lot of dongles—and a lot of empty boxes.

📺 Comcast: The Fee Fiesta

Not all packaging is physical. Sometimes, it’s digital—and Comcast is the reigning champ. Their cable and internet packages come with more hidden fees than a Vegas hotel.

Want basic cable? That’ll be $49.99. Plus a regional sports fee. Plus a broadcast TV fee. Plus a modem rental fee. Plus a “we-feel-like-it” fee. By the time you’re done, your $49.99 package costs $89.99—and you still can’t watch HBO.

In 2023, Comcast was fined for deceptive billing practices, and yet the bloated bundles persist. It’s not a subscription—it’s a scavenger hunt.

🧼 Personal Care Products: Shrinkflation in Disguise

Even your shampoo isn’t safe. Procter & Gamble, Unilever, and Johnson & Johnson have all been accused of shrinking product sizes while keeping prices the same. That bottle of body wash? It used to be 18 oz. Now it’s 16 oz—with a new “ergonomic design” that’s just harder to hold.

In 2025, consumer watchdogs reported that over 60% of personal care products had undergone shrinkflation in the past two years. And the packaging? Still oversized, still misleading, still a slap in the loofah.

🛒 Grocery Store “Value Packs”: The Math Doesn’t Math

Ever seen a “Family Pack” of snacks that costs more per ounce than the regular size? That’s not value—it’s math fraud.

Walmart, Target, and Costco have all been caught selling bulk items that aren’t actually cheaper. In 2024, a viral TikTok showed a shopper comparing prices per ounce on “value” packs vs. regular sizes—and the value packs were consistently more expensive.

Turns out, “Family Size” just means “Family-Sized Regret.”

🧠 Why It Works: The Psychology of Packaging

Studies show that consumers associate larger packaging with better value—even when the contents are the same or less. It’s called unit bias, and companies exploit it like it’s a cheat code.

A 2023 study from the University of Michigan found that consumers were 30% more likely to choose a product in a larger package, even when the price per unit was higher. That’s not shopping—it’s psychological warfare.

💥 Final Thoughts: The Box Stops Here

So what can we do? Read labels. Compare unit prices. Call out companies. And maybe, just maybe, start a movement where we demand that packaging reflects reality—not corporate fantasy.

Because in the end, we’re not just buying products—we’re buying trust. And if that trust comes in a box full of air, it’s time to pop it.