The Bag the Bags Thread - Why Packaging Sucks

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Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 9:56 pm

Are you tired of fighting the shrink wrap?
Can't figure out which side of box to tear open?
Have you ever stabbed, sliced, broken or bruised any part of anatomy trying to open the new and improved fncy shampoo bottle lid?
Did you ever buy a microwave oven and have to unpack it before you could load it into your station wagon?
Have you ever sat and pondered why a computer mouse comes in plastic shroud approximately the size of a garden shed?
Were you handed a garbage bag size plastic bag, complete with store logo of course, in which to carry home your newly acquired highlighter pen?

If so, this is thread where you can dump all that polystyrene and get it off your chest.

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

Are you talking about "Nazi Packaging"? I hate that shit!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPt_IX8BjkY

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Mar 2007 Posts: 2628

I feel your pain
<hugs>

To add to our everyday packaging we have recently had 2 beds, 2 wardrobes and 2 drawer sets delivered
All flat pack! ( seemed like a good idea at the time )
Getting them out the box takes longer than assembling them.
aaaaaaaargh

I have recycled the cardboard only because I have a car that will take the amount, and we live within 5 miles of a recycling centre.

There's another thing that gets on my tattie.

We have recycling boxes but they dont take packaging but if I jog up the road into the next local council district THEY accept packaging and plastics AND collect every week ( mine is every fortnight )

We have found the cat has a fondness for the squeek of the polystyrene buffering. We have to bag it almost immediatley or we end up with white " confettii "everywhere and teeth on edge.

Our local Asda stores are giving out free bags for life this week

Baiting Guru Joined: 03 May 2007 Posts: 18313

I hate that plastic packaging that is sealed tightly (front and back panel) with your item in between and it is almost impossible to penetrate. You have to cut the plastic and once you've done so, its edges become as sharp as the cutting utensil you are using.

Edit: Pastor Frank, you added a link while I was posting. Yes, that's the stuff! Evil or Very Mad

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

This was a few years back, but when the kids were younger, their Christmas presents had a 1000 little parts, and and each one was attached to the box by two "twist ties".

It was equally frustrating.

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Mar 2007 Posts: 2628

@ Pastor
I remember those days
We'd get my mum to watch the kids the weekend before Xmas so we could assemble their pressies.
Huh bet she thought we were having fun Wink

Elite Baiter Joined: 16 Jul 2008 Posts: 1407

No, Nancy she remembered when you were a tot. Of course back then she probably had to hand carve your gifts out of wood since there was no plastic. Heck, even screws back then.

Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 12:07 am

Nanny Ogg wrote:

To add to our everyday packaging we have recently had 2 beds, 2 wardrobes and 2 drawer sets delivered
All flat pack! ( seemed like a good idea at the time )
Getting them out the box takes longer than assembling them.
aaaaaaaargh

I assembled a flat-pack chicken shed yesterday.

To be honest, when I'd finished, I realised they'd be better off living in the box.

Elite Baiter Joined: 19 Jan 2008 Posts: 1043

^Both our coops were flat pack. One had more packaging than coop, which was nice.

Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 1:43 am

Ima Baeder wrote:

I hate that plastic packaging that is sealed tightly (front and back panel) with your item in between and it is almost impossible to penetrate.

You're onto it! The following which I fired of last night via Imation's customer relations web form was the catlyst for this thread;

An unusually restrained callum wrote:

The following question applies to 10 pack of jewel cased CD-R's purchased from a major retailer in New Zealand, maybe things are different in other parts of the world

Q - Other than the accountant with an incredibly sharp pencil and graphic artist armed only with a red pen, who at Imation has practical design input into the packaging for your multipacks of CD-R's and other recordable media?

The reason I am asking is that I could have purchased a package of 10 Verbatim CD-R's for $0.80 more, and saved myself 10 minutes of frustration attempting to release the discs from the plastic wrapping.

The corners of the wrapping are so tightly folded down and sealed that is not possible to slide the blade of a pocket knife or letter opener under any exposed edge of the wrapping in order to persuade it to release it's death grip on the contents. Let alone give the purchaser any slim chance (pun intended) of using, rather more conveniently, a finger nail in an attempt to reach the same goal, that of being able to use the media.

The "designer" of the packaging has also succeeded in having it so tightly applied that one can not even manipulate the contents of the packing to promote the formation of even the smallest gap between the jewel cases which might allow one to insert something appropriately sharp without the 99.9% probability of gouging a case.

Surely it would be no great cost to have one of those red tag things (please uses the ones that don't break) which can be lifted with a fingernail, lightly grasped and used to neatly open the package?

While I am sure that the current wrapping no doubt promotes long shelf life of the contents, after all if you can't get in you can't use the discs and they will last pretty much forever, I’m also pretty sure that CD-R's are not considered to be perishable goods.

Maybe this is why my workplace IT department only purchases Verbatim or 3M brands of media.

Both of which come with the 80 cent tag of usability.

Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 2:39 am

Those plastic packages are also designed so that as you cut them open the scissors (very heavy duty kitchen shears are the only kind that work) can't negotiate the twists and turns. By the time you get the item out of the packaging, your hands are not only sliced, but blistered and possibly even dislocated.

Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 3:25 am

I finally broke down and bought one of those "as seen on TV" package openers at my local Target store. Although it is by no means perfect, I have to say it was a darn good investment as it eliminates the cutting and blistering part!

It still really bugs me, though, when I see huge amounts of packaging around a tiny item like a jump drive. I know it is an anti-theft thing, but it is just so wasteful.

Baiting Guru Joined: 03 May 2007 Posts: 18313

This is reminding me of Ellen Degeneres' comedy on packaging. I can't find a clip online.

Ellen wrote:

"So, I bought a new CD and I was trying to get it open but couldn't with all the layers...I mean plastic and then tape and the tape is like government tape. It says open here...is that sarcasm? . . . and buy batteries and they are in there with layers and layers of cardboard and then scissors...you need scissors to get into scissors! What if you were buying them for the first time? you wouldn't be able to get them open.

Then you buy a light bulb and it's this thin thin cardboard .....what are they thinking? "Oh, they'll be fine."

Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 4:11 am

I bought a cheap cell phone cover for my baiting phone. It cost only a couple bucks, but in my attempts to extricate it from the tight package I accidentally sliced it in half. Sad

I guess it's better than stabbing myself with the scissors in the process. However, I'm sure it's a matter of time before I do that even! I hate those packages.

Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 11:22 am

Quote:

I assembled a flat-pack chicken shed yesterday

Huh, didn't even know you get flat-pack chickens!

Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 12:29 pm

GordonBennett wrote:

Huh, didn't even know you get flat-pack chickens!

I think they're like boneless chickens, but flatter...

We are great beleivers in the Onya bag, from Australia. Made from parachute silk they pack to the size of an egg, but make a very strong carrier bag. Why a supermarket hasn't bought up and branded them is beyond me.

Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 2:08 pm

We have a collection of "neither" bags - when the clerk asks, "Paper or plastic?" we say "Neither." Some of the canvas bags are branded for specific stores (Target, Walmart, and a couple of grocery stores), and the rest are generic. They're all different sizes. We haven't brought a plastic bag home in a long time.

Some towns are thinking of banning plastic bags, stores are thinking of charging for them - sort of like a deposit on cans and bottles. I don't know how that'll fly, but we're ready for either eventuality. Wink

Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 2:39 pm

Blister packing!! Evil or Very Mad

Have a look at your hands after opening one of these and you know where that name comes from. Manufacturers using these should be shot at close range without a trial. Had to get that off my chest Laughing

Then there's software, games for instance, that come in boxes that could hold 50 times the content.

Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 3:43 pm

Whats gets me are those stupid little stickers they insist on putting on fruit nowdays, like apples and oranges. Confused

Pointless, completely pointless. Rolling Eyes

Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 4:15 pm

^^^ Not completely pointless, Windy. Those little stickers are so the checkout clerk doesn't have to know the difference between apples and oranges. (Well, at least between red delicious and Granny Smith apples Wink

)

Now, when the stickers are on fruit that's sold by the bag - then they're pointless.

Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 4:16 pm

in ireland you are charged 22 cent per plastic bag . i only take them if i forget to bring another bag andhave any breakables . i bought 2 cloth bags when i was buying rock band merch at a gig last year and they are brilliant . you can out a good load in them and they don;t hurt your hands like plastic ones do .

Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 5:08 pm

I hate to admit it but that thick plastic they wrap little things like memory sticks and computer accessories is quite useful to me.

Among other things I repair old plastic and Bakelite valve radio cases for one of my customers, and I can recycle that stuff to replace lost or damaged dial covers.

It's fun watching it droop over a mould in the oven and then it just needs a bit of trimming around the edge to fit into place.

A huge band saw used to open them packages up makes the job easier. Very Happy

I think its in Germany where the supermarkets are obliged to allow shoppers to dump unnecessary wrapping into large baskets at the checkout which they are responsible for the disposal of. I wish the UK would adopt this idea soonest.

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Apr 2007 Posts: 3123

It would be a totally different story if they wrapped everything in wet cardboard, and when you open the box, you would all be moaning everything is broken. Rolling Eyes

Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 7:26 pm

^ Tin snips, cable shears and garden shears work well on the nasty blister packs.

I make all my packaging out of timber for exporting large stuff. It's far friendlier than that plastic nonsense. Plus there's all the offcuts which I can burn to heat my house. Nice Smile

Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 11:03 pm

The bannination of lightweight plastic shopping bags commenced in South Australian on May 4th. Clicky.

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