Follow-Up on Apple No Longer Including Stickers With New Products

Wednesday, 15 May 2024

I got some pushback from readers for saying “Boo hiss” to the news that starting with this week’s new iPads, Apple is no longer including logo stickers in the boxes, and more or less rolling my eyes at the environmental concerns.

My thinking was that with all the other “paperwork” included in the box — warranty info, safety info, Quick Start guides — why not include one extra sheet that’s just for fun? One argument against the stickers is even just one extra sheet adds up. If those stickers are 0.1mm thick, a stack of 1 billion of them would be 100km high. But that’s still just one sheet amongst many others that Apple includes in every box.

The better argument against the stickers is that they’re plastic. All the other in-box paperwork is actual paper, and the packaging itself — including the interior structure — is all cardboard. And paper and cardboard are entirely recyclable. Apple has eliminated almost all plastic from its packaging over the years, including the clear shrink-wrap. So consider my mind changed: eliminating the stickers from the box, but making them available to those who want them at Apple retail stores, is a good compromise.

I conducted the same poll on Twitter/X, Mastodon, and Threads: “Thoughts on Apple no longer including stickers with new devices to reduce waste?”, with two options: 👍 or 👎. The results:

	Votes	👍	👎
Twitter/X	3,612	63%	38%
Mastodon	3,425	73%	27%
Threads	2,711	71%	29%
Total	9,748	69%	31%

As a meta note, I continue to find the relative popularity of the three platforms amongst my followers interesting. Also interesting that Twitter/X respondents were a bit less in favor of the change. And lastly, if you’re interested, all three posts on social media have a slew of replies.