system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why are pills packaged so inefficiently?
gpt
Pills are packaged in a standard size foil pack and box even if they don't want to fill the entire sheet with pills, because that is **more** efficient rather than less. Being able to reuse the same equipment and materials for multiple products is a lot better than needing to resize everything for each run, and just not inserting a pill is simple. What is a little thin plastic and foil in waste?

Another issue is that the box should be a certain size for customers to see it on the shelf and purchase it. Sure they could cram the pills into a smaller size but if that hurts your sales then why do that?