Putting reduced packaging into a bigger supply chain perspective

I'm not ashamed to be an Apple fanatic. I have five old original Macintosh Classics back in the US and the original iPod. So I was of course tuned in to Macworld last week waiting for the latest and greatest. Skipping over all of the announcements and neat new products, yes, I am ordering a Macbook Air, Apple also announced that its new laptop will be shipped using less packaging material.

Now an initial reaction could be very ho-hum, but if you look at it from a logistics view, it has major implications. Apple announced that it reduced Apple's packaging volume for the MacBook Air by 50 percent versus the previous MacBook, which can be viewed in this online gallery.

The Macbook Air's box contains no foam. Just a tray deep enough to hold the laptop and a paper pull tab that contains all of the accessories and software. Besides reducing waste in landfills, I do my part by saving all of my Apple product boxes, the smaller and lighter box, also means more product can fit on planes and trucks, meaning less fuel consumption. Less trucks on the road, also means, less traffic, less congestion and less CO2. So what may seem insignificant, such as reducing a box to 3 inches from 5 inches, actually has radical environmental significance.

The Dream is Over. Mini is not going to make it.

Back in October, when I was hopeful, ignorant and optimistic I blogged about shipping my 2002 Mini Cooper to Europe from the US. I had a shipper lined up I had the paperwork ready to go and I was all set to transfer the funds - when reality set in. Here is the collapse of my dream in order:

1. The shipper doesn't take credit cards, so I had to wire transfer the funds. With a price of $1300 you would think wiring wouldn't be a problem. Well Citibank capped the limit on wire transfers at $500 per day. Which means three transfers, which cost $50 a pop, which bumps my budget up another $150. Not a lot, but the start of what was to come.

2. As you know I live in Brno, Czech Republic, but apparently car theft is quite prevalent here, so my plan was to register the car in Vienna, Austria where I am on the weekends. I met with an insurance company and was given a list of requirements that I would need to get insurance. This list included several documents that included EU certificates that I would need to acquire before the car comes to Austria. But seeing that the car needs to be in Austria to get the certificates posed a bit of a problem. Basically, I had to risk driving the car from Germany to Austria without insurance and without a license plate. Not to mention getting the car tested for the certificates would cost about $300. I could get temp insurance in Germany, but I would need to make an appointment and get all of the certificates for Germany pay the $150, which would then have to be replicated in Austria. The logistics alternative was to put the car on a train, but that would cost $1500.

3. Point three is the kicker. I was always told that taxes would be around $300 at the port. Well after speaking to the port, taxes are actually much higher. The calculation is simple. Basically the tax is 10% of the value of the car when it was new - so roughly $1700. The formula here is silly. I mean if I ship a priceless 1966 Stingray Corvette, which sold for $8000 new 40 years ago, I would only pay $800 for taxes, when the car is worth $150,000? Huh?

So that brings the cost up to about $4000, not to mention all kinds of paperwork hassles. So plan B is to now try and get BMW/Mini in the US to trade in the car and then sell me a new one in Germany, where I can apply the trade in amount. I'll keep you posted on how that goes.

In the words of Charlie Brown, "Oh, Good Grief"!