There are really two reasons for "modern packaging" in retail products.

One, as mentioned, is to discourage shoplifting.

The second is because of an advertising theory often called "shelf presence." The package must be large enough to occupy a conspicuously large space on the shelf, and to display "product features" visibly. Some marketers even design the packages so that they can't be "stacked" on the shelf (or in storage at home), and must be spread across a wider area (or length) of the display shelving.

The most conspicuous example of stupid package that I encounter frequently is Hewlett Packard Inkjet cartridges. The 1.2 cubic inch cartridge is in an impenetrable, non-bio-degradable plastic package that occupies 0.8 cubic feet of shelf space (or storage space at home when you get it there). The package is of "super-heavy" plastic that cannot be cut with ordinary scissors/shears, so I generally use "compound leverage aircraft hand shears" ("dutchmans" for those familiar with manufacturing jargon) capable of cutting 1/16 inch (2 mm) thick tempered aluminum. If one has the energy to chop up the package so that it takes less than the cubic foot in the trash bin, wearing good (I use horsehide) metal trade gloves to do the cutting is suggested due to the ragged edges produced even with good shears.

Inside the non-recyclable half-pound (0.3 kg) plastic package, along with the 1.2 cubic inch cartridge (6 grams), is a neatly folded "baggie" that invites you to "Save the Environment" by recycling the empty ink cartridge. (product wt / package wt = 0.02)

(Other inkjet cartridge sellers use similar retail packaging; but mostly of a significantly thinner gage that can be cut with good kitched shears (if chicken-bone capable), and most are about half the size of the HP ones.)

John