During the last weeks, the need of masks to protect ourselves from Covid-19 has become immense. I needed to purchase some extra masks, and I did so from an e-shop of a manufacturing firm that favored high customer ratings. Just before completing my purchases, the website successfully proposed some nice looking pair of underwear; I liked them and added them to the basket. Being a man who appreciates experience, what I was experiencing so far in this digital shopping trip was seamless and up to my expectations. The following small twist in the final step before proceeding to check out, gave me an extra warm feeling just like a cherry on top of a cake.

The text next to a tick box read: No packaging: Choose not to include packaging for the underwear, so that packaging can be promptly recycled within our factory premises. Do it for a planet with less waste.

Some may think that this a camouflaged initiative that aims to avoid packaging cost and to result to lower shipment costs (due to smaller packaging volume). Others would even disagree with the practice and argue that the unboxing experience would be non-existent resulting to a poorer product experience right at its start. I would agree with both statements but let’s take a moment to pause and think it over.

Ticking a box to opt in during an online shopping trip, is a small manifestation of freedom of choice. A person who likes unboxing would not opt in while an eco-sensitive person would. To me, giving the power of choice to the Customer is synonymous to a feel-good gesture for him. I would also add that freedom of choice represents something more important than power; it represents the right of the individual to be a free agent in his relationships with other humans in the society, to choose his own course of action in order to make the right decisions to the benefit of the society. Thinking it over, this does not feel like a cheap trick, but it feels more like a small example of empowerment for a greater, sustainable future.