# How are impenetrable clamshell packages SUPPOSED to be opened? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 19, 2009, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-impenetrable-clamshell-packages-supposed-to-be-opened/481997 "2009-01-19T16:02:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-impenetrable-clamshell-packages-supposed-to-be-opened/481997/21 "2009-01-19T18:21:19Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > Clamshell packaging would be fine if it was treated like any other anti-theft device and removed upon purchase. Aha! Why don’t they open for you as soon as you’ve paid for it? ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-impenetrable-clamshell-packages-supposed-to-be-opened/481997/22 "2009-01-19T18:28:46Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > Aha! Why don’t they open for you as soon as you’ve paid for it? Have you asked them to open it for you? I’m sure they have those new-fangled “scissors” devices that are all the rage. (In my pharmacy, the products that spring immediately to mind that are in these antitheft packages are “male enhancement” pills, vibrating rings for sexual use, and anti-herpes ointments. I’d open them for a paying customer who asked, but I don’t think they’d appreciate me just assuming they wanted it torn open right there in front of everyone.) ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-impenetrable-clamshell-packages-supposed-to-be-opened/481997/23 "2009-01-19T18:34:32Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > Aha! Why don’t they open for you as soon as you’ve paid for it? It would slow up the checkout line, or require extra employees to be “clamshell removers” (“shuckers”?), like grocery stores sometimes have an extra employee bagging at the checkout. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-impenetrable-clamshell-packages-supposed-to-be-opened/481997/24 "2009-01-19T18:38:53Z")
Even more reason to start a movement for all consumers to demand this service. If the expense and inconvenience is put back on the retailer, they will demand a solution from the manufacturer. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-impenetrable-clamshell-packages-supposed-to-be-opened/481997/25 "2009-01-19T18:52:35Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Even more reason to start a movement for all consumers to demand this service. If the expense and inconvenience is put back on the retailer, they will demand a solution from the manufacturer. The Great ‘We Can’t Be Bothered to Use Scissors’ Movement of 2009. Join together to break the clamshells apart. ---
**Author:** ![Critical1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-impenetrable-clamshell-packages-supposed-to-be-opened/481997/26 "2009-01-19T19:15:06Z")
> [@CC](#): > > This evokes the issue of personal responsibilty and the litigious nature of our citizens. If you don’t know which tool to use safely in that situation (a pair of scissors works fine) and if you use a more dangerous tool (e.g. razor blade) unsafely and you cut yourself, it is not the fault of the company that sold you the package. Suppose you decided to open the package with dynamite, and you injured yourself. Lawsuit against the company? Experience, a degree of common sense, education and intelligence, not law, should be our protectors. If you’re looking for some degree of corporate responsibility, manufacturers would probably be helpful to those who clearly need it, by suggesting the use of scissors to open their packages. Although I can see the liablity-crazed lawyers of some company authoring a cautionary label: “Caution, do not use dynamite or other explosives to open this package, as that can be hazardous. If using a box cutter, do not hold box cutter on lap and carve toward self. If using a shotgun to open package, point shotgun away from self to avoid harm. Not responsible for unwise use of opening devices.” Sheesh youre missing the point here, people might be cutting themselves on their own cutting tools but the packaging itself is more than capable of seriously injuring you, hell I would bet you could slit someones throat with that packaging…I wonder if they allow it on airplanes ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-impenetrable-clamshell-packages-supposed-to-be-opened/481997/27 "2009-01-19T20:05:46Z")
> [@neutron\_star](#): > > The Great ‘We Can’t Be Bothered to Use Scissors’ Movement of 2009. Costs are costs, regardless of how trivially you want to describe them. What we have here are companies imposing costs (ostensibly the costs of preventing theft) on consumers, and consumers are resenting that imposed cost and demanding an alternative. Seems like a healthy demonstration of a functioning free market to me. Are you saying we should all just suck it up and pay for infuriating garbage that we don’t want? Any particular reason? “It’s not that big a deal” isn’t a good reason, because big or small, it’s still a ‘deal’ that needs to be dealt with. > [@yabob](#): > > It would slow up the checkout line, or require extra employees to be “clamshell removers” (“shuckers”?), like grocery stores sometimes have an extra employee bagging at the checkout. It doesn’t seem to be a problem for clothing retailers in the mall, who probably remove thousands of those magnetic-ink widgets from pants and sweaters every day. To be clear, I don’t believe that clamshell packaging is anti-theft in any way except incidentally. There are hundreds of more reasonable anti-theft devices, just go to JC Penny’s and look at what they use. I think clamshells are a cheap, easy packaging solution for manufacturers who don’t care one whit how problematic it is for me, when by the time it is my problem they’ve already got my money. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-impenetrable-clamshell-packages-supposed-to-be-opened/481997/28 "2009-01-19T20:44:03Z")
> [@](#): > > It doesn’t seem to be a problem for clothing retailers in the mall, who probably remove thousands of those magnetic-ink widgets from pants and sweaters every day. Most mall clothing retailers don’t push customers through at the rate of some other retail operations, and usually don’t have long checkout lines to begin with. I hate to think of what happens to already lengthy lines at Fry’s Electronics or big-box stores like Target if they have to add clamshell removal to the process. ---
**Author:** ![lizardling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@lizardling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizardling)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-impenetrable-clamshell-packages-supposed-to-be-opened/481997/29 "2009-01-19T20:48:00Z")
I use a four inch knife, and haven’t had occasion to regret it. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-impenetrable-clamshell-packages-supposed-to-be-opened/481997/30 "2009-01-19T21:10:57Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > They are packaged this way because of shoplifting. The packages need to be too bulky to be easily slid into clothing and can’t have a tear-strip or anything equivalent because people would just tear them open in the stores. > > Manufacturers and stores are not the problem. Shoplifters are. > > I have a cheap two-inch gadget that has an almost invisible ceramic blade that cuts right through the packaging. It’s a shame that I need to have this but I understand why. It’s to protect me from the people trying to steal us blind. > > ETA: It’s none of those things on the Amazon link. And Amazon can ask for special packaging because it doesn’t have to worry about shoplifters. But that means two sets of packaging and production and materials and workers for the companies, so it’s not a universal solution. While I am sympathetic about the shoplifting problem (I’ve worked retail, and know first hand how easily merchandise can walk out the door), I don’t think that clamshells are a good answer for the consumer. I do have scissors, can openers, single edged razors, and that ceramic blade thingy, and none of them are really satisfactory solutions for me. In all cases, it takes me quite a few minutes to open the damn package, and I always have sharp plastic edges that threaten to cut my hands. Manufacturers and retailers are going to have to realize that a clamshell package might mean the difference between a legit customer buying or not buying a product. When they put an item in a clamshell, I might pass it up because it’s going to cost me my time and aggravation, and if I don’t really need it, I’m likely to pass it up. If I only want it, as opposed to needing it, I’m VERY likely to pass it up. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-impenetrable-clamshell-packages-supposed-to-be-opened/481997/31 "2009-01-19T21:12:24Z")
Oh, and I did try a regular can opener last time I needed to open a clamshell. Didn’t work. I had to resort to a single edge razor in some spots, and scissors in another spot, before I finally was able to extract the medical thermometer from its clamshell. ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-impenetrable-clamshell-packages-supposed-to-be-opened/481997/32 "2009-01-19T21:15:09Z")
Note to self: Come back to this thread in two years. See if\*\* lizardling \*\*is still unscathed. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-impenetrable-clamshell-packages-supposed-to-be-opened/481997/33 "2009-01-19T21:20:41Z")
Well it how has a Wikipedia entry: [Wrap Rage](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrap_rage). ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-impenetrable-clamshell-packages-supposed-to-be-opened/481997/34 "2009-01-19T21:32:07Z")
Let’s look at the history. Retailers apparently saw an alarming increase in shrinkage due to small and valuable items disappearing. They appealed to manufacturers to make their packages so difficult to open that only the most determined thief would make the attempt. This seems to have been successful, judging by the near-ubiquity of these packages, especially in electronics. Some people are complaining that these packages are too successful, making them difficult to open even at home. What comes next? Well, communication between retailers and manufacturers is direct. A threat not to stock an item is definitive. Communication between retailers and customers is diffuse. Few people bother to tell retailers why they are not buying products. A move to the internet to purchase more easily-opened packages is swamped by the continuing trend to move all purchases to the internet because of convenience and choice. Consumers almost never successfully boycott any product or industry for any reason. How do you as an individual demonstrate that retailers will be losing more money by their packaging than by shoplifting? I have no idea, even if it were true, which I doubt. Can you convince retailers to invest in a new form of anti-theft devices when somebody else now shoulders the burdens of paying for this? Not likely. Have any of you done anything at all about this other than bitch on the internet? You tell me. 'm not against any of this. I’d like to see less packaging myself. Maybe in X number of years new anti-theft devices will be adopted for other reasons and make this all moot. In the meantime, you’re bucking hard economic logic. If anybody has a idea beyond “consumers should band together” put it out there. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-impenetrable-clamshell-packages-supposed-to-be-opened/481997/35 "2009-01-19T22:02:48Z")
And even if you DO find a good way to open them easily, you still have mangled packaging that the store can’t restock. ---
**Author:** ![Rodd\_Hill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3ab097/32.png) [@Rodd\_Hill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodd_Hill)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-impenetrable-clamshell-packages-supposed-to-be-opened/481997/36 "2009-01-19T22:12:54Z")
> [@CC](#): > > This evokes the issue of personal responsibilty and the litigious nature of our citizens. If you don’t know which tool to use safely in that situation (a pair of scissors works fine) and if you use a more dangerous tool (e.g. razor blade) unsafely and you cut yourself, it is not the fault of the company that sold you the package. Suppose you decided to open the package with dynamite, and you injured yourself. Lawsuit against the company? Experience, a degree of common sense, education and intelligence, not law, should be our protectors. If you’re looking for some degree of corporate responsibility, manufacturers would probably be helpful to those who clearly need it, by suggesting the use of scissors to open their packages. Although I can see the liablity-crazed lawyers of some company authoring a cautionary label: “Caution, do not use dynamite or other explosives to open this package, as that can be hazardous. If using a box cutter, do not hold box cutter on lap and carve toward self. If using a shotgun to open package, point shotgun away from self to avoid harm. Not responsible for unwise use of opening devices.” Sheesh You Honor, may I bring your attention to [Coyote vs. Acme](http://www.jamesfuqua.com/lawyers/jokes/coyote-acme.shtml)? ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-impenetrable-clamshell-packages-supposed-to-be-opened/481997/37 "2009-01-19T22:26:45Z")
Ok. You’ve made your point. Court rules in favor of plaintiff. Sue on, America! ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-impenetrable-clamshell-packages-supposed-to-be-opened/481997/38 "2009-01-19T23:00:17Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > Oh, and I did try a regular can opener last time I needed to open a clamshell. Didn’t work. I had to resort to a single edge razor in some spots, and scissors in another spot, before I finally was able to extract the medical thermometer from its clamshell. Personally I’ve found that using a razor/box cutter works the best. Cut around three sides of item, using only enough force to cut through one layer of plastic, not all the way through. Then fold flap back to remove item. IME you get cut when you just cut one side and try to rip it open or reach in and try to extract it instead of cutting three sides. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-impenetrable-clamshell-packages-supposed-to-be-opened/481997/39 "2009-01-19T23:03:56Z")
If scissors worked, that would be one thing. But the lips on some of these (“Clams got lips!”) are too thick even for my poultry shears, and I’ve cut myself on the shell when the blades suddenly skewed apart. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-impenetrable-clamshell-packages-supposed-to-be-opened/481997/40 "2009-01-20T00:49:26Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > Are you saying we should all just suck it up and pay for infuriating garbage that we don’t want? Any particular reason? “It’s not that big a deal” isn’t a good reason, because big or small, it’s still a ‘deal’ that needs to be dealt with. I say “It’s not that big a deal” is a great reason, because if I got all worked up over every little thing as minor as that, all I’d ever be is pissed off and miserable. I spent too many years reacting to stuff that I later realized simply wasn’t worth my time at all. If you think about and get all angry over it and post angry missives about it, guess what? You’re wasting even more time on blister packaging, and the odds are pretty damn close to 100% that you could spend the rest of your life crying about it and it wouldn’t make a damn bit of difference. The packages annoy me, too, but I doubt I’d go to the level of describing them as “infuriating,” as I already have several pairs of scissors, and I’m pretty sure most other people do, too, so it’s not like I’m incurring any extra expense here. > [@susan](#): > > If scissors worked, that would be one thing. But the lips on some of these (“Clams got lips!”) are too thick even for my poultry shears, and I’ve cut myself on the shell when the blades suddenly skewed apart. Use the part of the scissors closest to your hand instead of the tips or the middles of the scissors to cut the edges of the packaging. I know the packages that you’re talking about with the fat lips, but I have yet to meet one that regular scissors can’t tame. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-impenetrable-clamshell-packages-supposed-to-be-opened/481997.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-impenetrable-clamshell-packages-supposed-to-be-opened/481997.md?page=3)