Overpackaging

Gift wrapping can also involve excess packaging but traditions and personal choices allow people to continue to use it.

Depending on the specific design and choice of length, width, and height, this efficiency can vary significantly.

[5][6] Underfilled or slackfill packaging is that which is intentionally too large for the contents, resulting in non-functional headspace.

With online shopping or E-commerce, however, items packed for retail sale need to be shipped individually by the e-tailer or by a fulfillment house.

Sometimes two levels of packaging are needed for separate distribution: one for palletize shipment to retail stores and the other designed for individual delivery to households, which results in production inefficiency.

[12] Fresh produce is usually presented for sale without packages, allowing shoppers to touch the items and choose which ones to buy.

Some foods are over wrapped with shrink film, individually bagged, or further protected to increase the appeal to some customers.

Carton of breakfast cereal: designed intentionally with an inefficient shape, adding to packaging waste
The 300 aspirin tablets take up less than a quarter of the container they came in. Using an appropriately-sized container would minimise packaging waste .
Delivery of a small item in a much larger corrugated box, requiring air pillows for void-fill. A simple padded mailer would have been adequate.