# Ooo, I'll pit something, alright - impossible-to-open packaging **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 18, 2005, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooo-ill-pit-something-alright-impossible-to-open-packaging/285422 "2005-01-18T20:58:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooo-ill-pit-something-alright-impossible-to-open-packaging/285422/1 "2005-01-18T20:58:13Z")
You know who you are. Mr. Impossible to open brand new DVD. How about the CD that I just opened, that I couldn’t tear the cellophane without scissors, and I couldn’t use the scissors without scratching the cheap plastic case? Or maybe I should pit the thing I bought not too long ago, that was in a flimsy plastic clear box, with every seam taped up! I couldn’t get in there for the life of me. Why is it that everything is packaged as if I plan to rip it open and immediately eat it? ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooo-ill-pit-something-alright-impossible-to-open-packaging/285422/2 "2005-01-18T21:08:58Z")
I hate — HATE — opening DVDs. It isn’t just the plastic wrapper, it’s the security tapes as well. I don’t like them cut through and left on, so I have to peel them off. It is the most tedious of all life’s activities with the possible exception of pulling apart one coffee filter. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooo-ill-pit-something-alright-impossible-to-open-packaging/285422/3 "2005-01-18T21:09:39Z")
I pit the opposite problem - Packaging that disintegrates on human contact. Bread packaging. In the interests of keeping the bread fresh you want the packaging to stay intact, but nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ---
**Author:** ![Black\_Train\_Song](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4da419/32.png) [@Black\_Train\_Song](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Black_Train_Song)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooo-ill-pit-something-alright-impossible-to-open-packaging/285422/4 "2005-01-18T21:13:25Z")
I’m with you on this. It’s almost anything you buy these days. Sometimes the packaging is more impressive than the product it contains! I think it’s an organized secret campaign headed by the scissor industry. ---
**Author:** ![Black\_Train\_Song](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4da419/32.png) [@Black\_Train\_Song](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Black_Train_Song)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooo-ill-pit-something-alright-impossible-to-open-packaging/285422/5 "2005-01-18T21:15:11Z")
I forgot to add that even the cereal people seem to be adding a little extra glue to the bags. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooo-ill-pit-something-alright-impossible-to-open-packaging/285422/6 "2005-01-18T21:18:23Z")
> [@Rooves](#): > > I’m with you on this. It’s almost anything you buy these days. Sometimes the packaging is more impressive than the product it contains! I have to agree - in fact, it sometimes seems like the cheaper the DVD, the more taping-up it comes with. Expensive DVD - cellophane wrapper and one tape on top; bargain-bin DVD - cellophane wrapper and three long strips of tape to hold each open side together. Plus at least one magnetic security strip inside. ---
**Author:** ![lizardling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@lizardling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizardling)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooo-ill-pit-something-alright-impossible-to-open-packaging/285422/7 "2005-01-18T21:21:17Z")
Scissors, shmissors. I have a 4 inch lockback knife. Works wonders on stubborn packaging. Which is great, since the scissors I have are the cheap kind that’d snap under the kind of pressure I need to open, say, the package an SD card comes in. You’d almost figure the companies _don’t_ want us getting at the contents… ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooo-ill-pit-something-alright-impossible-to-open-packaging/285422/8 "2005-01-18T21:21:17Z")
Hands up how many have unscrewed a flip-lid viniger bottle and poured half the bottle on their dinner before realizing the mistake. Hands up how many have caused an m & m explosion. ---
**Author:** ![LionelHutz405](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lionelhutz405/32/536_2.png) [@LionelHutz405](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LionelHutz405)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooo-ill-pit-something-alright-impossible-to-open-packaging/285422/9 "2005-01-18T21:21:33Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Why is it that everything is packaged as if I plan to rip it open and immediately eat it? The idea is to make it hard for you to it open and steal it. In the case of CDs, there is probably a security device attached to the case. Don’t you feel better knowing they made it a pain in the ass to open on purpose? ---
**Author:** ![tarragon918](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d26b3c/32.png) [@tarragon918](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tarragon918)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooo-ill-pit-something-alright-impossible-to-open-packaging/285422/10 "2005-01-18T21:23:37Z")
Now that I finally have been able to grow & maintain fingernails, you’d think that I could use them to get into the impenetrable packaging, but Noooo! See, I always thought that CDs, etc. were packaged that way so that those of us with fingernails bitten to the quick couldn’t open them. Little did I know that I would still require the assistance of scissors! Another product is OTC medications, particularly the antihistimine/decongestant kind. Even my sharpest nail can’t pull the backing from the small corner; I’ve demolished several capsules of benedryl in the past few days! And nails won’t help me get into the tylenol bottle either - I usually end up using a knife to puncture that … then you have to take the cotton out to get to the pills! Yes, I remember when medicines were tampered with and understand that it’s supposed to be tamper-proof now, but geeze louise! Not so that the user can’t use em! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooo-ill-pit-something-alright-impossible-to-open-packaging/285422/11 "2005-01-18T21:24:20Z")
The trick to opening CDs is, once you get the celophane off, you pop open the hinge to the jewel case so that it seperates into two pieces. The security sticker is then easily removed by pulling the two pieces in opposite directions. Then you just snap the hinge back together, and you’re good to go. DVDs are a little trickier, but I always have a sharp pocketknife on me, so I can slice through those pretty easily. What chaps my hide are those molded plastic cases that they put most small consumer electronics into these days. The kind that can only be opened with a diamond-toothed saw and a quarter stick of dynamite. It’s a fucking $20 electric toothbrush! This much security is not required! There’s also excessive packaging. I bought an iPod last Summer, and got the extended warranty. The extended warranty _came in it’s own box._ :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Mikemike2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikemike2/32/305_2.png) [@Mikemike2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikemike2)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooo-ill-pit-something-alright-impossible-to-open-packaging/285422/12 "2005-01-18T21:25:39Z")
I can live with CD/DVD packaging as long as I have a scissors handy, at least I can get in the package. What drives me crazy are small items that are packaged in big clear plastic containers that usually hang on hooks at the store. These containers used to be pretty easy to get in to as they were only sealed in a few places. Now they are welded shut all around the package. There is not way to open them provided such as a pull tab. They only way I know to get into them is with a knife. This is heavy plastic and tough to cut through. There is great risk to both the product if the knife slips, and nearby body parts. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooo-ill-pit-something-alright-impossible-to-open-packaging/285422/13 "2005-01-18T21:25:37Z")
That was weird. Not 15 seconds after posting about m & ms I go do some work. I knock the flourescent marker on the floor. I go to pick it up. Right next to it is a tiny m & m. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooo-ill-pit-something-alright-impossible-to-open-packaging/285422/14 "2005-01-18T21:26:49Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > I hate — HATE — opening DVDs. It isn’t just the plastic wrapper, it’s the security tapes as well. I don’t like them cut through and left on, so I have to peel them off. It is the most tedious of all life’s activities with the possible exception of pulling apart one coffee filter. Hint: Get your fingers damp! I, too, was frustrated by this, until I accidently came upon this solution. And DVD’s and CD’s just suck to open. > [@Lobsang](#): > > Hands up how many have unscrewed a flip-lid viniger bottle and poured half the bottle on their dinner before realizing the mistake. I did this with a jar of powdered garlic. Ick. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooo-ill-pit-something-alright-impossible-to-open-packaging/285422/15 "2005-01-18T21:28:37Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > What chaps my hide are those molded plastic cases that they put most small consumer electronics into these days. The kind that can only be opened with a diamond-toothed saw and a quarter stick of dynamite. It’s a fucking $20 electric toothbrush! This much security is not required! Yes. _Yes_. _ **YES!** _ I had to open a package of decorator light bulbs. Two of the four survived. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooo-ill-pit-something-alright-impossible-to-open-packaging/285422/16 "2005-01-18T21:31:23Z")
> [@Dolores Reborn](#): > > Hint: Get your fingers damp! I, too, was frustrated by this, until I accidently came upon this solution. I find that that helps only with neatly cut filters, like Mr. Coffee. We, God bless us, have a Bunn. The filters’ edges are practically welded together. Love the coffeemaker. Hate the filters. And unfortunately, the other filters are just a wee bit too small. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooo-ill-pit-something-alright-impossible-to-open-packaging/285422/17 "2005-01-18T21:33:23Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > What chaps my hide are those molded plastic cases that they put most small consumer electronics into these days. The kind that can only be opened with a diamond-toothed saw and a quarter stick of dynamite. It’s a fucking $20 electric toothbrush! This much security is not required! My husband bought a Leatherman tool a couple years ago. He asked me to open the packaging while he was driving, so that he could take a look at it. After much struggling, I commented that I think I needed my own Leatherman to actually get at his. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooo-ill-pit-something-alright-impossible-to-open-packaging/285422/18 "2005-01-18T21:38:00Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > What chaps my hide are those molded plastic cases that they put most small consumer electronics into these days. The kind that can only be opened with a diamond-toothed saw and a quarter stick of dynamite. It’s a fucking $20 electric toothbrush! This much security is not required! I gashed the base of my thumb on one of those damned things a couple of weeks ago, a thumb drive I got for Christmas. I was trying to tear the plastic, but it was too brittle and broke instead. ---
**Author:** ![MisterThyristor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecccb3/32.png) [@MisterThyristor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MisterThyristor)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooo-ill-pit-something-alright-impossible-to-open-packaging/285422/19 "2005-01-18T21:38:47Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > What chaps my hide are those molded plastic cases that they put most small consumer electronics into these days. The kind that can only be opened with a diamond-toothed saw and a quarter stick of dynamite. It’s a fucking $20 electric toothbrush! This much security is not required! I hate it too, but I’ve found that it works to just cut around the whole packaging with a pair of heavy-duty scissors (the kind they show cutting pennies) just behind where the plastic is WELDED (rassen-frassen packagers). :mad: If you don’t have really heavy-duty scissors, the good Fiskars type works as well, just with a little more effort. ---
**Author:** ![LilyoftheValley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@LilyoftheValley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilyoftheValley)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooo-ill-pit-something-alright-impossible-to-open-packaging/285422/20 "2005-01-18T21:45:31Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > That was weird. Not 15 seconds after posting about m & ms I go do some work. I knock the flourescent marker on the floor. I go to pick it up. Right next to it is a tiny m & m. Did you eat it? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooo-ill-pit-something-alright-impossible-to-open-packaging/285422.md?page=2)