Unnecessary Packaging That Turns Shopping Into Trash Day

Updated on December 28, 2025

I grabbed what I thought was a normal grocery run, and somehow came home with a bag that crinkled like it had its own insurance policy. Unnecessary packaging is the only thing that can make a single banana feel like it shipped with a security detail.

It’s the season for returns, post-holiday restocks, and those “quick” errands that turn into a cart full of regret. And nothing says modern life like packaging fails that add three layers of plastic to something that already came with a peel, a shell, or a metal can.

17 Unnecessary Packaging That Somehow Got Approved

Let’s start with the individual Coke cans sitting in plastic trays wrapped in more plastic. If only soda came in a sturdy container already. It’s like duct-taping a hammer to another hammer, just to be safe.

The foam tray banana is pure chaos. Nature handed us a handle and a wrapper, and the store said, “Great, now let’s add Styrofoam.” This is product packaging doing the absolute most, while the banana quietly begs to be left alone.

That single Claritin pill in a blister pack the size of a paperback? You don’t take allergy meds so you can fight pollen. You take them so you can fight the packaging. You need forearm strength and a small prayer.

Air pillows for three pairs of socks is another one. Socks are already the padding. Unless they’re shipping these things through a meteor shower, that’s just plastic waste with extra steps.

And coconuts wrapped on trays—coconuts. The fruit famous for surviving gravity and bad decisions. If a coconut needs protective wrap, what hope do the rest of us have?

The micro SD card in a box big enough for boots is the classic “lost in the void” shipping move. Half the time you open it and think you ordered a toaster by mistake.

Then we’ve got jelly beans individually wrapped. Eating candy should not feel like clocking in. Finally, the “no disk needed” case that exists only to hold a download code, like a tiny plastic monument to 2009.

If this gallery of unnecessary packaging fails made your eye twitch, you’ll also want 40 Funny Signs That Feel Threatening, 35 Cooking Memes Nobody Asked For, and 40 Customer Service Memes That Escalated Fast.

Mike Hartley writes with a tape-measure mindset: if it can’t survive a drop test and a side-eye, it doesn’t ship.