Packet Rage !

[BarnyardEngineering]

Super-tight caps and safety seals on milk must be an Australian thing. Half the time the caps LEAK on our milk jugs here in the states. First time it happened to me I didn't notice the jug had tipped over in the cart, and dribbled a stream of milk all the way out of the store.

Packaging is all about protecting the product from damage due to the ever-increasingly rough handling things get these days, and as theft deterrence. You put something valuable in large plastic package, it's going to be tougher to conceal. You make that package tough to open, the thief isn't going to be able to open it at the store without attracting attention.

 

[Steven Allen]

Packaging is an enormous waste of material and money. It chokes landfills, litters roadsides, and complicates shipping. As irritating as it is to have to open the packaging, the real problem is much bigger.

I dismiss the theft argument given the look-the-other-way policies most retailers enforce on their employees.

I dismiss the child-proof argument: it is not possible to child-proof a house that you can actually live in, so you must house-proof your child.

Of all the objectionable aspects of our consumerism society, the retail and regulatory fetish for packaging stands out prominently.

 

[GChief]

You forgot to start that with Harrumph

 

[Steve in VA]

Super-tight caps and safety seals on milk must be an Australian thing. Half the time the caps LEAK on our milk jugs here in the states. First time it happened to me I didn't notice the jug had tipped over in the cart, and dribbled a stream of milk all the way out of the store.

Packaging is all about protecting the product from damage due to the ever-increasingly rough handling things get these days, and as theft deterrence. You put something valuable in large plastic package, it's going to be tougher to conceal. You make that package tough to open, the thief isn't going to be able to open it at the store without attracting attention.

True story since I knew the guy. He bought milk and got home to discover it had leaked most into the car trunk. He got stuff to wash it out only to discover the trunk was holding the milk, water, and dirt. He couldn't find a drain plug so he got his drill and put a hole in the low point. It disappeared but didn't make it to the ground. Care to guess where all that slop went?

 

[Charles in Aus.]

True story since I knew the guy. He bought milk and got home to discover it had leaked most into the car trunk. He got stuff to wash it out only to discover the trunk was holding the milk, water, and dirt. He couldn't find a drain plug so he got his drill and put a hole in the low point. It disappeared but didn't make it to the ground. Care to guess where all that slop went?

As a boy of 15 walking home from high school I caught the sharp end of a technician's tongue and a few well aimed clods of muck as well.
Smart arse me suggested that he should drill a hole into the bottom of the telecommunication pit to let the water out !

 

[Fred Werring]

You forgot to start that with Harrumph

I didn't get a Harrumph outa that guy......

Blazing Saddles Harrumph

 

[1948CaseVAI]

I gave up wearing my hearing aids because the batteries are just too hard to get out of the packets without tools. If you think our house is safet because some young child will not choke on a hearing aid battery, you would be wrong. It is safer for other reasons. Mostly because there has not been a preschool child in our house for over a year. But there has been 2 frustrated seniors trying to open safety packaging everyday.

You can get inexpensive hearing aid batteries in packages that are NOT child protected on Amazon.

 

[Mike(NEOhio)]

I gave up wearing my hearing aids because the batteries are just too hard to get out of the packets without tools. If you think our house is safet because some young child will not choke on a hearing aid battery, you would be wrong. It is safer for other reasons. Mostly because there has not been a preschool child in our house for over a year. But there has been 2 frustrated seniors trying to open safety packaging everyday.

The ones I get come on a card with a plastic wheel. Open the tab on the back and they fall right out. Peeling off the sticker is another matter.

 

[ss55]

I gave up wearing my hearing aids because the batteries are just too hard to get out of the packets without tools. If you think our house is safet because some young child will not choke on a hearing aid battery, you would be wrong. It is safer for other reasons. Mostly because there has not been a preschool child in our house for over a year. But there has been 2 frustrated seniors trying to open safety packaging everyday.

I order Mom's hearing aid batteries from Amazon. Rayovac Extra #312 hearing aid batteries work well for her, they come 6 or 8 per card ten cards to a box. She sometimes has trouble seeing or installing those batteries, but she has no trouble getting the batteries out of the cards.

 

[TedinNE]

Dont feel so bad now. Thought I was the only one with this problem.

 

[GeneMO]

I bought us two different jar and lid openers. One has a handle, the other screws onto the underside of our pantry shelf. Plus we keep pocketknives, box cutters, channel lock pliers, vice grips, hammers, and even several lighters around to handle these situations. Every opening project is accompanied by several choice bad words (by my wife) as I don't cuss.
Gene

 

[Dusty MI]

I knew that would be a problem for me, so when I got mine I got rechargeable ones. So glad I did.

X-2
I really like my rechargeable ones.
Dusty