Why in hell do they do that?

Anyways, my rant this week is directed at the folks at Costco. Costco is a gigantic warehouse of household products sold in bulk. It is a consumer's dream b/c you can buy bundled water, toilet paper, sweet tarts, steaks, and cereal all in one fell swoop. However, there is one part of the Costco experience that makes ponder, "why in hell do they do that."

The issue at hand is the boxes that are for the CDs/DVDs. At normal music stores/Best Buy/Circuit City, you get the movies/music in simple packaging. However, at Costco they find the need to package the products in enough cardboard to house that guy living near the Stoughton exit ramp off Route 24. I have purchased tables at IKEA that are wrapped in less unecessary packaging. Hell, i'm not a card carrying environmentalist but I am a realist and this wasteful packaging should be investigated by Greenpeace or something.

Now there may be a simple (read Economic) reason for this but I can't figure it out. Does Costco own a paper company? Do they relish in the fact that they think it's still 1991 and they are in a timewarp machine brought back to look for the latest Wilson Phillips CD? So many questions, so little cellophane.

In Stoughton, we've dealt with the dirty book store (SMUT), the sludge (SOS), and the nefarious A's gang (no cool anacronym). I don't think Costco's wasteful act rises to the level of these landmark moments, but it certainly deserves the attention of the Stoughton Powerbrokers. Possibly a environmental jihad needs to be called by Stoughton's greatest citizen: Man with Cross in Front of Alex's. Serenity now.

Good day.