Costco. Two loaves each with their own fastener, and an outer bag with its own. However, I only ever recall seeing the plastic clips there, but memory is fuzzy so that doesn’t mean that some don’t use ties.
I once took a short trip with two potential investors and another person proposing a project. During the trip, I learned that one of the investors had made a very tidy sum from inventing the machine that attached the twist ties to plastic bags. Whether true or not, I enjoyed the idea that such a simple machine could net a person a lifetime of ease.
Prior to the plasticized twist tie, there were, of course, hand held devices that applied a twist and tightening to a wire coil, such as to seal a burlap bag, attach a label to the neck of a gas cylinder, etc. They were, as I recall, clockwise.
Mock not the plastic clip. I keep a ziplock bag of them in my desk at work for emergency flip-flop repair. Every year I’ll have a few students who blow out their cheap sandals. But they know who to come to for a quick repair job, at least enough to get them through the rest of the school day.
Premium, amirite? I long for the days when they came in wax paper with a seam that opened easily and a red foldy thing to close them back up. The current plasticized wrap that can neither be opened or resealed is hellspawn.
Strange this topic comes up now. I’ve recently noticed the same thing and was debating whether to start a thread.
The store has two kinds of the brand of bread I buy. One, which is more expensive, says it has “13 grams of whole wheat” and is fastened with a twist tie. The other, which I usually buy, says “11 grams of whole wheat” and is fastened with a plastic tab. (Otherwise the labels are pretty much the same. Neither says whether the X grams is per loaf, per slice, or per something else.) But the last couple-three weeks, they’ve both been on sale with the usually more expensive type priced lower than the other. So I’ve been buying the 13 gram loaves while they’re cheaper.
And noticed the ties are usually, but not always, twisted on backward. I was wondering how (and why) they do it since they certainly looked like they were twisted by machine. Doesn’t look like anyone here has the answer, though.
Oh well, I like plastic tabs better than ties, so I always replace them with tabs I saved from earlier loaves.
Add me to the folk who have noticed that the bread comes from the store w/ the twist ties generally opposite to what I do as a right-handed person.
Just bought a new loaf today. Glad I have something to anticipate for tomorrow morning! (Yes, I lead a dull existence!)
Yup …
I’ve noticed it. Since Taiwan is a semi-tropical country, it may account for its increased randomness.
The thing they do here which kills me is that they often seal the plastic bags and you have to tear it apart. Between using cheap plastic and a mammoth sized sealer, the seal itself is the strongest part of the bag.
Yup - it’s like the Wrong-Wrong-Right thing that always happens with USB ports at the back of the computer.
OK - 1 datapoint. This morning, the twist tie on the new loaf was twisted the “correct” way. So now my question is, why did I get the impression they came twisted the other way?
Off topic - anyone else have difficulty with clockwise/counter clockwise? I can always figure it out eventually, but my initial thought is always that it depends on your point of reference or something. Or that I’m twisting the twist tie clockwise, at the same time the bread is relatively moving counter clockwise. Just one of those weird little things that sorta gives me pause.
Do you have any hobbies?
And it took them a decade to get USB-C right to solve the problem. I wonder how many man-years have been lost trying to plug in USB cables…
Seriously, I think the OP’s issue and my note about having to make three tries is inherent in the nature of the beast. If you twist with too much grip on a pretwisted part, you can re-twist a different segment of the loop… so you do indeed end up with a tie that has to be twisted both ways to open.
I sell parts to guys who design and build packaging machines and I can assure you that the direction of twist is determined by whatever seems best to the engineer at the time he’s working out how to do it mechanically, and considerations like “does this fit the consumer’s expectations of ‘righty-tighty’” are not part of the deal.
Packaging machinery is an ever evolving art form. For example, bags can be held open with fingers to allow the bread to be pushed in, or they can be blown open with air. There are as many ways to get a loaf of bread into a bag as your imagination will allow.
Twisting the tie is just one step in a complex process and not worthy of considering how consumers might feel about something so insignificant as which direction it is twisted.
ETA: @Amateur Barbarian’s last:
The other thing that happens is that once the wire develops a kinked section, that section can catch on another kinked section. So even though, say, CCW is unwinding the large scale twist of the two strands, you need to move certain overlaps slightly CW to disentangle two overlapping kinks. This drives the illusion that it’s twisted both ways at once.
This problem gets massively worse when a twist tie is re-used in both handednesses; the residual twists & kinks from CW catch in CCW use and vice versa.
ISTM the narrow plastic ties used on things like USB charger cords are more prone to this small radius kinking than are the wider paper-wrapped ties that come with bread or trash bags.
Serious answer to the OP’s question: The most convenient motion to twist the tie closed depends on whether you’re holding the tie ends in left or right hand. One’s right hand twists CW more easily than CCW. The left hand is, of course, opposite. If one lives with a partner of opposite handedness you’ll see this effect in a lot of things, not only twist-ties.
Even among people of same-handedness some folks will tend to hold the loaf in the right hand and twist with the left while others do it the other way. With opposite results.
Last of all, righty-tighty is totally automatic and unconscious to people who spent their formative years playing with machinery. For the every-growing tide of Americans who’ve never held a screwdriver or wrench, much less owned a toolbox, there is nothing intuitive or natural about righty-tighty.
It won’t be long before CW & CCW are meaningless concepts since only a tiny fraction of people will have ever seen a clock with hands. Much less can read what it says.
I see what you are saying, but surely there can’t be that many people who have never used a screwdriver or wrench, or learned to read an analog clock. Like the OP, I am frequently dismayed at twist ties that are put on products the wrong way. I want to twist counter-clockwise to loosen and clockwise to tighten. The opposite way is maddening, yet far to common.
You mean other than this? 
Awesome post, Ornery Bob. One of my old golf buddies rehabbed CNC machinery. He used to tell me I’d be amazed to see how various products were produced and packaged, detailing countless steps/processes of which I was blissfully ignorant.
I have to put my glasses on to see how to get the damn twist ties off! I end up making it tighter if not wearing my glasses. I wish the breads companies used those little white plastic things like you get on bags of potatoes .
I’m thinking wire cutters and a bundle of cable ties in the kitchen drawer.
Bag of cheap wooden clothespins goes a long ways in the kitchen.
Men generally twist clockwise. Women counter-clockwise. I have no idea why. My old man pointed this out to me when I was a kid. I’ve tested it at parties several times. People are amazed like it’s a magic trick.