Taking A Stand: I struggle to open retail packaging
It’s not enough companies require an engineering degree to assemble their products and print their directions in Latin. Now they’ve made it a sport just to get into the package.
If you’re like me, you’ve found yourself using everything short of a jackhammer to break into the plastic shells many products are now encased in. Sure, you can see your product in there, teasing you from behind its plastic armor, shielded like the Crown Jewels, encased behind a sheet of flesh-tearing plastic which resists your entry at every turn.
First you try pulling it apart, soon to find even the Hulk would be lacking in such a feat of strength. Then, you go to the scissors, only to find out behind the original plastic there’s still another piece shielding your product. Finally, you pull out the knife, wielding it like the chick out of “Fatal Attraction,” in hopes of finally entering the sacred chamber.
Finally, after minutes of trying, you’re able to get just enough of an opening where you can slide your fingers in there. This is where the pain begins because the ripped and mangled portion of the unbending plastic you’ve cut into gnaws your fingers like a hungry pitbull as you try to pull out the product you paid good money for. Once you do finally get your product, the first thing you want to do is throw the package in the trash and hope it goes to the hottest part of the incinerator reserved for only the most evil packages.
Ah, but, not so fast. Maybe you shouldn’t be so quick to throw out that piece of maiming plastic. As I found out recently, that piece of plastic could stand between you and returning a defective product to the store. Imagine my surprise when I walked into a local store last week with a defective product and receipt in hand only to learn they would not take it back without that evil piece of plastic packaging.
Talk about hitting the roof. I was seeing red and it wasn’t the red scars on the backs of my fingers from retrieving my product from underneath the evil plastic. Why would anyone require a person to hold on to such a safety hazard? I mean this stuff is so sharp and dangerous, I could use it in a knife fight.
Making matters worse is the reason for the plastic casing. It may surprise you that prevention of shoplifting is not why manufacturers place their products in hard plastic. Instead, it’s a marketing tool. Manufacturers have found people are less likely to return a product when there’s no box to put it back into. They know most people will throw away the plastic containers once they’ve retrieved their product.
So, when I learned the return policy at this store, I was more than a little irritated, given this was a $35 item. After standing on my soap box there, I started going up the corporate ladder until someone saw the insanity of such a policy and agreed to have them exchange the product. And, best of all, when I went back to the store, they took the item out of the plastic for me.
Many times such an irritation when it comes to products I buy prompts me to simply boycott a store or product and urge my friends to also boycott. However, this plastic thing is bigger than all of us. Practically everything you buy is wrapped in the stuff nowadays. Therefore, I’m stuck playing the plastic game, condemned to bearing permanent scars on the backs of my hands (especially those right under the fingernail) from ripping the plastic.
Duane Sherrill is a reporter for the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191 or by e-mail at [email protected].