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Plastic Packages Cause Injuries, Revolt
massysett writes "Everybody has been frustrated by plastic retail packaging that's nearly impossible to open. New toys and electronic gadgets arrive encased in plastic bubbles. Manufacturers say the packages protect goods and make them look nice, but opening them can be difficult enough to cause injuries that land people in the emergency room. Manufacturers have an appropriate term for the frustration: wrap rage. One man even invented a cutter designed specifically for cracking open plastic clamshells."
I've sure wondered about this. The only reasonable way I've found of opening "modern" plastic packaging is with a pair of aviation snips (i.e. compound-leverage sheet-metal cutters). They work great, but what do people do who don't have them sitting right there in the top compartment of the toolbox in a corner of their living room? And why haven't there been any personal-injury lawsuits yet from all the people who've tried using a box-cutter or other sharp knife, which always gouges out sideways in a wickedly unpredictable and unsafe way?
I just had this happen... I find the plastic wrap not only dangerous to me to remove, but it can be difficult to get the product out of the packaging sometime without damaging it.
I just bought a mini-jack to RCA cable by Dynex. I cut carefully around the edge and when separating the clamshell halves nearly cut myself on the hard sharp plastic... what the heck? Not an unusual occurance with today's annoying packaging but I've gotten pretty good at it. The problem with this package?
Turns out, there was an inner-shell piece "cleverly" designed to hold the ends of the cable in display in middle of the package, a third piece of plastic I couldn't see, and didn't anticipate. In extracting the cable (finally!) the edge of one of the plastics nicked the exterior of the cable... no harm, no foul I guess, but a tug a little harder or in a slightly different direction and the cable could have been compromised.
Also had a remote control I bought for my Dad a couple of months ago. I easily navigated the surrounding plastic and strategically popped out the remote only to find what had appeared to be a cardboard insert was instead the user's manual now cut in half replete with pages of remote codes (for universal remote). So, I had to tape the manual back together to look up the codes.
Throw into the rage mix CD packaging, infuriating! I've had CD jewel cases damaged in the process of freeing my music. And how annoying that "pull" tape holding the jewel case shut! It's almost impossible to remove cleanly and even if you get it off there's almost always some annoying residue.
I don't know if the intent is to be clever with packaging, prevent theft, but it's gotten so bad I have started factoring in how much pain the packaging looks to promise vs. how much I want the product. Sounds silly, but after a few plastic cuts for a couple of two-buck knick knacks...
The stuff that gets me down:
Plastic Clamshells
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Not only are these packages hard to open, many are difficult to recycle. What a waste of petroleum!
Did it look anything like this?
Alternately, they insist that the obviously-enormous forces you used to open the package must have damaged the product, so it's not their problem.
Yeah, both are bogus and if you stand up for your rights you get action -- but what do you want to bet a lot of people don't?
Lacking <sarcasm> tags,
I find the best way to remove the extra glue which stays behind is to use the sticky tape which came off, or an piece of packaging tape and keep applying it and pulling it off the stickum until it's all removed. Sometimes you may need to burnish the packing tape over the residue a bit, but it gets the job done and you've only wasted about 5 minutes of your life for the bastards who think this is an appropriate way to conduct business
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
editors: you should have waited 25 days, and accepted the story at about... oh 11:00 am on december 25th
then you would have gotten a buttload of seriously frustrated, angry, and demented comments in the affirmative
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
I've wondered how this fairly hazardous method of packaging made it past the worry warts of the world without getting a safety tag stuck to it. I've given myself some pretty substantial cuts on my fingers from the ragged edges of the plastic. Rather than calling a lawyer, I chose to learn a lesson and figure out a better way of dealing with the packs.
Then, some genius came out with a specialized tool for deconstructing the dreaded bubble packs with ease: the OpenX (http://www.myopenx.com/). It's somewhat of a Catch 22 though, as the tool comes packaged within the very packaging one needs the tool to open. I don't own one, but it'd probably be a good stocking stuffer.
I just don't understand how spilling hot coffee on oneself is grounds for a lawsuit, but shredded fingers is not. Especially in America.
Often in Error, Never in Doubt.
Most importantly, how do the manufacturers imagine people are supposed to open those things? I would really like to know the answer to this. (Even better, I'd like somebody like Michael Moore to entrap an executive into a candid, on-camera attempt to open one of his own company's packages using only the everyday household appliances to hand.)
I'll add insulting dangerous packaging to my list of reasons to download or buy used.
Man, you really need that seminar!
I bought a new 80gb iPod and one of those silicone skins to keep it in.
While I was removing the theft-deterrent plastic packaging, one of the sharp plasic edges cut clean through the silicone.
The good news is that the folks at the Apple store took it back without complaint, even though they could have said I damaged it myself (which I did) and not taken it back. The gal behind the counter even went so far as to call it a pretty frequent occurrence.
Message contains 1 attachment: spam.gif
We can make large metal crafts fly. We can cure some forms of blindness with light. While some people try on a daily basis to redefine the boundaries of man's capabilities, others are having trouble opening plastic packages. How powerless one can feel without the Open here marker (not that it would help in this case, but still, you'd at least know where to start :) )
but opening them can be difficult enough to cause injuries that land people in the emergency room.
Oh, gimme a break. A pair of scissors applied in the correct spot will open just about anything you can fit on your lap (you may need something more heavy-duty for larger items, I will admit).
As the bigger problem here, many stores balk at taking back defective goods if you've turned the packaging into confetti. Given that we have packaging so sturdy that you can't remove it without reducing it to a pile of ragged plastic strips, that makes it difficult to take back most products (although in most states, they legally must take it back if defective, and that includes software/dvds/cds - Look up "warrant of merchantability" and your state's laws on the subject - "State law" trumps "store policy" every time).
Personally, I think every product should have a sort of magic pull-string... Just untape the string and pull it, and the otherwise-invulnerable packaging neatly falls away in two or three tidy chunks to reveal its contents (and which, with a bit of care, you could reassemble the packaging enough to return it to the store without much fuss).
For opening those plastic bubbles, I use EMT shears. You can get them at a hardware store and they aren't expensive. (I think I paid US$3 for mine.)
For round bubbles, I take my pocket knife and punch a starter hole, then switch to the EMT shears to open the package. But often there is a flat heat seal around the package, and you can simply take cut the seal part off and get the package open.
steveha
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
if they could just create something to unwrap the Barbies - It takes 20 minutes to untie all of the metal bands and plastic ties. (Before you ask, I have two daughters.)
This message was brought to you by "Lack of Sleep."
I have been made to bleed by these fucking packages.
Exactly. Mod parent up. All you need is a good pair of scissors. If I could figure out how to input a tag to stories this one would get 'nonissue' .
I'll just use my special getting high powers one more time...
Yeah, I agree the packaging is annoying, but all the comments here are perplexing me (e.g., "how do the manufacturers expect people to open these?", "Using a knife is dangerous!!")
Like, have people on Slashdot never heard of this fancy gadget called "scissors"? Come down from the trees, my monkey brethren, and let me show these wacky things called "tools".
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
I have cut my self several times on that hard plastic casing, only one time was badly enough that it really bled a lot. I never understood why they used that stuff. It is amazingly difficult to remove, even with the use of scissors.
I don't buy CDs anymore partly because of the stupid packaging they come in. Really it is the plastic strip they use to seal the cases - after breaking several CD cases in a row I finally just said fuck it. Now I get all of my music from the internet, so much less hassle.
Just run the edge of the package over a hard sharp edge like a counter or desk and most times the plastic will peel right off.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
http://www.compleatsteve.com/essays/cd_hell.htm
steveha
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
Do you know how many times the US Customs dept calls up and asks us what specieces of CLAM is we are importing?
Our answer is always: "Domesticus Plasticus" followed by a long pause...
Call me cynical, but I've always thought that one of the seller's motivations in using blister packs is to force the consumer to mangle the packaging so badly when opening it that he or she will only bother trying to return the item if it has severe defects.
Plastic clamshell packaging kills people.
Kevlar-reinforced DVD cases! Annoying plastic wrap got you down? Our-easy to open* kevlar-reinforced DVD cases will prevent in store theft! *requires purchase of our new thermite-based case opener. May potentially destroy contents. Thermite case opener now shipped in new kevlar casing.
It's not just consumer electronics and such that are overwrought with packaging. Many packaged foods are also very difficult to access. I remember when you could get into breakfast cereal just using your hands. Now you needs scissors to get into most packaged foods. Some are very difficult, and it's also possible to wreck the food or product you're trying to get to because of the packaging.
The worst packaging is for computer accessories and such. The thickness and strength of the plastic used is absolutely ridiculous. It's obvious no consumer pre-market testing ever takes place. I've seen this develop in the past 20 years and it's gotten completely out of control. I wonder how it is for the elderly and disabled to get into many household goods and such.
I've also wondered about why it has come to pass. I understand the need for keeping food fresh and products safe from damage, but I feel the current packaging "paradigm" is way out of control and needs to be reigned in.
Some other interesting things to ponder is that all this packaging is made from plastic, derived from oil, and will end up in a landfill, and take quite a few years to decompose. So in effect you have an extremely inefficient use of resources and energy to protect products and food that is also very detrimental to the environment.
We play the game with the bravery of being out of range
it would take someone to severely injure themselves, start a class-action lawsuit, and sue the people who make these packages so hard they'd reconsider the supposed advantages. I have thought this DOUBLE while opening a Wii remote and classic controller package recently while dreaming about the pretty boxes the European versions come in.
:(
Can't our overly-litigious society do something productive for once?
I've said it before and I'll say it again; businesses will do whatever consumers let them get away with.
If this type of packaging bothers people that much then they should let the companies know in the only language they understand, money. Buy an alternative product which uses a more sane packaging method.
My wife nearly killed herself, literally, trying to open one of these plastic fortresses. It was an individually wrapped steak knife. She cut the plastic around the knife and began to pull the knife out by the handle (which was outside of the plastic), but it got stuck on the way out, jumped, and proceeded to slash her wrist about 5 inches long, from the middle of her palm to just past the wrist-bone. Took her to the ER where she proceeded to get 16 stitches and a "you were lucky" speech from the doctor. 1 milimeter one way or the other and she would have severed either a main artery or damaging nerves and tendons, potentially losing the usage of her hand. Doctor said, "you're lucky blood wasn't squirting all over your ceiling." I can't even imagine what would have happened if I were not there to tourniquet her arm and get her to the ER. All of this 2 weeks before our wedding. Yeah, now the story is funny to tell, but at the time it was scary as fuck. Plus, do you know what it's like explaining to your family why your finance has a slashed open wrist 2 weeks before your wedding? Hah! This packaging is ridiculous and needs to go.
My brother-in-law is a plastic surgeon specializing in hands. He told me last year that fully a *third* of his surgeries are to repair damage caused by these plastic packages. Most commonly, people get frustrated and apply extra force with a knife, which then slips and cuts across the palm of the hand, slicing through some of the tendons and nerves that control the fingers. It is a real mess to repair apparently. Or people cut themselves up on the sharp plastic edges by trying to rip open the package with their hands and brute force.
Bad for us non-surgeons, but good for them - he has a really nice boat!
I would like to meet the executive who decided to put their product into "consumer proof" packaging. I would like to run their d*ck/t*ts through a mulinex ! At least they can put a pull tab where you can yank on it, package opens without the need for any fancy tools.
What is worse working in gov't, you are required to inventory all items INCLUDING advertisements and blank pieces of paper. You are not allowed to throw anything away. When you get 50 items, the packaging is such a pain in the ass to open multiple times.
...And while you are at Home Depot buy some glue, so after you open the clamshell you can repair the thing you ordered.
It was itself packaged in a plastic clamshell.
Anyone take a close look at the image with the article, in particular the letters? What is that lady getting for her kids?!?!
echo YOUR_OPINION >
There was a related article at Toms Hardware. 'Who Designed This Crap?'
No one's hit this yet, but those hard-plastic impossible-to-open cases were designed, as I understand it, to prevent shoplifting. If you can't get it out of the plastic case, you have to lug out a big piece of plastic, which likely has something to trigger an alarm when you try to escape. It would be easer to snag things from a store if you could just pop these things out of the casing.
The only way to stop this is to put a ban on this. Obviously the products look shiny, but they are difficult to handle, dangerous, difficult to return and unfriendly to the environment. Most of the time I don't even see the idiotic plastic casing until after I've asked the store for the product. If you are ordering online, the chances of seeing the packaging is almost zero. So to level the playing field, this kind of packaging (where the bulk of the waste is not even in the product) should be banned. Lets see what they come up with if they cannot sell anymore in the US or in Europe. Just use a small plastic front that you can slide out between two layers of cardboard for instance, this is already much in use and works perfectly well.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
You flip open the top of a new bottle of ketchup. You squeeze. Nothing comes out.
Oh, yeah. You forgot about the inner seal.
You unscrew the top and are faced with a circular round piece of foil which seals the opening. Attached to this is a white plastic semi-circle. This is sticking up, implying that by pulling you will also remove the silver foil seal, allowing access to the product.
You pull at the semi-circle [gently|firmly|side-to-side|straight up] and it detaches completely, leaving the silver seal in place and the product as inaccessible as before.
I'm sick and tired of these hip, "ironic" sigs. This is an actual, honest-to-goodness no-nonsense sig!
One of the problems the manufacturers have is that people demand nice, crystal-clear transparent plastics in their packaging, so they can ogle the merchandise without actually putting their hands all over it (which the retailers do not want, for obvious reasons).
But what makes plastics very transparent is also what makes them form those nasty sharp edges when broken or cut. In the jargon, you need plastics that are very 'glassy' at room temperatures.
So the situation ends up not much different than with glass (silica) itself. It's lovely stuff, very transparent, easy to form into different shapes at a low temperature, quite cheap -- but, alas, forming those nasty strong, sharp edges when you break it.
You can certainly go back to polyethylene for packaging, which is nice and soft, easy to open, without sharp edges. But it's a lot cloudier, since it's much more crystalline, and people don't like that, apparently.
Programmer: an ingenious device that converts caffeine into code.
Although McFarlane Toys may not have been the first to use this style of packaging, they're the ones whose products I first remember buying with the clamshell packaging. To this day, whenever I try to open something in that type of packaging -- regardless of manufacturer -- one of the first things out of my mouth is "Fucking Todd!"
Well two things.
One some packaging is designed to prevent people from removing the contents and leaving the packaging. Trust me, I've seen the end result.
Two I find a very sharp safety blade (like used in some cutters) to be effective without straining. Plus it makes it easier to return the product (Wal-Mart is good about this. Ask me about the paper shredder).
to open one of those bubble packages, I just get my handy tin-snips. Tin snips will win over plastic every time. Of course, that doesn't prevent me from cutting the user manual in half, like another poster mentioned.
I hear there's a new annex in Dante's Hell for the guy who invented bubble wrap: He's confined in a room knee-deep in bite-sized portions of delicacies and drink...all packaged in bubble wrap. And of course, the poor guy is not equipped with tools. I hear he lost his last tooth after a week.
Great men are almost always bad men--Lord Acton's Corollary
Try buying an iPod accessory on the way out of town to help on your long trip, then, while driving, realize that you don't have any cutting implements.
Can you sue the manufacture for the ensuing multi-car rage-inspired collision?
Some packages I have seen like this also include perforated lines and just enough of an opening to slip a finger in the package so you can open it yourself with no tools. I don't understand why all packages of this type don't include this feature.
Stores could offer de-packaging as a service or just do it and roll the price. I would pay more for less hassle. WalMart won't do it so it could be good for the smaller stores.
I use a pair of scissors to cut off a corner of the packaging with enough space for me to fit atleast 3 fingers from each hand into it, and then HULKRIP! tear it in half down the seams. :)
My other favorite is to just take a butcher knife and chop it, always fun
I have one of the OpenX cutters mentioned on page two of the articles, and it does not work very well for me. Anyone get one of these to work?
I think the first time I ever saw how ridiculous packaging was, was either a Windows 98 or Windows 2000 media kit my dad bought at Costco. The cardboard box that contained the install cd, EULA, manual, etc;, was encased in a thick plastic "bubble" that was extremely difficult to open. We used a serrated knife and scissors and it took us about 10 minutes, because we were trying not to damage the cardboard box with the cd in it.
We play the game with the bravery of being out of range
Seriously, the packaging exists, and retailers demand it because so many customers have no respect for other people's property. It never ceased to amaze me during my time in retail the number of people who would walk into a store, see something they like and start unpackaging it right there on the floor just so they could get a closer look. Didn't even ask anyone if there was one open they could look at, just tore into the box. And the worst part of it was, if the store tried to stop that by say, taping the corners of the box shut, people would TEAR the box. Then these same people would have the gall to put the box they just tore open back on the shelf and take an unopened one up to the register. Blister packs exist because of people like these. Do everyone a favor this holiday season and ask before you tear open a package on the shelf.
T Money
World Domination with a plastic spoon since 1984
I can't believe that no one has linked this yet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTjeAR2bnfU
From march 2006
Philosophy.
"Yeah, both are bogus and if you stand up for your rights you get action -- but what do you want to bet a lot of people don't?"
We're geeks. If we can open DRM? Then we can open anything.
trauma shears.
Should be able to pick them up for $4 or so. Get a couple. They're extremely handy.
No good for precision cutting, but perfect for cutting through tough, thick plastic, cardboard, or card stock.
There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
The article didn't mention that some of today's most successful products have not taken this plastic bubble route. Most notably, the iPod has always come in elegant, easy-to-open boxes--none of this plastic bubble crap. Apple even claims that the new nano box was designed to save packaging and be more earth-friendly--I find that an odd claim, with its non-biodegradable acrylic box, but interesting nonetheless. Even Microsoft with the Zune followed Apple's lead.
Of course, Apple stores keep their products under lock and key, so maybe they don't have to worry about people cracking open packages and stealing the goods. However, Apple also relies on resellers--they typically keep the iPods under lock and key too. An argument for the plastic bubbles is that consumers are more likely to buy merchandise if they can take it off the shelves themselves and take it to the registers, and that the bubbles allow this while deterring theft. I do agree that in large chain stores with their typically lousy service, it is better if I can grab the product myself and go pay for it. But (of all places) Best Buy seems to have a good solution to this: put boxes on the shelf, but encase them in clear plastic boxes or strange contraptions with plastic strings that may be removed by the cashier. I've also seen Microsoft software boxed up in this manner and, of course, CDs have been sold this way for years. Problem solved.
Manufacturers will have to pay more attention to this, especially as the population greys and gets arthritic. Besides, Apple shows that good packaging matters.
Penny - plain text accounting
Going back nearly 20 years ago when these things started to first show up my mother had purchased a toy for me. After spending a great deal of time, my 10 year old brain decided to locate a knife. Now, I had used pocket knife quite a bit, I carved stuff with chisels and such without injury but the infernal plastic was something else.
I grabbed a Staysharp knife and stabbed the package and pulled the knife though it. Unlike wood though there isn't grain to follow so instead of going away from me in a straight line, it curved down and into my waiting thumb. It took 5 stitches and a very panicked mother to fix.
I'll be the first to admit it wasn't a smart way to open the packaging and I am much more careful know but I can see where issue might arise.
I recently purchased a cheap camera. The entire back was perforated so that you could easily rip it open by hand. Ha! A solution exists.
http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2002/20020930h. gif
These packages are a little crazy. But seriously guy & gals is it that complicated? It's funny how it's always someone elses fault that you got hurt but it can't be your fault. Most everyone has had the basic rules of using sharp objects taught to them by their parents. If you haven't or your kids havent you have failed as parents.
A standard pair of sissors and 10 seconds to cut the top of one of the crinked edges and you can usually pull these "Shells" apart with ease. I guess in this lazy "America" opening a little package is to complicated for us.
I found that when I was finished that I had cut the cord to the headphones inside.
My only political goal is to see to it that no political party achieves its goals.
Duh
I thought the OpenX sounded like a great stocking stuffer. I bought 4 last year. I almost cut myself the minute I tried it!
OpenX has two cutterblades, a safe one for pushing and a hidden dangerous one that pops out of the bottom for starting the cutting process with a piercing cut. It's this latter blade I almost cut myself with. Clamshells are just too tough for the blades and it is highly likely that the package will slip when you try to use the starting cutter. I pictured family members trying to use the opener at Christmas with Clamshells on their lap--shudder. I decided not to give the gift of possible genital mutilation and exsaguination for Christmas and tossed all 4 in the trash. By some heavy duty sheers instead.
IMO
CD/DVD Cases: Get scissors. Real scissors, which end in a point and are fairly thin. Slip them under the folds of the plastic and Bob's your uncle. Works effectively well for getting under and peeling away that horrible fucking 'pull here SO IT BREAKS AHAHAHAHA' tape that's on the edges.
Plastic Clamshells: Two words, tin shears.
No one has a problem with nice, clear plastic windows in packaging so you can see the item in the box.
What people have a problem with is when that clear plastic FRONT window is thermally, ultrasonically, or RF welded to a matching BACK clamshell.
This is what makes you have to break out the damn jackhammer to get to the item inside.
It's all to help prevent shoplifting.
A work that expires before its copyright never enters the public domain and thus enjoys eternal copyright protection.
Whenever I remember to think of it, I have the store clerk open it so I don't have to deal with the crap. Though I am pleased to note that many such packages now have scoring and/or perforations so they're relatively easy to open.
CDs: To remove plastic, slide the edge of the CD along another strong edge (something like the edge of a counter). Jewel cases have ridges, and doing this should rip the plastic to give you something grab a hold of and pull it off. For the plastic sticker, just unhinge the CD cover and remove it.
DVDs: Slice the plastic stickers down the crack, open the case, then pull them off. Much easier.
Plastic Clamshells: Blow torch.
I've got some nice scissors. I would never use them on thick plastic -- it's not what they're made for, it would spread and deform the joint, and then they wouldn't be good at their job of cutting paper any more.
And yet most of the comments are directed towards the store instead of the people who's actions made the packaging necessary in the first place. Next up the security industry takes the heat for locks, alarms, and armed guards, instead of thieves.* How typically human.
*And let's not get into piracy and counterfiting.
What an odd coincidence. I just today bought an electronic accessory packaged in this stuff and had a terrible time opening it. A couple months ago, I had found a site that was lobbying against this type of packaging, and my first instinct was to locate them and give them a donation.
Given that I don't even know what it's called (Infuriatingly Difficult Plastic Packaging?), I can't locate the site again. Anyone seen this before?
For the record, providing people with sharper/better tools to open this packaging is not a solution. That's just a workaround to the real problem. The problem is the packaging, and the solution involves new packaging, not a slightly less dangerous or more efficient way of dealing with it.
I think a lot of these have happened because people try to be careful with the packaging in case they want to return it.
I wonder if a person could walk from the checkout line straight to the service counter and have them open it, telling them they want to keep the packaging in case a return is needed. Maybe if this happened enough times, stores might start talking to their suppliers.
science is a religion
Nobody has suggested what I thought was obvious - ask the store to remove the packaging. Do this at the till before you pay for it. If they won't, tell then you don't want it after all, and get your friends to do the same. Either the store will get lot of people balking at the till because they won't remove the offending packaging, or eventually a frend will manage to buy an unwrapped one for you.
Alternatively, you could take your shiny purchase straight to the returns counter and complain you can't open it and want your money back. If they try to open it for you and damage it, you want a replacement of course. If they damage themselves, maybe they'll get the message.
I work at a hospital, and have access to all the fun stuff. I use a scalpel to open them, and the stapler, bandages, and medical tape to reattach my fingers.
Not a Twitter sockpuppet... but I wish I was.
With all of the horror stories already posted how has this packaging not been sued out of existance yet?
Unless like me you bought your new shuffle at Bestbuy (Canada) where in their infinite wisdom they have wrapped Apple's excellent OOBE (Out Of Box Experience) in an infernal clamshell.
If they did it for security it is madness since they were all locked up in a cabnet and I wasn't allowed to walk around the store with mine until I paid for it.
I spent half an hour in the car trying to tear it open and bend my house-key in the process.
Plastic shells prove the existence of god, because only Satan himself could have invented the evil that is plastic bubble packaging!
I stopped thinking I was unique when I found out everyone else was to. So does that make me the average user???
Drill baby drill - on Mars
...is to deter theft. No longer can Johnny Shoplifter open a box and slip it into his jacket... he's get to tear at the bloody thing or put a 1 cubic foot box under his shirt.
...except I couldn't get the package open.
... opening them can be difficult enough to cause injuries that land people in the emergency room.
This is what product liability legislation is about: Making companies pay for the damage their products cause, so they think twice about producing dangerous products.
A few mulitmillion dollar judgements for people who cut the nerves in their hands on the sharp edges created by opening the packaging should make some execs start balancing "inventory shrinkage" from shoplifing more sanely against bottom-line shrinkage from damage to their customers' bodies.
That should make a BIG difference in package design quite quickly.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
Did you sue? I sure as hell would have. The only thing that is going to stop this madness is for everyone these things happen to sue. And don't just go for medical bills. File for unspecified punitive damages for the mental anguish you went through almost losing your [lw]ife.
With the event you described, any decent ambulance chaser would take the case and negotiate a settlement, and the business will likely settle for an amount just less than their projected cost to win at trial. The lawyer will take most of that, so you won't end up with much. Nevertheless, if this happens often enough, the corporation will learn a lesson.
As much as I hate the way this country has become one big lawsuit factory, nowadays (often silly) personal injury lawsuits are often the only way to effect change in corporate cheapness.
The preceding comments reflect the author's personal opinion and are public domain, unless explicitly stated otherwise.
Packaging is a huge business. Unfortunately the most innovative solutions are also the most expensive, which hurts the bottom line for the product.
Check out MeadWestvaco's Natralock product here.
Has anyone noticed on kids toys (like cars, planes) that come in a box where you can push the buttons to hear the noises it makes? Try popping those puppies out of the box. Gee whizz! By the time you get all the wire wraps off of them, you've got 10 feet of wire! And whoever ties those stupid things has an evil side. They will wrap some of them clockwise, and some counterclockwise. Grrrrrrrrrrr
You know this is no longer your father's slashdot when the geek's all favourite tool isn't mentioned. Dremel! They come with a small cutting wheel. If that doesn't do it? Then I'd recommend using the packaging material in military Hummers. They need all the protection they can get.
Flush cutters. I work with a a lot of fine-gauge precious metal wire, and I use flush cutters that are sharp and kept in very good condition. When I had to replace a pair, I saved the old ones. The sharp point pierces the plastic material, and the blades (still sharp, though no longer good for wire) work their way around whatever path I select. They seem safer than a straight blade (like a box cutter), and the cushioned grips are easier on the hands and wrists than a pair of scissors. Damned annoying though, and I've cut myself any number of times on the plastic shards. I think they should issue protective goggles with each plastic-wrapped item. Black and Decker is advertising power scissors that also look like they could get the job done.
"Here's what's happening. You're starting to drive like your Dad..." - Red Green
Opened one of these damn things yesterday, and put the plastic in the trash. While taking the trash out, the plastic poked through the bag and sliced my leg. Guess that's what I get for not recycling.
I'm not litigious, but perhaps a few lawsuits are what the doctor ordered to topple the marketing department's insanity.
Official Pi Ambassador -- inquire for details!
welcome our new transparent clamshell overlords!
1. Grasp the package in my hands and try to find an edge to apply a shearing force with my hands.
2. Finding none, I test the package with my teeth.
3. Ouch that hurt, now I look for a sharp object, the only thing near my grasp is a phillips head screw driver.
4. Now,I stab at the package until a permeate the sealed membrane.
5. Now that I have succeeded in making a couple of holes, I tear at the space between the holes with my hands with a shearing action, and the package tears apart spilling its contents to the ground, watching my new calculator bounce off the tile floor.
6. The tile floor chips, and the calculator has a ding in one corner,and my hand is bleeding slighly but the flow is increasing. No fatal damage.
7. I grab for a paper towel, and wrap it around the base of left thumb.
8. Another clamshell successfully open!
9. Profit?
The same goes for so called "safety seals" on containers, often attributed to prevent health problems when mostly they prevent the container being re-filled with a knock-off substitute.
What if the plastic were scored such that you could break the edges off by bending it a few times? You could still use the clear stuff, and it would be enough of a deterrent to keep people from opening it in the store.
I really can't see the problem with these, though I do always have a pair of tuff kuts handy http://www.stjohnsupplies.co.uk/products/default.a sp?productId=F11931
Blazing Spiders
don't come packaged like that
I've had it slice my hands more then a few time. I shouldn't get cut trying to open a pack of headphones. Fricking ridiculous.
Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to conviction
Given that manufacturers won't respond to complaints and probably won't change their ways until faced with a class action lawsuit, this sounds like a few opportunities could be had:
- An actually useful mall or other shopping area kiosk service: I would gladly pay a fee to someone equipped with a range of specialty cutters to safely free merchandise; and yes I'd agree to not hold the helper responsible if they did inadvertently damage the item. I suspect over time with repeated practice people would get quite adept.
- Web stores could easily use this in marketing items - insist that all purchases would be shipped sans the plastic and consider charging for this - sure some customers would be turned off but quite a few will not.
- Can't material science / engineering not offer up a better low cost alternative? As someone already pointed out, what a huge waste of a petroleum product with no chance of recycling. How stupid. I cannot believe that this is a market with no potential - surely someone out there knows of another moldable medium that can simultaneously protect and display object foo, and then allow itself to be easily removed. At the least this could be thrown at an introductory engineering class.
I complained about this, with Microsoft's Windows/XP packaging. I injured myself trying to get the product out! As others have described, you need some serious cutting tools to get them open.
Microsoft's lame response was that this packaging was designed for security, etc. Bullcrap. They can find a better way. In fact, I seem to recall the packaging being altered slightly - I bet someone sued, and now I wished I had.
CD cases: I've broken a few CD cases trying to get that damn plastic off, just to find the first corner I can get a grip and tear it.
The secret: look at a plastic-wrapped jewel case with the front side cover of the case facing you, right side up. On the left side you see the plastic bar which holds slots for the cover hinges. Between this bar and the actual cover itself (the part which swings open) is a very thin groove. Insert your fingernail into this groove to puncture the plastic, and carefully drag your finger to slit it open. Now you can rip off the outer plastic fairly easily.
It is possible to injure yourself doing this. Be careful the first few times. If you have a small tool like a (tiny) pen tip or small razor blade, using that is safer than using your fingernail. Fingernails which have been sharpened to dagger-like tips work best :-)
As for the hot sealed-edge type of shell? I agree with the many other posters who said that a good pair of heavy shears or scissors best does the trick.
If I can manage I keep these shells neat and intact. Sometimes they are required for returns. I just got a replacement turbo battery charger on warranty that had an "original package" clause buried in the fine print.
"No fear. No envy. No meanness." Liam Clancy
I've felt very strongly against this impossible-to-open and dangerous packaging for ages, and often wondered if and when consumers would revolt. It's bad enough for me, a reasonably healthy person with a Swiss Army Knife on his belt; but for the young or elderly or handicapped, this packaging is totally inappropriate.
There's so little excuse for it; there are alternatives using the same materials, where the two sides are held together by four or so "dimples" which hold the sides together. It's easy to show if the package has been opened, but you don't hurt yourself opening it.
Love many, trust a few, do harm to none.
It's worse for people who have physical disabilities. I don't have the strengths (weak) and abilities (lack of thumbs and only four fingers) to open these things. I don't even use regular scissors. I have to get someone else to open the packages. It's frustrating. :(
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
There's a double-edged sword that the manufacturers LOVE about this packaging.
1. Nearly impossibly for the product to shrink (ie, someone walks up, takes the item from the packaging, leave the package, takes the item.
2. People feel guilty taking something back to the store that looks destroyed. I've actually gotten dirty looks from sales associates when I took a bluetooth headset back that didn't work right. The packaging was mangled because at the time the only thing I had handy to open it were my keys. So I poked holes in it until I could get my fingers into it, ripped it open, charged it....didn't work. Took a manager to get them to take it back.
So yeah. The stores won't put an open item that looks like *that* back on the shelf, so fewer returns. Win-win in their eyes. They don't really care about convenience on this one. In fact, the more inconvenient, the better.
Karma: Chameleon (mostly due to the fact that you come and go).
they use said plastic shells to prevent damage in transit. the same assholes whinging about them being hard to open would be the first to jump down on them for breaking in transit. learn to use a pair of sissors.
If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
The clamshells are bad as they go. But...
Children's toys seem to consistently be the worst. They want the kids to be able to touch the toy, and maybe try it out a little, but to keep theft down or something, they need to make sure it really stays in the packaging. Really, *really* stays. We have taken to pre-opening our kids gifts. One toy car took me, with my tool box, over 30 minutes to open. It was literally bolted into the cardboard and plastic packaging (real metal bolts!), then tied with wire ties in about 25 different places.
And my second complaint is the residue from stickers. We have a set of plastic cups -- going on 8 years old now, in constant daily use by a family of 4. And price tag and bar code stickers are still there on the bottoms. The one I tried to peel off (with Goo Gone, putty knife, straight razor, etc.) is a brownish-black mess of sticker residue. The others have worn down to a fuzzy, illegible square.
I have a simple way to avoid struggling to open these packages; I have someone at the store do it (usually either a cashier or the salesperson). Refusing to open the package for me results in a lost sale. If everyone did this, this type of nonsensical packaging would disappear in a hurry!
CD Cases - Buy used CD's (Bonus- your money doesn't go to the RIAA)
DVD Cases - See above. (Bonus - Also see above and replace R with an M)
Clamshells - Buy a pair of scissors.
Seriously though, the only "damage" I've ever inflicted is trying to peel off price tags from blockbuster and such.
The other point about clamshells I haven't seen anyone comment on: Opening them destroys the package, and can make returns difficult at some of the shiftier stores.
Shift happens. Fire it up.
I use tin snips. They work pretty well, and you can find them at any hardware store.
I had to go through this routine with the toys I bought for my new XBox 360 last week. I can honestly say the most traumatic experience of the whole ordeal was asking my mom for "utility" scissors (I was at home seeing my family when I bought it).
Somehow I suspect that the same p*ssies (sorry, the only appropriate word I could come up with) who are complaining about this packaging are the same nerds who cut themselves on their sheet metal cases that their modding in their parents basement over the weekend and then try to wear that as a badge of pride over the next week.
It's a piece of plastic for sake. If it gets the better of you please report to your nearest suicide booth and get it over with.
Uh oh... I think I might have offended someone.
The dude.
AMD used to use clamshell packaging on their Athlon processors. It was a nightmare, and I cut myself more than once opening them. I lavished them with praise (through the reseller channel) a couple of years ago when they switched to a mixed packaging of cardboard, cornstarch-based molding, and a little plastic. That new package is easy to open, easy to reuse, and is easy to disassemble for appropriate recycling.
The Core2 Duo processors I have been receiving are coming in plastic inside cardboard. There's more plastic, but it's not hard to open. I still prefer the AMD packaging, and I hope Intel does something similar soon, as the plastic looks resealable, but isn't.
Vidar
The brains of a chicken, coupled with the claws of two eagles, may well hatch the eggs of our destruction.
...Microsoft learn a thing or two from the people who make plastic packaging?
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
...is on this site (sadly translated from dutch to english), you only have to look at the dreadfull, horrible pictures to experience the pain and agony the writer must have felt when he tried to open a bag of peanuts using his own, special way and the reactions he gets from the company that sells these bags just out in the open !
Slashdot: stuff for news, nerds that matter, matter for news, stuff that nerd
They've already made ink pack gadgets to protect clothes.
There are similar protective containers for dvds.
The cashier takes them off with another gadget of some sort (magnets?).
So solutions are near at hand with little/no creativity required.
That being said this is what *I'd* like to see:
A new package which is easy to open but makes a loud bang. Ever pulled a christmas cracker?
If the bang is hard to avoid thieves should be deterred.
As a bonus christmas mornings should get much more fun.
That's why stores have really inexpensive, removable, _reusable_ plastic security boxes like they use for CD's, DVD's and expensive software.
WHAT? You don't want to do this? Fine. Take your lawsuit like a man then.
..this is a joke - laugh.
Google's Super Secret Search Algorithm: SELECT @search_results FROM internet WHERE @search_results = 'good'
This clamshell thing sounds like another example of committee-engineered solution that sat around seeking for a matching problem to solve.
Sue them and the well dries off. Simple like that!
IMHO if you are a grownup and unable to open a clamshell and undo a couple twist ties without severing a major artery then maybe you should bleed to death in an emergency room and spare the world from your progeny of incapable mouths to feed.
no matter how tough the clear plastic,
1> get any minimally decent knife
2> penetrate the plastic on one corner (the top)
3> rest the oposite end of the package on a sturdy surface (a table) making sure the edge of your blade points down
4> push downwards on the blade until you reached the bottom.
5> pry open if neccessary.
if this too difficult or dangeours for the average citizen of the world? if so, we have much worse trouble than how barbie is packaged...
http://frag-legion.uk.net/wiibar/mario-5732799551
Take a hypothetical USB flash drive. It's a really small item, and, it could be put in a very small box of about 4"x1.5"x1". Normally, though, it is packed in a bubble that takes up 5"x4"x1". That's a 333% increase. Now consider that this USB key probably spent a fair amount of time in diesel powered vehicles. First on the ride from the OEM in some Chinese city to the port. Then in a ship to the Port of Oakland. Then in another truck to your local Best Buy. Since the shipping container that it is traveling in likely has about 540 sqft of capacity, it can hold about 930000 boxed USB keys or about 280195 bubble-packed keys. If the container needed 500 gallons of diesel to move from source to destination, the boxes required 2 milliliters of fuel each while the bubble-packs take over 6.7 mL each.
4.7 mL of diesel does not sound like much, but, if you think about all the shit a store like Best Buy, Walmart, NewEgg, etc. sells in a year, that's enough to run my heater 'til global warming makes heating unnecessary. Add the transport fuel to the fuel needed to initially create the plastic bubble polymers and the fuel needed to run the bubble creation machinery; and, you have a lot of oil.
I'm sure that "shrink" is a cost; but, packaging itself is not free and neither is transportation or waste disposal. My uninformed guess is that elimination of excess packaging beyond the minimum necessary to protect the product would do more to reduce the US's oil consumption than the elimination of SUVs.
WARNING: Smoking this sig may cause lowered IQ, insanity or short term memory loss. It is also really bad for your monit
Providing that thing called "CUSTOMER SERVICE", and thereby preventing shoplifting by simply BEING THERE for the customer and making sure they get what they need, and up to the checkout in the shortest possible time.
I guess when a company makes a CHOICE not to provide PROPER staffing levels, they'll lose merchandise, ( albeit, still LESS merchandise than their EMPLOYEES are nicking... ), but don't saddle the CUSTOMER with a lot of bullshit.
Technology -- No Place For Wimps! Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia Chatroom -- http://www.wemissjerry.org
Hmm, I always have a problem opening the big water bottles (dunno how many liters/gallons - the big thing you put upside down to provide water to the office/family)......
....
:( ... whatever ... they are a pain to open unless you have a scissor, and yes, I cut my hand several times, trying to rip them oepn after several civilised attempts to open them.
I feel stupid every time, 200 lbs guy struggling with the stupid foil, than trying to pull the little nipple (or whatever that little hanging plastic is called), then trying to pull the cap, and it is just damn unhandy.
It makes me feel better, when I see grown-up adults doing the same thing in the office, kneeling on the floor, trying to get rid of the foil with their keys, or whatever tools they find
dunno, I just always end-up with an aching finger/nail, and I swear, I am a very technical person, with a lot of mechanic practice (like motorbike/bike/car/whatever else repair practice).
Plastic shells: same stuff, last time I hurt myself was with the last thing I purchased...
Ohh, yes it was the car air refresher, that came in the same plastic shell, which was almost impossible to open in the car barehanded
The least they could do is provice space in the packaging to get sissors or knives into. I hate opening these things up and finding I've just cut the manual in half. >=(
I recently bought some AV cables (15-3030) from Radio Shack and the bubble packaging was not heat sealed. There was an inner plastic sleeve that had to be popped out and then the cable had to be carefully removed from that. My anticipated frustration turned to joy.
"Maybe this wouldn't be a problem if it was sanely priced and didn't work out to be worth $4000 a gallon."
Pay attention boys and girls. It's never the nature of the thieves that's called into question. It's all the fault of other people making a living. Good thing the poster doesn't own a company. Else I'd become an employee and embezzle some money. And when caught I'll say that if my boss had been paid a "sane" wage*, I wouldn't be taking his money.
*For some completely arbitrary value of "sane".
So how much does your brother get for a hand job?
it's a blue bright blue Saturday hey hey
How about a mass protest?
We could have an event where lots of people go buy products in this offensive packaging, split them all open, destroying the packaging fully, then simply return the items.
Have several thousand people do this once or twice a month, and it might make someone wake up.
I personally wouldn't mind if they made all this electronics packaging simple brown cardboard boxes. They could still make a fancy display unit that sits on the shelf in some clear, impervious plastic shell. Smaller, uniformly shaped cardboard boxes would take up less shelf/peg space than these giant plastic monstrosities, and would at least be recyclable through conventional means.
The worst part of the super-thick clamshell pakaging plastic is when you have to pull and pry so hard to get it open that the plastic suddenly gives and you wind up ripping the pakaging - and the item - in two.
Knowing Google's lust for data collection, the Soviet Union is still alive and well inside the psyche of Sergey Brin....
I bought a new 80gb iPod and one of those silicone skins to keep it in.
And from TFA: "You want the virgin product -- the product that's untouched by human hands," Hine said. "Yet when you get it home, the very thing that kept the product pristine is what's keeping you from actually experiencing it. We want it both ways."
Fuck that.
I have an old iPod, and it's all scratched, and you know what? I don't care! It plays music just fine. I didn't buy it to use as a mirror.
I also bought a used car with a big ugly scrape on the side, which either saved me many thousands of dollars or got me a much nicer car (features-wise) than I otherwise would have, depending on your point of view. To all you rich schmucks who eat the big drop in value of new cars for people like me, because you just can't be seen in a 2-year-old car: thank you.
When I buy from Amazon.com, I always check the Used link for the book I'm buying; if there's one in at least Good condition that's significantly cheaper, I buy it. Often you can barely tell that it's not new, even if you're only paying 50% of the cover price.
I don't understand why people are so excited by having a brand new item. To me, it just means wasted money. Or in this case, more grief. If I had the choice of the same brand-new product, one in plastic and one in cardboard, and the cardboard one maybe got a minor ding in the side from handling, I'd buy the cardboard one *even if it was the same price*. I'll never notice the ding a week from now (or more likely, given it my own scrapes anyway), and that's easily worth less frustration to me.
Unless I'm going to eat it, drink it, or wipe myself with it, I'll buy used. I won't give a rat's ass that it doesn't have new-car-smell but I'll save a ton of money.
Absolutely. Current first aid training will teach you things much safer than tourniquets.
After I complained to Amazon about injury from some Logitech packaging, they open my packages before sending it to me. That took care of 1/2 of these plastic packages for me.
Are you sure you wouldn't be happier suing a doctor out of existance rather than driving up the cost of consumer goods?
The scissors are also packed in a clamshell.
/ducks
You buy the item, then walk to the Customer Service desk and ask them very nicely to remove the item from the packaging for you.
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
Apple is *very* picky about how their products are sold new and by whom. Maybe you should report it to Apple, complete with pictures. Apple might actually come down on BeastGuy's ass. Hard.
-b.
Anything can solved by a lawsuit.Just wait until
until someone get annoyed enough(or cuts himself badly) and the companies get sued.
This is what I use, too, but they still seem inadequate. In particular, if I'm not careful, I still end up stabbing myself with the sharp plastic points of cut packaging.
A more ideal tool would be about the size of a pair of (large) bolt cutters and have some of those hand guards that you sometimes see on swords (not sure what they're called).
The problem with all of these ideas is that they're all fairly dangerous--not the kind of thing you'd want to let your kid use, or take on an airplane if you value your freedom.
Clearly the marketplace simply isn't going to do the right thing here. This is a job for government regulation. (Yes, I'm quite serious.)
"Not an actor, but he plays one on TV."
http://spyderco.com/catalog/details.php?product=17
Its beak makes easy work of plastic clamshells. I like the stainless version the best.
Pilfer Proof Packaging. But the compromise I've seen at some places is a hard plastic shell with an alarm wrapped around it. When you take your item to the register, they remove the alarm which also allows you to open the plastic shell and take your item.
Ceramic Zirconia blades used for cutting Kevlar, fiber optic, etc. work great.
The anti-theft idea is well and good, but there is often a much worse problem of putting a return on the shelf and selling it for new. If the customer made a mess of the package, it's going to be hard to sell the item, and a lot of these packages are pretty damned hard to open nicely. I do have some experience in retail, and I know what I'm talking about here.
-fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
Usually though, aesthetics wins over balance and I just re-use the smiley's paren for the close. (I may be a programmer, but I'm a Mac programmer :)
OMG. I'm so glad someone finally said it, and even more glad that someone had the guts to post this to a community such as /. Wow, this was a great story on my local news channel - and even better on Slashdot. Thanks for bringing this to the masses. I wasn't aware that every toy and electronic gadget comes in the stupid, hard to open plastic shell. I also wasn't aware that someone even created an "as seen on TV" cutter to open it. Fortunately, I now know what a plastic shell is and I now know that my $29.95 can be used wisely to open my next $5 woot. Awesome job. Your title especially drew me in because I just found it hard to believe that a hard, man made item created by marketing people could actually do me harm. I mean come on, that really got me thinking. I'm waiting for the next story telling me that smoking might actually *gasp* cause birth defects in my baby. Or that linux is *gasp* the next big thing because it's just so totally awesome for web surfing.. Or, that Microsoft actually MAKES MONEY selling software that everyone could code for free. But here's the deal... I find it incredibly frustrating that gravity actually keeps me from floating away into space. Could someone PLZ do some research on ABC News and post up another great article with a title like "Gravity Cause frustration, Anarchy!!"? In the post you could talk about how some people are so frustrated with gravity that they try to defy it (the spreading anarchy part would just be a bonus). I would check ABC news to see if I could link to something, but my AOL connection is hosed.
:)
Great job, and thanks again for bringing this to our attention. I'm super glad that I checked my slashdot today!!!
If you have a good sharp knife and more than 6 brain cells operating in concert you can open these things pretty easily. The problem is that people try to pierce it with a butter knife or something and then pry it open with main force. If you stick a knife with a good, sharp edge in you can then slice all the way around the perimeter of the plastic and open a large flap like a door.
You are so boring that when I see you my feet go to sleep.
Is it my imagination or is this sort of packaging used primarily in the US? I can't really recall seeing this sort of packaging anywhere outside of the US, and when I've seen plastic shells they've been quite easy to open. I've cut myself more than once trying to tear at that stuff. There are organizations that freak out over harmless little points on toys but appear unconcerned about the packaging.
I can only imagine that the main reason for this packaging to to deter shoplifters because it seems to be consistently used for small items. It's kind of pathetic and depresses me a bit that shoplifting is such an issue in the US that retailers resort to such cumbersome, unattractive, wasteful packaging.
The worst experiences I have had are with medicine that is impossible to get at due to excessively child-proof packaging. Some of this packaging is managable if you're in good condition, but impossible when you actually need the medication. Ever try to open something difficult with a migraine headache?
Easier to get caught that way.
If it was as easy to shoplift as it is to download movies, no doubt people would do that just as often. Most people honestly don't give a damn about the moral/ethical/legal implications of their entertainment, aside from how likely it is to land them in jail.
The risk/benefit analysis works out (for many people) in favor of downloading, but not in favor of shoplifting.
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
Props go to Zoom for their bubble wrap. I bought a bluetooth adaptor from them. The adaptor came in a standard-looking bubble package. When I got it home, I collected a pair of scissors, a pair of chicken cutters, and an X-acto knife in preparation for opening.
Then I realized there was a little tab on the back. After pulling on the tab, a section of the back of the packaging opened up. Once open, there was another plastic tab (if I'm remembering correctly) and then the cardboard insert which had to be removed.
The thing was, opening this thing was basically effortless, but it still took enough time that a theif would be significantly slowed down.
Accolades to the intelligent packaging designer who created this thing.
The ______ Agenda
FO?
In the process piping vernacular, "FO" stands for "fail open". Maybe I should get a life or something.
I remember that I had to use scissors to get my AMD Athlon XP CPU from its stupid packaging. Thank FSM, they later changed the packaging for their Athlon 64 CPUs. Nowadays when I want to buy a USB hub or another product and I can choose between one in paper packaging and another in plastic packaging, I always prefer the product in packaging that can be opened with hands. I think that if a package needs scissors or another tool to open, then it is the responsibility of the retailer to open it for me before I get it to my home or office. In fact whenever I have to buy a product in plastic packaging, after I pay for it by credit card, I ask a shop employee to open it for me: "Can you please open the packaging for me, because I have no scissors at my office and I need to use it immediately?". Many times they do it. The ones who don't lose me as a customer. As for the manufacturers, if I notice that a company uses stupid packaging across its whole product range, then I tend to prefer its competitors. Vote with your Euros or dollars, folks.
Medical trauma shears work great. You can get them cheap on Ebay, and they make short work of clamshell packaging.
Just use a box cutter. We need a whole article on this?
This post expresses my opinion, not that of my employer. And yes, IAAL.
I got a 3/8" to 1/2" socket adaptor at the parts store and when I attempted to remove it from the plastic doodad that it was attached to the plastic broke off inside the socket. So it's useless, probably until I get a propane torch to melt the plastic and get it out of there.
Tax wasteful types of packaging. it would kill these vile things... until they can make a green version from poison ivy.
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
What about the situations where you need to store the item in the provided clamshell?
In my case I had bought a 10 pack of compact fluorescent light bulbs and only used 5 or 6 right away. Since there isn't a way to store them, like an egg container for light bulbs, I had to keep them in the clamshell. Well, since you can't cut right through it, only at the edges, I had to wedge my hand in each time to get to them.
No problem until I was down to the last 3. They were in the bottom of my clamshell envelope, if you will, so I dug in. Oddly, the super reinforced edges broke and instead of the shell being connected on three sides it was now connected on just one, the bottom. Of course, the three bulbs just fell out.
Mind you, this happened in the matter of seconds. I found myself staring at my feet (which are usually protected with shoes) surrounded by microscopic shards of glass. A few pieces were the size of a human hair. I'm still convinced I may have a piece of CFL glass lodged in my bloodstream somewhere.
You can see a similar package here oddly enough:
http://www.myopenx.com/
Get your Unix fortune now!
"(that was funny:)" or "(that was funny:))"?
:)
You'd need to escape the smileyparen. Like so: "(that was funny:\))"
FRA: STFU GTFO
DRM: Wrap a product in a package that makes it nearly impossible to use said product. Treat your customers like criminals.
The DRM of physical reality: Wrap a product in a package that makes it nearly impossible to use said product. Treat your customers like criminals. They get frustrated and potentially injured as a result.
I'm pretty sure the whole thing is really a conspiracy by the hospitals to keep their ERs busy and profitable. Damn doctors.
or else!
"so they can ogle the merchandise without actually putting their hands all over it"
que the jokes about strip clubs..
FRA: STFU GTFO
You see a package in front of you.
> OPEN
You cut yourself on a sharp edge and bleed terminally.
You are dead.
"Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master."
On a couple of occasions I just whipped out the Sawzall and opened some Evil Bubbles in about .5 sec each. No muss, no fuss. Such was the level of my annoyance that prompted me, I can't say whether I'd have been angry if I'd sliced anything in two more significant than an instruction manual. The stuff came out intact though. No additional red-faced vein-popping pulling, grunting, and invective hurling required.
And it was nice to have the right toolfor that problem.
I know that "self service" shops clean up on impulse purchases, but while I'm browsing the rack for a cyan Lasejet 2600 cartridge I'm unlikely to think "What the hell, I'll get some Epson and Lexmark ink while I'm at it!". Its one case where I know exactly what I want and would quite like some service.
So why not keep ink cartridges, batteries, memory cards and other high-value-but-non-sexy accessories behind a counter (you can still make sure customers walk past the iPods to get there) and employ someone... Oh, wait, I just answered my own question. :-)
(Although, funnily, although that is exactly what happens at one of my favorite shops for buying consumables and components, they still manage to be cheaper than big shops with no service...)
When (particularly large) stores whine about the cost of shoplifting I hope that they remember to offset those costs against the massive benefits they reap from self-service and low staffing levels.
PS - to any monochrome moralists listening, thinking about the incentives and opportunities for crime is something that can and should be done as well as throwing the book at criminals and instead of taking actions that piss off the law-abiding majority.
In a survey of 100 programmers, 111111 thought that duck-typing was a good idea.
Oh yes, This is an international problem! I can see how third world country children get all raged over having a hard time opening their OLPC laptops.
Seriously, I can't imagine how someone who gets a shitload of toys at Christmas even _dares_ to complain about the packaging in a serious way!
This article makes me incredibly angry.
Do not trust this signature.
I bought a Sony FM radio several years ago, and the edges of the pack were actually perforated!
"I'm not a cool person in real life, but I play one on the Internet". Galley
"You need to face the facts that people in general suck and that's why crappy things like security tags and plastic clamshells exist. If people were more decent human beings, retail wouldn't suck as hard as it does."
You know I'm going to get a masters thesis out of this. "How an educated group ignores reality. Motivation?" At the very lest I know what group to ignore when dicussing social issues. Although I've observed that they don't do much better concerning technological issues either, so what's a fellow to do?
One, it's "an" not "and".
Two, my calculations show the additional cost to be no more than 9.7132%.
It's true I tell you, feller at work's next door neighbour read it in the paper.
Down to, say, the peanuts they hand out on planes. All of 'em, as I like to say, "sealed for our lawyers' protection", not for anyone's convenience or protection.
mark
--Rob
Towards the Singularity.
depends on who gives it to them. Extended family give them 10,000 piece LEGO objects that are almost unassembleable, and then are completely useless once assembled, or mechanized marvels that disintegrate instantly or sucks batteries like an industrial vacuum.
My wife and I give them things that (1) don't need batteries, (2) are old school -- soccer ball, football, pogo stick, rebounder, training matts and this year a 20' x 25' redwood play structure [we can barely afford it but they need to be migrated away from computer games], or (3) are generic, like LEGO bricks, and so can be used to create a near infinite number of objects (thus defeating the planned obsolescence of most toys and all modern video games).
I come here for the love
The solution to things being stolen from packages shouldn't be windows in boxes or these elaborate packaging suggestions I've been reading here. Why not just get rid of the thing that hires the product altogether? Package design should minimize waste materials like hard plastic shavings that are like razors to the environment.
I always have my pocket knife on hand. I haven't managed to cut myself yet, but it does take some time and patience to get used to. Counterintuitively, the sharper the knife, the safer it is to handle it (since you don't have to apply as much force).
Just remember, cut away from yourself (hopefully not towards other people or pets). Keep your fingers clear. Three slices on face of the plastic, and then you can just open it up like a door.
In Holland there is a product called Breaker, which is drinkable yoghurt with pits in it; although the first time I bought it I wanted to open the cap, and squeeze it, nothing came out. I remind you I was sitting in the car. I squeezed harder and suddenly *SPLETCH* all the yoghurt in my face, the car, the seats, the windows. Bad thing, almost nothing of the yoghurt was left after I gently squeezed it again ...
;)
A mule does not hit the same rock twice they say
--- I am known for the ones who want to find me on the net. Is that a privacy risk or a privilege? One might wonder..
I recently attended a talk by Don Norman at the Nielsen Norman Group's "User Experience 2006" conference in London. The world famous usability expert/nutter (depending on your POV) said that his next project will be to come up with more usable product packaging.
He said that the main reason why packaging is problematic is that it is there primarily to prevent theft. I might have guessed. Protecting the customer? The product? My arse - it's protecting the PROFITS that matters!
"And the meaning of words; when they cease to function; when will it start worrying you?"
What about making them like onions? All these crazy layers of plastic that you peel off one by one. That will be very conspicuous for shoplifters to do, but it won't be anything more than a delay for true consumers. A trade off between "I nearly killed myself opening that" and "I can't stop crying, why the hell did they have to use real onions?!"
-HobophobE
Nothing laughs forever.
when the cutter is protected by a clamshell. THAT'S solid marketing.
---- I was woken up this morning by a face full of fur. Damn cat thought my head made a good pillow.
I've been trying to figure out how to get into one of those clam-shells for years.... And I am not talking about the plastic kind!
Libertas in infinitum
"One man even invented a cutter designed specifically for cracking open plastic clamshells."
-bZj
.sig
I hate having 10 power bricks, all black and with NO LOGOs or any indication to tell me which device its for!!!
If you are that cheap, supply a damn 5cent sticker in the box so I can label the power supply as "For Drill" or "For Sony Camera"
Oh and one more thing, stupid WIDE BRICKS, that you cannot fit another plug next to it on a power board, this is spawned
wider damn power boards, stupid TDC Power bricks.
If mobile phones can have slim tiny adapters, why not other devices out there. I wish they could make an auto amp/voltage adapter too, perhaps
with an extra serial IO line to request the vol/amp.
Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
I actually like the packaging, It's easier to transport and doesn't get damaged. I use an exact-o-knife (box cutter as those in the us call them) and cut along the edges in the rear close to the edge. That way If I need to return stuff, the store is none the wiser, and they can put it back out if it's a matter of I bought the wrong thing. Did that with an Xbox 360 memory card & wifi adapter (took me five minutes to pull cat-5 from the basement instead, saved me $130) the other day. Took it back to future shop and no questions asked. They couldn't tell. No restocking fee.
- The Google Toolbar has a spell checker button AND it works, consider that before hitting submit next time k?
Besides my knife I've also been known to grab other things that are handy such as a large pair of Klein side cutters.
There are many mission critical software solutions but if you run them on Windows ME it ruins it, it does not mean that problems can't be solved with software.
Our government is worse than Windows ME. simple things can still run, but most stuff is f**ked up.
We can still design and write software with the hope that a better system will emerge.
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
I've never understood the logic of using a glue that is stronger than the material it is intended to seal.
This is easy to understand - it's to reduce the losses, and hence costs to the manufacturer. It might take a cent or two off of the cost of the product, which of course get passed on to you, but it's whether you like it or not. If you were willing to spend 79 cents instead of 78 cents for spaghetti with a ziplock bag, too bad, they're "driving the costs out of their product". I'm told this is MBA 101.
I guess customer satisfaction in in the PhD part of the curriculum.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)