Here’s a sentence I never thought I’d write: We need to have a serious conversation about TVs and toilets.

Yes. TVs and toilets.

Ten years ago, buying a toilet or a TV usually meant a trip to a home improvement or electronics store – the kind of place where you wander the aisles staring at different models, mentally weighing the respective features like which one boasts a higher pixel ratio or promises of a quiet flush.

As e-commerce dominates the retail landscape, secondary packaging is more important than ever. All the fleece pullovers, Fitbits, and K-cups you order online have to make their way to your home somehow.  That journey can be smooth and easy or fraught with damage. You won’t know which path your parcel took until it shows up at your doorstep. Pass or fail?

Believe it or not, being in the packaging business is a lot like being an economist. We analyze consumer trends, we dissect the microeconomics of growth markets, and we track even the tiniest shifts in labor statistics or fuel availability in countries around the world.

Why?

Because we need to be ready for whatever comes next. Ready to be the conduit, the conductor, the conveyor of whatever commerce the world requires.

We need to be able to see into the future and be there when it arrives.

There’s no such thing as free shipping.

Yes, true, you could go to almost any of your favorite retailer’s websites right now and get what you want sent directly to your front door without paying a penny more than you would in the store.

 But it comes at a cost - and not just a financial one.