Facebook reminded me the other day of a funny thing I found in a hotel four years ago. It still made me chuckle, so I shared it on LinkedIn:
The idea of a bar of soap with a hole in it and a box with a matching hole in still seems like an exercise in overdesign.
As Kevin Meyer pointed out on Twitter, why does “green” soap have unnecessary packaging?
A “green” bar in unnecessary packaging…
— Kevin Meyer (@Kevin_Meyer) October 2, 2018
Well, the hole reduces the amount of paper :-)
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Mark Graban is an internationally-recognized consultant, author, and professional speaker who has worked in healthcare, manufacturing, and startups. His latest book is Measures of Success: React Less, Lead Better, Improve More. He is author of the Shingo Award-winning books Lean Hospitals and Healthcare Kaizen, as well as The Executive Guide to Healthcare Kaizen. He also published the anthology Practicing Lean that benefits the Louise H. Batz Patient Safety Foundation, where Mark is a board member. Mark is also a Senior Advisor to the technology company KaiNexus.
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It seems like there are tradeoffs. I was confused, as a customer, thinking it was an empty box. It seems like they could just provide a smaller bar of soap, without a hole, which requires a smaller box. Is the box recycled? Maybe a refillable pump dispenser on the wall is the least-waste way to go? I often use a tiny bar of soap once and the rest goes to waste because I check out or, worse, the hotel housekeeping throws it away even though I'm still in the hotel.
I wrote about that “thrown away soap” problem way back in 2007:
Here are some other past blog posts about hotels, Lean, and waste:
What sorts of things do you see in hotels? Good examples of Lean or “Like Lean” practice? Waste and annoyance?