With the announcement of the iPhone 12 in 2020, Apple revealed a change in the product’s packaging and included accessories: Each phone would ship without a charging adapter (the white plastic brick you plug into the wall), allowing the company to significantly shrink the size of the box and fit more iPhones in fewer shipping containers. Why would they do something like this? It depends who you ask.

Apple claims that this was an environmental measure. Many people already have chargers at home, so they often end up in a landfill. Smaller packaging and more efficient shipping can lead to massive environmental gains at the scale of the iPhone. It’s not that Apple doesn’t want to include the charger in the box; it’s just not good for the planet.

But outside the company, people have different theories. Just like the transition to the Lightning connector on the iPhone 5, many saw this decision as a money-grab. The company charges $20 for a charging adapter in their online store. That may not seem like a significant amount of money, but when you multiply it by the number of people who buy an iPhone and don’t have a charging adapter, it adds up to big revenue.

I tend to believe that Apple was being genuine in saying that this decision was meant to help the environment. But I can certainly understand the skepticism around it as well. After all, this change came only a year after the company completely redesigned the iPhone charging adapter to use USB-C and support faster charging, meaning that anyone who hadn’t just bought an iPhone 11 the year before wouldn’t have a charger at home—at least not one with the latest fancy charging technology.

The response to Apple’s decision was an expected wave of fury, think pieces, and even a few lawsuits. Customers were understandably upset by the fact that the company had made a decision that inconvenienced and financially impacted them without truly recognizing that fact. Most of us are happy to make some sacrifices for the future of our planet, but the way this was handled just didn’t sit right.

Personally, I was onboard with the decision. It might have been a year too early, and it certainly wasn’t communicated well, but I thought it was the right call in the long run. Short-term pain in exchange for a long-term investment in the environment seemed like a fair trade to me, though I still certainly sympathized with those were annoyed.

Over time, the public anger seemed to die down. And then, of course, Apple’s competitors started making similar announcements of their own, one by one. It became the norm, and we all moved on. Now no one bats an eye at the fact that we live in a post-charger-in-the-box world.

I bring all of this up not to rehash old debates, but to give context for a recent story from my own life.

My wife purchased an Apple Watch Series 8, so we’ve been preparing to sell her Series 7 when the new one arrives. Thinking through the process, I voiced my concern that we didn’t have an extra power adapter to include in the sale. We’d have to give the buyer one of ours and replace it. (I wasn’t too upset because I’d been secretly hoping to upgrade my power adapter anyway.)

And then we had a brief conversation that honestly left me dumbfounded.

“Did Apple include a charging brick when we bought the watch?” she asked.

“No,” I responded. “They don’t do that anymore.” (Apple stopped shipping power adapters with the Apple Watch at the same time as the iPhone.)

“Then why would we need to include one when we sell it?“

I had no answer. My mind literally froze. The idea of selling someone an Apple Watch without everything they’d need to enjoy it had never crossed my mind. It seemed preposterous to me. And yet, when Apple did the same thing to me and their millions of other customers, I didn’t protest a bit.

It’s a double standard, plain and simple. I was okay with a company I love doing one thing; meanwhile, I was quite uncomfortable with doing the same thing myself.

Have I been so blinded by my adoration for Apple that I can’t bring myself to criticize any of their choices? I certainly hope not. I don’t think I’ve fallen that far. But it’s apparent that in this case at least, I was giving the company a pass on something I hadn’t quite thought through.

Given this realization, I now had to find a way to reconcile my two minds on this matter. Should I stand my ground and refuse to include a charger in order to be consistent? Should I start getting mad at Apple for something they did two years ago? I had to solve the double standard somehow.

I’m not finished working through it yet, but I think I’m still somewhere in the middle on the issue, though not exactly where I started. I still think that Apple’s decision did more good than harm and that it was the right move long-term. But there should have been a better option for people who, unlike me, couldn’t use their products with just what was included in the box. Maybe a free charging adapter with their order only if they requested it? That would have mitigated a lot of the damage, even if the option was only offered for a year or two as everyone transition to the new USB-C chargers.

At my scale, on a one-to-one basis, I can’t rationalize selling someone a device without a charger. At a macro level, Apple has a lot more to take into consideration than I do: the environment, waste, shipping. But when it comes down to it, there’s still a person at the other end of that transaction who wants to use their device, and that individual experience still matters.

Is it morally wrong for Apple to sell products without the charger included? I still don’t think so, especially since it’s not as much of a surprise to customers anymore. But I didn’t appreciate just how inconsiderate it was until I thought about it from this alternate perspective.

As a seller, I’m not okay with giving someone only part of what they’ll need in order to enjoy their new product. I will at the very least confirm with the buyer that they have something to charge their watch with even if I don’t give them a charger myself. That’s just not a line I’m willing to cross.

But there’s clearly a line I have crossed when it comes to holding companies like Apple to the same standards I apply to myself. Double standards are not a good thing; it felt icky realizing I’d allowed myself to develop one. Hopefully I’ve not made room for them on issues more significant than Apple Watch chargers, but if I have, I’m now on the lookout.

Long story short: I need to be more careful about defending the decisions of Apple and others that I admire. Also, I’m definitely including a charger when I sell the watch.