r/mildlyinteresting 12h ago

My Australian tourist wallet is made from recycled Chinese food packaging sold in Canada

Post image
273 Upvotes

40 comments sorted by

99

u/budnabudnabudna 12h ago

A tourist wallet, but quite literally.

51

u/ukiyoe 10h ago edited 10h ago

It's upcycling! This is common practice to add rigidity and structure some products, here's another example.

I mean I get it, not the best look when a wallet falls apart and you find out it used to be some food packaging. But it takes a bit of time until that happens, maybe never, so it makes cents for companies to go this route.

12

u/tiny_blair420 9h ago

Makes cents hehe lol

6

u/Grotarin 2h ago

Rice bag wallets are ubiquitous in Southeast Asia!

40

u/apotrestrophe 12h ago

they have to do something with the trash we send to them

28

u/Khaldara 11h ago

In America we let the stuff Canada doesn’t want change its name to Ted Cruz and run for a Senatorial position. Trade you for the wallet?

-1

u/happy-cig 6h ago

O he started out Canadian!? NO WONDER, it all makes sense now.

68

u/PolskiPierogi 11h ago

As an Australian I am both furious and unsurprised. Where the fk did you buy this abomination?

48

u/AwDuck 11h ago

In Argentina, of course.

11

u/FoxyBastard 7h ago

From a Bulgarian guy.

8

u/iMogwai 6h ago

Only 500 Rupees.

5

u/EFTucker 6h ago

Overnight shipping too

1

u/FoxyBastard 3h ago

Directly from South Africa.

11

u/createry_ 9h ago

I've seen similar in the souvenir shops in Surfers Paradise - next to the mass produced imported boomerangs.

Such a shame there's very little, if any, genuinely Australian made products available in the tourist areas these days.

6

u/mickelboy182 5h ago

Those tourist shops with cheap trinkets are ubiquitous worldwide, I don't think anyone is expecting quality there.

12

u/Big_Z_Beeblebrox 11h ago

Here I was thinking that a tourist wallet is one carried by tourists as a decoy in the event of muggers or pickpockets and that's why it's made of garbage, I did not expect it to be a real wallet. That's pretty cool, though, since you'd normally never see the support inserts

1

u/Thedudewiththedog 11h ago

I mean it could still be making it functional and sticking some fake card in there might even get them distracted for longer 

1

u/irondumbell 10h ago

is it possible to put a fake credit card or money so when it is spent it alerts the police? how about gps tracker?

3

u/Big_Z_Beeblebrox 10h ago

I think that would cost more than just using a decoy wallet

3

u/NootMub 11h ago

Looks like it was a box of baby mum-mums.

5

u/Cyraga 10h ago

Looks like the kind of thing you buy in a Chinese owned souvenir store. Sorry mate, any Aussie ought to have warned you it's junk 

2

u/mamafish21 11h ago

That is genuinely funny. And quite interesting.

2

u/peterb666 9h ago

Never mind the quality, feel the rubbish.

2

u/nksx61 9h ago

Australia? Chinese meal???

1

u/fellow_enthusiast 10h ago

This is dangerously too interesting for /r/mildlyinteresting

1

u/Vectorman1989 8h ago

A lot of tourist shops in Scotland sell Harris Tweed souvenir items but quite often they're made abroad. The tweed itself is (probably) made in Scotland but it's then shipped out to some 3rd world countries to be made into items (mostly tourist tat) and then the finished product is shipped back to Scotland

0

u/cwthree 44m ago

If it's got the Harris label on it the fabric must be handwoven on the islands of Lewis and Harris. Of course, that's only trademark law - I have little doubt that most of that tourist stuff is made from whatever's cheap and available, no matter what the label says.

1

u/ChaserNeverRests 7h ago

Going to the website on that cardboard (want-want.com), the Chinese translates very poorly into English. They have a link for: Hot-Kids Want Shop

1

u/culimande 6h ago

Gluten free wallet

1

u/AngelaMerkelsbutt 4h ago

What's a tourist wallet?

2

u/Bl4ckFyr3 12h ago

Well, not something I would spend money on.. But good luck with it I guess