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I Hate Packaging by JoAnn Hines Packaging Diva

It's that time again (the holidays) when packaging will be getting top media coverage by its detractors. Those would be the people looking to complain about product packaging because it’s too difficult to open or there is too much of it or they think it doesn't do its job properly. I always read a slew of articles on how many people were injured or had to go to the hospital trying to open a package. Raps on the packaging industry appear in the news all year but with the holiday and all the gifts giving it’s a natural topic to get additional publicity. Just check out my website www.PackagingUniversity.com to read a few of the most infamous cases. I have been interviewed several times to explain the other side of the story: The role packaging has to play (the good side).

Consumer Reports just put its annual call out for the "Oyster Awards" given to the worst packages out there. You can bet consumers are lining up to rant about various problems with packaging and how packaging is the bane of the public.

Yes, I know there are problems with packages that can't be easily opened. Specialized tools have been created to make this problem easier. I had a recent experience with my husband’s new electric razor which elicited a few choice words while I was trying to get it out of the plastic clamshell. But boy did it look pretty on the shelf. I could see the entire product and the nifty freebie gizmo that came along with it. I was very intrigued to finally get the product out (without mishap I might add). Even I was surprised when I finally got inside the package to see all the interworkings that went into packaging this product. It was really great package design at its best.

It is amazing how much thought and innovation went into the design itself. It sat upright and was very well positioned on the shelf among its competitive offerings. The product was clearly visible had some great marketing graphics which caught my eye. The package was composed of numerous types of packaging materials that were well integrated into the complete unit.

Why did I buy it? The package made me do it, of course, and the fact that my husband broke his old razor so I got to play consumer for a product that I wouldn't normally purchase. It was a reason to experience the process. But the packaging did its job too. It persuaded me to buy that particular product knowing the heartache I would experience to get inside.

Despite what all of the critics have to say, packaging is integral to the successful sale of a product. It has to get it to the shelf, but that's only the beginning. It has to protect, secure and display the product too. It has to convince you to make the purchase. That would be the reason that you just can't live without it.

I'm reading all these rants about excess packaging at the supermarket. Calls to strip away product packaging and leave it at the store. These are the first people that will be complaining if the fruit is bruised or the lettuce is not fresh and even scarier when there is some sort of health threat due to contamination. Have you seen how many food recalls there have been lately? Just think how much more there would be if packaging wasn't doing its job.

Too few of us really understand the role packaging has to play in modern society. Many problems that packaging resolves are taken for granted and only get exposed when it turns into a problem. Look at Tylenol. That poisoning incident changed an industry forever and evolved an entire new packaging category of product security and integrity. This could happen again anywhere in the world. The packaging of food products is 70% of the industry and it is sorely in need of scrutiny for product integrity and security.

So this holiday season think about why products are packaged the way they are. Be on the lookout for cynics and people who give a bad wrap to packaging. Be sure and take the time to explain to them the role packaging has to play. Don't let anyone get away with saying "I hate packaging" without helping them to clearly understanding where would we be without it.

I think the CEO and all board members should be required to open the packages they sell,and to do it in some public arena. My guess is they would quickly change the way things are packaged. And this doesn't only pertain to toys, etc. Much of the packaging we see today is impossible to open cleanly and easily.Things like a box of crackers, certain cereals, and the list goes on and on. next time you're opening something, recall this post.

All the best,
Doc

Has anyone done a study showing the amount of injuries due to opening packages? Childrens toys are tested for dangers to the children, why not to the adults that have to unpackage them. I don't have a problem with twist ties, these I can handle without a tool, I have a problem with the plastic wrap surrounding all electronic hardware or software and the fact that I need a razor to open them. This includes riduclous CD's and their multiple layers of packaging. Not to mention the waste of natural resources, how about oil dependence, and landfill issues.

Yes, display is important. But the need to display does not require difficulty to access. I have found some packages that are easy to open. If consumers insist the packages be easy to open, and if they begin to buy those that are... surprise!...other companies will suddenly discover that they can produce packages with excellent display characteristics that are "consumer friendly."

but have you ever noticed how extremely easy it is to open a package of light bulbs - easily broken, fragile, light bulbs? Where's the logic?

I don't buy the "just think where we would be without it" line for a second. For the most part the type of packaging we are talking about here (not Tylenol bottles or food)is the way it is for one reason and one reason only, and that is sales/the bottom line. Safety has absolutely nothing to do with it, nor does security. As every company out there does it the same way however, it seems unlikely that change could be affected at the cash register. Seems like the perfect situation for some kind of law suit to me. I wonder who's 9 year old will have to bleed to death to make that happen.

Joann Hines - Package Diva - I think YOU and others in your profession are creative enough to come up with packaging that shows off products to full advantage AND not annoy your customer base or cause them bodily harm. And how about looking our for the environment? Use these complaints as an ASSET in your design selling points - not as a punitive measure you must ahere to.

I hate packaging as well as I am always the one stuck opening and putting together the gifts. It is hard enough to have enough patience to get them opened and then read directions and put together toys at Christmas. I have actually broken the products trying to get them out of the packages! It is becoming harder and harder each year to open the simplest toys. Something has to be done, what ever happened to just putting sensors on everything?

It's the Lawyers and Shakespere said it best.

Why don't the stores charge customers ten cents for opening their packages for them? I think most people would gladly pay an extra dime just to avoid all the frustrations. This does not apply to food.

I was a little tyke in the 70's. I remeber getting a doll and opening up the package and having my doll withn reach with MAYBE one or two ties inside to distract thieves. BUT it did not take the army to release the toy from it's packaging! These companies go way overboard on all the ties. It takes me over 10 minutes to open some toys and games these days. I mean really, ties running THRU the tires of a truck? AFTER you have every other piece of that toy truck tied into the box? It just makes no sense. They has to be a better way.

Have any of the designers of these wonderful packages ever faced a 6 year old child who wants to play with his new toy and Daddy cant open the ^&%$$ package?


Have any of the designers of these wonfderful packages ever broken a fairly expensive item trying to get it out of the package and when you take it back to the store, get the " Jeez, we cant do anything about it" line.

Why display an item "just right" if you cant get into the freakin package?

Do they make a tool to open the packages, and if so is it in one of the flasted things?

That is exactly what I was thinking this holiday season. I have three children who are so eager to rip open their gifts. We usually spend most of our Christmas morning cutting open the plastic and then unwiring all the twisty ties and right when you think you cut and untwisted it all you pull the toy out and theirs wires under and in it too. The plastic and the wrap on the barbies hair, each little barbie accessory taped or wrapped in plastic. Then once you get the toy stripped from all the wire and plastic you only hope the screwdriver you have is small enough to fit so you can get the battery in and out. It's a hassle! If they're going to waste our time with tons of plastic and wires they should at least include some batteries :O)

I am a service tech (HVAC)and a father of three, and the first thing I do when it is time to open the holliday gifts is make my way out to my service van and grab my tool bag. I have learned that the tools we carry can be very helpful in the retrieval of my childrens toys.

The best tool for you to have is a set of wire cutters, linemans pliers, needle nose pliers, dikes or some form of plier with a wire cutter on it. This tool will make short work of the wire enforced ties. Also a good razor knife, and screw drivers (standard and philips). These few tools will make your packaging woes a little less frustating.

A major league pitcher (Adam Eaton) once missed a start after stabbing himself, while trying to open a DVD.

What a bunch of complaining pansies. Real men don't complain; they just curse alot and rip everything apart with their teeth. Come on, opening the $%()*&^%$#@! packaging is a great sport.

There should be much opportunity for the makers of pin and pocket knives. Ads showing their use opening everthing from toys to snacks. Most snacks today are packaged so securely that the contents will scatter if you force them open by hand!

Remember the days when you stopped for gas and got a snack for the road. The thumb and forefinger would easliy open it. Now you have to take both hand off the wheel and use a key or other implement, else you treat flys all over the car. Perhaps talk of a snack ban such as proposed for cell phones will get some companies to thinking.

To end the package opening problem, just end the shoplifters, the reason stuff is packed like it is, is because of shoplifting. -Can't get it out of the box, its harder to steal. We all pay for the jerks that are constantly stealing.

If murder were legal, I would personally hunt down all of the inventors and marketers of PLASTIC INJECTION MOLDINGS and I would hang each one of them for all the grief they have caused in my life!

Sop stealing, and then the packages don't have to be so open-proof.