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Plastic Packages Cause Injuries, Revolt

Posted by Zonk on from the ow-why-is-there-so-much-blood dept.

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."

28 of 533 comments (clear)

  1. What do other people do? by ummit · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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?

    1. Re:What do other people do? by Ninjaesque+One · · Score: 1, Interesting

      There is now only one question left, for those whose pilgrimage have led them this long way through the endless tubes of the Internets:

      Where does one acquire these aviation snips?

      --
      Ninjas and pirates. How piquant.
    2. Re:What do other people do? by Urza9814 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      ...scissors.
      I've never had an injury from one of these things. I have a small pair of school scissors (like, 3 or 4 inches long) that work great. Never had a cut from one of these, never had a problem opening 'em. Personally I don't see the big deal. Aviation snips seems quite a bit extreme to me, 'cause I have yet to find a simple pair of scissors that won't do (Though I did once snap the handle off a pair with it. But it was a cheap pair anyways. I caulked it. It's still in my drawer.)

    3. Re:What do other people do? by gwyrdd+benyw · · Score: 4, Interesting

      After paying for the item in the store, take it to the customer service counter (or just ask the person at the register) to open it for you (use some excuse like "I have a hand injury and am not too good with scissors right now", if you like). Let the retailer realize just how awful the packaging is.

      I've done this a few times when faced with particularly annoying packaging. Once, they actually damaged the merchandise trying to get it out, so gave me a new one. (I doubt they would have done that had I damaged it myself.)

      --

      I adblock all animated gifs.
      Blessed be the prime numbered slashdotters
    4. Re:What do other people do? by Firehed · · Score: 4, Interesting

      An Open X comes in a Ziploc bag and was created for the purpose of murde^H^H^H^H^Hopening this type of packaging.

      --
      How are sites slashdotted when nobody reads TFAs?
    5. Re:What do other people do? by Ethan+Allison · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I like this form of packaging, because once you know how to open it, if you need to return an item, everything just slides back into the hard form of the package. You only cut the welds off one or at most two edges. Taking that a step further, you can use the package to protect fragile products. I had a pair of nice headphones that got killed in my bag quite fast, but after I exchanged them and used the packaging for armor, the new pair remains intact.
      --
      I make websites and stuff. Buy one.
    6. Re:What do other people do? by Firehed · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I've broken scissors opening blister packs. I think $5 for a tool designed for this purpose is more than fair, especially considering that the broken scissors cost more than that in the first place. The idea of using gardening shears (the giant hedge trimmers immediately came to mind, but I realized that's not what you meant) seems a bit nuts, and in any case is a kludge - you'll still end up with jagged edges and all that dangerous nonsense. These, in theory, leave your product package in a reasonably safe condition that won't cause a guilt trip if it needs to be returned.

      Plus, in the upcoming holiday spirit, they'd make great cheap stocking-stuffers.

      --
      How are sites slashdotted when nobody reads TFAs?
  2. just had this happen by yagu · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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...

    1. Re:just had this happen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Mod parent up. I was going to post this myself but decided to read first to avoid a redundant. Anyway, here's my post:

      Every other post so far under the [grandparent] in this thread is 100% wrong. The correct way to open a CD is to pop the hinges and peel away the tape.

      Likewise, the way to open one of those 100% plastic DVD case is to take a knife (or open blade of scissors) and cut the tape along the opening on the three sides. n.b. Newer DVDs have fancy little tabs you'll have to open which complicate the next step. Open the long edge of the DVD, cutting the tape again if necessary (usually the tape yields once a single perforation has been made). Once the DVD is open, simply peel the tape backwards from the cut on each edge (hint: you'll do this in 6 places). This procedure takes about 20 seconds once you know what you're doing, and it works perfectly. I perfected this procedure when I bought about several dozen DVDs back in 2000, and it has never failed me in over 100 DVD openings.

      Cardboard DVD cases require a bit more care. Cut along the seam on the front of the case, but be careful not to knick the cardboard beneath it. Once you've cut the *entire* seam, carefully open the case and peel the tape backwards from the cut to remove it from the cardboard front.

  3. Rage? Not quite, but certainly frustrated. by ackthpt · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The stuff that gets me down:

    • 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.
    • DVD cases: Quadruple sealed for the store's protection, FO, consumers, you would be thieves! I've torn the plastic covers on a few thanks to the 2-3 seals around the edges. When the get old, the glue sometimes can be a mess, coming off the back of the plastic.
    • Plastic Clamshells: I've had my share of deep cuts from trying to open these things. The plastic, when cut with a knife can still have edges you could challenge a Ginsu Knife with. Can I sue someone for medical expenses? If I had my camera here I could show you scars.

    Plastic Clamshells

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  4. Where's the lawsuits??? by torklugnutz · · Score: 2, Interesting

    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.
  5. And what do they expect *us* to do? by ummit · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.)

    1. Re:And what do they expect *us* to do? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      British huh?

    2. Re:And what do they expect *us* to do? by mabhatter654 · · Score: 2, Interesting
      sure if you want to PAY and extra 10%. That's what it boils down to. They can have fewer people man the store and have the items hanging on racks pretty for everybody to see.. or they can have a bunch of closed up counters maned by cheaper stupider people and charge higher prices.

      I like the clamshells.. the product is better displayed. Most of the time you can visually inspect the contents... and the cost to the manufacturer are cheaper.. they use a few sheets of paper for printing instead of paying for a whole box of printed material.. that adds up you know. The theft resistance is also a boon. It's a cheap way to make a tiny, highly theftable product like a memory stick awkward and uncomfortable to snatch... It also makes action figures keep that NRFB look a lot longer!!!

  6. Just this week... by photomonkey · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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
  7. Very Dangerous by imputor · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

  8. Hand Surgeons Love Em by kbob88 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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!

  9. Re:Patience, grasshopper... by Fweeky · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Right, scissors get there eventually, but unless they're 3ft long your hand's going to end up right next to the razor sharp edges of the packaging while you're having to apply a few metric tonnes of force to slice through the armoured plastic. Doesn't take much of a slip to put a nasty gash in your hand.

  10. plastics by Quadraginta · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.

    1. Re:plastics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      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.

      Looks like someone failed their polymer chemistry course. Whether a plastic is glassy or not does not correlate with whether a plastic is transparent or not. There are crystalline plastics that are very transparent, and others that are not. There are glassy plastics that are very transparent, and others that are not.

      Now, some crystalline plastics have crystalline regions that are in the size range where they can scatter visible light, which will make it cloudy, or even opaque.

      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.

      Scientifically speaking, glass is a state of matter that is not ordered very well. Generally speaking, crystalline plastics are much harder than glassy plastics. The nasty edges when you break regular glass has to do with fracture patterns and the way crack tips propogate.

      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.

      What people want is not a factor. Retailers want a strong, tough plastic case that is difficult to open in the store to reduce shoplifting since it makes it more difficult to remove the anti-shoplifting tags. Some products (eg CF cards) are so small that they would be easy to shoplift. Putting them in a huge plastic case reduces theft.

      However, a strong, tough case that is difficult to open in the store is also difficult to open after purchase.

  11. Re:Patience, grasshopper... by CormacJ · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Lately I've seen packages where the heat sealed part is actually inset in a fold, and thats almost impossible to get with scissors - you find that after 5 minutes snipping all you've done is cut the fold away.

    Now I just resort to using a scapel. My wife complains about me doing surgery on packaging, but I can remove most plastic wrap in about 1 minute. Sometimes I do it so well that if I return an item the store has problems figureing out if I even opened it and I have to point out where I opened it.

  12. Re:Chainsaw anyone? by vincentj7 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I once had an experience with ridiculous food packing. It was so traumatic that I felt compelled to write about it:

    On Freshness and Weiners

    Since when did the security of my hot dogs become so paramount? I decided to have a couple for dinner tonight, but I could barely get the package open! At first glance, it looks like a standard plastic wrapper, with the requisite ziplock strip (for freshness!) But once I began to open the package, I realized it is actually a hermetically sealed vault with no less than four stages of defense between me and my tasty franks. I admit I was fooled by the words on the wrapper: "Easy open! Resealable packaging!" It would prove to be neither.

    Step one looks simple enough: tear along the perforated line. Okay. But in this devious contraption that strategy yields no results. Below the perforation lies an unassuming red strip sandwiched between four layers of plastic. The strip is made from an indestructible space-age composite that forms a permanent, indelible bond with its surrounding layers. The red strip itself performs no physical function; its sole purpose is to taunt you like some kind of unattainable trophy. I spent minutes trying to expose the object to the elements before I realized the true nature of the artifice. A pair of scissors applied strategically below the strip dispatched the insidious foe. The third stronghold was the aforementioned ziplock strip, which one might assume would provide a sufficient measure of freshness beyond the first two barriers. The feeble ziplock strip provided a brief moment of respite and optimism until I realized there was yet another layer of protection. An adhesive seal remained like a ticking time bomb, ready to disrupt the integrity of the entire structure. Separating the glue between the two walls detached a section of ziplock also, rendering the resealable packaging totally ineffectual. By the time I got the package open, I had actually starved to death.

    Next time I think I'll just have a burger.

  13. Colbert by Umbral+Blot · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I can't believe that no one has linked this yet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTjeAR2bnfU
    From march 2006

    --

    Philosophy.
  14. Nah, you can have your cake and eat it too... by maillemaker · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.
  15. Re:Patience, grasshopper... by XorNand · · Score: 2, Interesting
    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...
    I just hope it's more effective than the paper tab that sticks out of a Hershey's Kiss. That stupid thing is one of the most poorly engineered packages of the past 100 years.
    --
    Entrepreneur : (noun), French for "unemployed"
  16. Re:Patience, grasshopper... by Phil_At_NHS · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Yes, scissors applied in the correct spot will open them, but scissors applied to an incorrect spot may well destroy the product, and with a lot of this packaging, there is no easy way to tell what is a safe place to cut. With cords, manuals, accessories, etc. often hidden between sheets of cardboard...

    My solution? As soon as I pay for it, I ask the clerk if they have something to open it with, and generously allow them to do the opening.

    If everyone did this, all the time, the problem would go away very quickly. If they complain, ask for a manager. IF they want a reason, here is mine. "You have workman's comp if you get injured opening this thing, and I have been cut by these types of packages. Also, you have a replacement if opening the packages destroys the contents."

  17. Actually, it's more sinister than this. by numbski · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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).

  18. slowly compromises will come? by Stunning+Tard · · Score: 4, Interesting
    So unless we complain nothing happens? That doesn't seem fair or efficient.

    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.