Two College Kids Have Invented a New Cardboard Box. An AMAZING Cardboard Box.

Impact

Cooper Union engineering students Henry Wang and Chris Curro have developed something that looks brilliant: a box that saves 15% on cardboard, requires no tape, and unfolds so easily that the recipient only needs to push in a flap to unpack the contents. See their promotional video below:

But Reddit gave the duo a hard time, asking whether or not the strip of wax would handle the 120 degree fahrenheit temperatures in summer delivery vans or if the box would accidentally open during shipping. According to the designers, the box requires a "very deliberate applied force" to open. Reddit gave them a steadily-escalating hard time, even implying the boxes were a safety hazard — leading to this quip:

Other problems included that the strange cut of the laid-out boxes might actually result in so much wasted cardboard that it would negate the 15% reduction in raw materials. 

One other person's suggestion? Stick to retail and gift boxes, where the shipping problems become irrelevant.

Kudos to Wang and Curro for making boxes interesting, though. It's a topic which normally inspires no small degree of boredom.