May 7 is Packaging Design Day - which “celebrates the art of packaging design and design professionals.” (1) After struggling with opening packages, I can’t decide if the designers are geniuses making beautiful packaging such as Apple’s sleek minimalist design (2) or gremlins who secretly laugh at us seniors trying to open the product.
Okay. I know they have to make packages tamper-proof. But can’t they come up with something you can open without destroying the insides, or your hands?
Take, for example, the prescription eyedrops my cat and I use (different kinds). They are like mini fortresses, shrink-wrapped in a plastic protective seal as hard as steel. The microscopic pull tab is impossible to see and grasp. I use cuticle scissors, to pry into the seal off and sometimes stab myself trying to poke through the plastic. When I finally remove the plastic, I need the Hulk’s strength to free the tiny lid from the bottle. I give up and use piers. People complain about misleading packaging that is much bigger than needed to hold the contents, but here’s a case where I wouldn’t mind the bottle being bigger if it were easier to open.
On the other hand, my non-prescription dry eye drops have a nice easy-open lid. But when I try to get a drop in my eye., I aim and squeeze and nothing comes out. I squeeze harder, but still nothing. Using all my strength I squeeze again, but by then I’ve lost aim on my eye and it squirts all over my face.
The new water bottles are a challenge. Some bottle plastic is so thin that when you apply the pressure necessary to remove the cap, the water gushes like Old Faithful.
Foods in plastic resealable bags seem like they’d be convenient, good luck opening and resealing them. Most of the time I can’t tear the ‘tear here’ strip off. Once again I use the trusty scissors to cut the tear-off line. Many times that doesn’t work so I cut off another sliver. I cut off sliver by sliver until only a fraction of the top is left before the zipper, and then it’s impossible to open the bag because there isn’t enough left to grab. Sometimes I have a total failure. Yesterday I cut on the tear-here line and it ruined the reseal zipper so I had to get another zip tag bag to store it in.
Why do some packages end up being a senior’s nightmare? It could be that package design awards judge packaging based on “creativity, marketability, innovation, and execution.” (2) Notice it doesn’t say anything about usability or honesty about the product within.
Thank heavens there is still some sanity out there. A Packing supplies company in the UK notes. (3) “Whether they’re completely inaccessible, bamboozling or wrap-rage-inducing, bad packaging is everywhere.” They show examples of misleading packaging, false promises, and using too much filler.
Have you ever received a huge box filled with stuffers and only a small box inside? One customer rants on Twitter (4) about an item from Amazon mailed in a huge box that could have been sent in a cardboard mailing envelope.
In defense of Amazon, they have started to reduce package size and filler. (5) This week we received several Amazon items in small cardboard mailing pouches.
The worst filler: peanuts. You don’t see them much anymore, but last year we received a box filled with enough peanuts to fill two garbage bags. They get all over the place, cling to your clothes, and are impossible to corral in bags. (Sidenote – OMG when I was researching peanuts, someone asked if the new biodegradable peanuts are ok to eat. The answer is yes, however, it is “not recommended that humans or pets consume them. The peanuts are manufactured in non-food-safe conditions, and the nutritional value is removed.” (6) Nutritional value? If you are eating peanuts do you care about the nutritional value? Would eating peanuts be the equivalent of eating paste when you were a kid?
Why didn’t they use bubble wrap? We all love bubble wrap. I had a great entertainment value. Did you know that bubble wrap no longer pops? (7) All those younger generations will never know the fun pastime of popping bubble wrap. I’ve saved a bit for the next time we get bored when the lights go out.
Sometimes packages don’t have enough protective filling. Hubby loves to tell the story that his brother wrote a thank you note to his mother who sent him some cookies when he was in the Army. “Thanks for the million cookies you sent. You must have started with at least a dozen.” Do I need to tell you the brother was a bit of a wise-ass?
I close with a packaging story with a happy ending. Last week Amazon found a cat in a box that was sent as a return. (8) The cat had been in the box for six days. The cat had crawled in the box while the owners prepared it for return. I guess they didn’t realize cats like boxes. But that’s a story for cat lovers.
So as you face your next package, ponder this: was the package designed by genius or gremlins? The answer may pop out when you least expect it, much like a cat from a box.
More special days this week
May 9 | Lost Sock Memorial Day |
May 11 | |
May 11 | Twilight Zone day |
May 12 | Limericks |
References
Apple’s Paper and Packaging Strategy. Apple.com, October 2017 ,
10 bad packaging fails you won’t believe exist, Packing-Supplies, 10. 02. 2023
Twitter – I closed my Twitter account when Elon Musk took over and removed the free corporate identifications.
Amazon Staff, How Amazon continues to improve its packaging, Amazon.com, December 22, 2023
Loretta Chao, Revamped bubble wrap looses its pop, wall street journal, July 1, 2015
Packing Peanuts, Are They Really Biodegradable?, Milhench.com
Cat accidentally shipped with Amazon return from Utah to facility near Riverside, abc7.com, April 30, 2024
Bonus: For a laugh, check out these examples of bad packaging
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