# I Pit Packaging That Defies Opening **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 9, 2012, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-packaging-that-defies-opening/618272 "2012-04-09T16:51:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-packaging-that-defies-opening/618272/41 "2012-04-11T12:52:52Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > I’m not sure it’s thieves. The zip tie to which I made a blood sacrifice this morning, for example, wouldn’t do anything to deter a thief from making off with the funnels. They just held them together in a more aesthetically pleasing pattern than a looser and easer-to-cut tie would have done. I’ve heard that kids’ toy packaging is so excessive so that the toy and all its accessories look nicer in the box. I’d rather have sloppier looking stuff on the store shelves that’s easier to get ready to actually use once you’ve brought it home. I’m willing to accept that some of it is aesthetics; but mostly it’s theft prevention. Some people are willing to steal anything they can easily get away with. Jerks. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-packaging-that-defies-opening/618272/42 "2012-04-12T18:26:31Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > I went with this thing: [Open It!](http://www.amazon.com/Zibra-Open-It-ZPCOPEN-GZ-Package-Opener/dp/B004UIHITY/) It has offset jaws to snip around clamshell packaging and cut zip-ties and those twist-ties in kids’ toys. Plus, it has a spring-loaded utility knife in the handle to cut anything you can’t use the jaws on, and a mini screwdriver to open battery compartments. We have two of these. They are pretty decent indeed. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-packaging-that-defies-opening/618272/43 "2012-04-12T18:42:18Z")
A simple box cutter from your local hardware store works great. Get one with an adjustable blade. It’s the only thing I use, and the blade lasts forever. ---
**Author:** ![dataguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eada6e/32.png) [@dataguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dataguy)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2012, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-packaging-that-defies-opening/618272/44 "2012-04-16T19:59:21Z")
> [@voltaire](#): > > Every time this subject comes up, I post [this clip.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGVR1lwzVMw) > > (Ooops, fixed link) My fantasy film scene: A man who turns out to be a packaging engineer is kidnapped. He wakes up in a locked room. The only thing in it is a pile of non-openable packages he has designed. There are no tools. He’s told he will not be released until he opens every package. I envision him finally released with hands cut and bloody. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-packaging-that-defies-opening/618272/45 "2012-05-02T05:46:53Z")
What it says: _Easy open resealable package_ What it means: _Cut open with scissors and put any leftover product in your own ziploc bag._ Actually now that I come to think of it, a lot of packaged food products now have the little scissors near one end of a long dashed line. Ten and more years ago, I don’t remember scissors being so necessary in the kitchen, but now I couldn’t get along without them. ---
**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:** [May 2, 2012, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-packaging-that-defies-opening/618272/46 "2012-05-02T06:00:43Z")
My grandmother had kitchen shears, but she didn’t use them to open packages, she used them to snip parsley and cut the wings off chicken and things like that. Nowadays, I’m tempted to get several pairs of utility scissors and keep them in just about every room in the house, because it seems that more and more things can’t be opened without sharp implements. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-packaging-that-defies-opening/618272/47 "2012-05-02T07:19:05Z")
You know I have one simple request and that is to have sharks with some freakin laser beams attached to their heads. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-packaging-that-defies-opening/618272/48 "2012-05-02T07:55:24Z")
I alway have [one of these](http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/003750.php) on me. Like cutting through butter. ---
**Author:** ![Jamicat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c67d28/32.png) [@Jamicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamicat)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-packaging-that-defies-opening/618272/49 "2012-05-03T00:27:36Z")
All these years of Ziplock baggies and no one has put one on the BACON PACKAGE. :rolleyes: I even gotta cut the package a few times before I hit the air pocket where the bacon resides, and not just more sealed plastic. :mad: Just as well though, as I’m used to cooking all of it at once in the oven and freeze, now anyway. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![mister\_nyx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@mister\_nyx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mister_nyx)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-packaging-that-defies-opening/618272/50 "2012-05-03T04:48:14Z")
> [@Jamicat](#): > > All these years of Ziplock baggies and no one has put one on the BACON PACKAGE. :rolleyes: > > I even gotta cut the package a few times before I hit the air pocket where the bacon resides, and not just more sealed plastic. :mad: > > Just as well though, as I’m used to cooking all of it at once in the oven and freeze, now anyway. 😉 Why the hell won’t they package bacon in recloseable packages anyway? Smoked salmon too. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2012, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-packaging-that-defies-opening/618272/51 "2012-05-05T00:16:52Z")
I too used to struggle with those plastic clamshells but now I that I’m older and have a pair of heavy duty scissors and a utility knife within reach all the time, I just slice open three sides and pop the sucker out. No muss, no fuss. Zipties are even easier. They just need a scoring and then they snap in half. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2012, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-packaging-that-defies-opening/618272/52 "2012-05-05T03:12:45Z")
> [@Kimballkid](#): > > I bought one of [these](http://www.amazon.com/Skil-2352-01-3-6-Volt-Lithium-Ion-Multi-Cutter/dp/B001B64ZEE) and it works great. In my experience, [even this](http://nootropicdesign.com/projectlab/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/dynamite1-large.jpg) is barely able to open a lot of that packaging. And I have a large collection of knives, tools, and other weapons. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-packaging-that-defies-opening/618272.md?page=2)