Amazon Prime ships cardboard boxes from Westrock, International Paper

Cardboard boxes are a really big deal in the U.S.

Amazon alone shipped over 5 billion packages through Prime in 2017, and in 2019, announced they are expanding their one-day delivery service to over 10 million products.

That growth has been great news for the paper and packaging industry after the move to digital devices caused a drop in the production of copy paper and newsprint.

Starting in the early 2000s, the U.S. corrugated box market faced multiple economic obstacles. The great recession dragged on box demand. And even after the recession, demand continued to slow for consumer goods like soda and for the boxes that transport them.

But box makers found a saving grace in e-commerce sales — and Amazon sales specifically, which were growing at mostly double digit rates in the recession and post-recession years.

In an effort to reduce costs and ship out an ever-increasing number of products faster, Amazon has now moved to plastic mailers and plastic bags for many of its smaller products.

Watch this video to find out more about the money behind Amazon’s shipping boxes.

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