The Packing Peanut

Why does this item still exist?  Given all the advancements in technology, manufacturing and shipping - why do some companies still rely on the packing peanut?

Peanuts on the prowl

I was curious about these little buggers, as they are now laying siege upon my living room, so I thought I would do a little research.  I found out that they are a product of the 1960s from Dow Chemical Company and everything you see today is true to form as from the original model that is practically half of a century old.

Do you know that these little beauties come in three different colors and the colors actually have meaning?  Oh yes, they do - green for environmentally friendly, white for 70% recycled content and pink to reduce static when shipping things electronics.  I had no idea that one of the most annoying products on earth has had such an interesting, and colorful, life thus far.  Now that we are almost done finding all the electrically charged wanna be snowflakes, I have learned that I can take them to any shipping facility, even my local post office, to be recycled or reused.

It's amazing what happens when you utter the phrase "Who in the world would created these little monsters and an even better question would be why"... and then actually look it up.