ddhr.org
Product packaging Tuesday, Apr 11, 2006 5:18 pm

Sometimes I get mad at product packaging.  Like when I try to open a box of food and I follow the instructions that say, "Tear here to open".  This method works about 0.05% of the time.  The rest of the time, I screw it up and end up tearing the whole box apart in a fit of rage.  Nothing should be keeping me from my food. 

The really sad part about this is that companies employ people FULL-TIME for creating product packaging that is easy to use and fool-proof.  And I'm not talking full-time for half a year, or full-time as long as the project exists.  I'm talking full-time, all the time, lots of money, lots of people.  People go to school and get big-time degrees to they can become "Packaging Engineers".  I know because I was one (sorta).  And these people sit around all day and think, "Hmm, how can I make this box of tissues easy to open?  Ooh, I know!  I'll make a perforated shape that the user must press in and then stick their finger in the box to pull out, thereby scraping their finger and causing pain and anger.  Then I'll make the perforated cardboard completely failure-prone and make its failure a catastrophic event so that the box will either be 'unopened' or 'destroyed'.  And then I'll make another layer of packaging:  clear plastic wrap." 

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Hi, my name is Dave Hosier, and this website is where I write my unfounded opinions on trivial matters. Feel free to look around, but please refrain from reading anything.

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