Wrapper Rage Making Consumers Crazy
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 02.11.08
"Wrapper Rage" is the anger that builds up as you try and open that sealed heavy plastic packaging. (TreeHugger called it "Wrap Rage" two years ago) Michael Wilson tells the Ottawa Citizen about cutting his hand: "I first tried my best to open it with my bare hands, but it wasn't humanly possible," he says. "It was sealed so well in plastic, it couldn't be opened without scissors, which slid off of the impenetrable plastic casing and cut my finger."
Even though consumers have been complaining about it for years, manufacturers are not eager to change.
According to the Citizen, Daniel Howard, chair of the marketing department at the Cox School of business surveyed households about packaging. Nearly 80 per cent of the respondents "expressed anger, frustration or outright rage" with plastic packaging materials.
Howard says manufacturers know consumers are frustrated. But he says they make packaging difficult to open largely because they are afraid of lawsuits that could result if a product had been tampered with, and because they are afraid of "shrinkage," the retail euphemism for theft.
However two trends are causing them to rethink and redesign: companies like Wal-Mart (and their customers) are demanding more environmentally friendly packaging, and the aging boomers are having more trouble opening the stuff without hurting themselves. ::Regina Leader Post
They make inexpensive cutters for opening these packages and the packages are coded for recycling. The consumer should just be more responsible for proper disposal of the package.
There has to be some solid middle ground for this. Focus groups were created for just such a reason and I am confident that they could come up with something that equally addresses the issues of environmental packaging, ease of opening, and "shrinkage". The companies out there just need to see it as being a way to reduce cost with a gain in sales in order to have them respond in a meaningful manner.
use a can opener (the ones that clamp on the edge of the can) to open these guys. Works like a charm.
Consumers should not have to buy another product just to open a product. It should be all top down - the corporation should be completely responsible for designing packaging that is both eco friendly (either 100% biodegrable, recyclable, or easily reused) and consumer friendly. Corporate executive get paid big money - they should be taking more responsibility with regards to packaging from an end user perspective, that is creating packaging that is easy to open, as well as from an environmental perspective.
Consumers should not have to buy another product just to open a product. It should be all top down - the corporation should be completely responsible for designing packaging that is both eco friendly (either 100% biodegrable, recyclable, or easily reused) and consumer friendly. Corporate executive get paid big money - they should be taking more responsibility with regards to packaging from an end user perspective, that is creating packaging that is easy to open, as well as from an environmental perspective.
The main reason that the big plastic platters are used is to get customer attention to point of purchase displays, embellishing the packages with colorful splashes and words. Period.
Prevention of shoplifting is the secondary reason (keeping small valuable items behind a glass case being the costlier alternative, and which defeats the eye-candy value).
No focus group which ignore this basic reality is going to get anywhere.
Possibly a future where we shop with our cell phones and the phone can literally locate the desired product in a display case amongst the clutter would overcome, as would a more massive shift to catalog buying.
Pff. You can't recycle any of those clamshell packages. They are usually number 5,6, or 7. Few are 1 or 2, the predominant bottle plastic that gets recycled. My local trash manager said they really only take bottles and throw other junk away. I'd like to see less plastic, thinner plastic, simple shrink wrap, or just a cardboard box .
Just because it is coded for recycling does NOT mean it can be recycled. It's a common misunderstanding, that just because a company uses a plastic that technically could be recycled, this plastic shell is not a plastic that most recycling markets can accept.
If you checked with your community, you'd likely find that no, this is NOT something that can be collected curbside and the only way it can be collected is through a special collection, or plastics round-up like they do here in Portland.
Consumers have a right to be outraged and demand better packaging options, and manufacturers should listen. The only way they will do that is if consumers speak the language they understand - sales.
If you don't like the packaging the product comes in, don't buy the product. Let the company know that. If enough people stop buying, manufacturers wil respond.
Just because it is coded for recycling does NOT mean it can be recycled. It's a common misunderstanding, that just because a company uses a plastic that technically could be recycled, this plastic shell is not a plastic that most recycling markets can accept.
If you checked with your community, you'd likely find that no, this is NOT something that can be collected curbside and the only way it can be collected is through a special collection, or plastics round-up like they do here in Portland.
Consumers have a right to be outraged and demand better packaging options, and manufacturers should listen. The only way they will do that is if consumers speak the language they understand - sales.
If you don't like the packaging the product comes in, don't buy the product. Let the company know that. If enough people stop buying, manufacturers wil respond.
If people really want to steal, they will. We need compostable/recyclable packaging that's easy to open.
With all the corn sugar/corn starch packaging I see for food at the store, why can't they make the same shapes/sizes for electronics and such? It's not like most of the stuff packaged in the huge, titanium bubble packs NEEDS that much protection....
The cardboard box idea sounds good to me. To ensure security, retail sellers could use "spider" devices, placed around boxes until point of sale and then reused on new merchandise.
Or we could all decide that we don't care to take care of that packaging. At the cash register stop, ask the cashier for something to open the package with, since you don't have help at home. Open the package, take out your item, ask the cashier to keep the wrapping "since that isn't what I paid for anyways" and "my recycling doesn't take plastic like that, I'm sure a big company like yours can take care of such packaging"
Enough people do this often enough the companies will change their tune.
In the short term, rather than buying a specialty opener, you can use a wheel-type can opener on these things. It works just fine, and if you go around 3 sides of it, the risk of cutting yourself is pretty slight.
Copycat has it right on. If you need to buy something from the store that comes in packaging, you probably don't need it to begin with. But allowing for the fact that we are all consumers, the best thing to do is leave the packaging with the store. Wrapper rage does nothing if it's done at home.
Products also looking appealing to consumers when artfully marketed in cardboard or shrink wrap.
Regardless of the hassle we have in opening packaging, we need to look to a more ecological solution.