【Lina Romay】

Amazon just introduced a new way to help Prime members feel less guilty about ordering a bunch of packages.

The Lina Romaye-commerce giant announced Thursday the creation of "Amazon Day." Now, Amazon Prime customers can opt to receive all of their purchases on the day of the week of their choice. And, whenever possible, Amazon will group these purchases into one package to reduce shipping materials like cardboard.

“Prime members can now choose to get their orders delivered together in fewer boxes whenever possible on the day that works best for them,” Maria Renz, Amazon's vice president of delivery experience, said in a public statement.

The initiative is part of Amazon's Shipment Zero initiative, which aims to make Amazon shipments net carbon zero, with 50 percent of shipments meeting that standard by 2030. Renz claimed in the statement that a test of the program has "reduced packaging by tens of thousands of boxes" since it started in November, although Amazon did not specify how many people took part in the test.

Online retail is convenient for consumers, but a nightmare for the environment. Multiple investigations and academic papers have shown how individual shipping uses more resources than retail. As reported in Fast Company, 165 billion packages are shipped in the U.S. per year, consuming the resources of 1 billion trees. Amazon last reported that it shipped over 5 billion items worldwide in 2017. That number has likely only grown, since Amazon passed 100 million subscribers in 2018, and eMarketer projects that more than half of U.S. households will become Amazon Prime subscribers in 2019. Good for Amazon, bad for the planet.

Amazon Day, as part of Shipment Zero, could be a good step toward reducing the company's carbon footprint. It is maddening to open one box, only to find another box inside of it — a frequently reported phenomenon caused by Amazon's fast packaging warehouse system. Amazon already gives you the option to group shipments of orders you place at the same time, but this takes that a step further by hopefully consolidating all purchases in one master box.

Amazon also points out that this could help cut down on package theft because you can choose to have your items delivered on a day you know you'll be home.

Still, part of the convenience of Amazon Prime is near immediate shipping, with the ability to get packages in two days, one day, or sometimes even the same day. With Amazon Day, you can still opt to get eligible items that way, if there's something you need immediately.

Amazon Day is a good step, but the problem might not be so simple. The waste caused by packaging is a symptom of our addiction to convenience and immediate gratification, attained at the expense of the trees cut down for boxes, petroleum processed for tape, and energy spent for transportation.

But by all means, pick your Amazon Day.