#32 - Hard Shell Plastic Packaging

By, Hoover Maneuver

Why? Why oh why do they use that awful hard-shell plastic packaging for so many products today?

I bought a flash drive a few weeks ago and for the life of me, I couldn't get the darn thing out of the package with my bare hands. So, I resorted to the teeth.

Nope...no good. Then I had to break out a box-cutter razor. So I sliced a hole in the package and then reached in with my fingers to pull the plastic pieces apart. Guess what? I cut my fingers on the plastic that I had just cut!

Ugh! I've heard the phrase, "wrap rage" to define how frustrating it is to try to open these things. I think that sounds about right! The Consumer Product Safety Commission says thousands of people are injured every year by trying to open these sealed plastic packages!

It's gotten so bad, some companies are selling products like the "Open X" just to help you open the other products you bought! (Oh...and in case you were wondering...the Open X comes in a cardboard package!)

Let's be honest: I know that retailers are demanding packaging that deters theft. But there has to be a better way, doesn't there? I mean, it's 2008 for crying out loud. Maybe we aren't to the point where we are driving flying cars or colonizing Mars, but you can't tell me that we can't come up with a better solution to plastic packaging!

Or maybe we can at least come up with a better use for it. What if clamshell plastic packaging was how we wrapped all nuclear weapons? Then we'd never have to worry about a nuclear war! Who's gonna take the time? Or think about how much weight we'd all lose if candy bars came wrapped in this stuff. But oh no! They want THAT to be easily accessible!

Hard Shell Plastic Packaging

Things That Suck