We live in Brooklyn near the water. The entire coastline from Red Hook to Greenpoint was once dedicated to the loading, unloading, and storage of pre-shipping container cargo. This industry employed many thousands of people. It was a dangerous job but it sustained families, and it was a bootstrap to a career in the shipping industry. (There are analogies in textiles and meatpacking, in this same city).

Now, the warehouses have been converted into housing, coffee shops, art centers, and the like. The working class job is the service industry (waiting, serving coffee, delivering food), and it’s a very different culture from the working class job of the 60s.

I’m not at all saying the technological innovation was a bad thing. But it did have a huge impact on the local economies of every seaport in the world (Bay Area included, for those that live there).

If you’re interested in learning more, there’s an 8-part audio documentary on shipping containers. You can listen to episode 7 about automation here: https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/AfzxGaUKuceh4W9W7

I have a feeling that use of expanded polystyrene foam (colloquially styrofoam, which is actually a brand name for a different material), as a packing material had a great deal to do with the trend as well. Loose foam packing peanuts were patented in 1965, I'm not sure when foam cushioning blocks were introduced.