# 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:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![JohnBckWLD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JohnBckWLD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnBckWLD)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooo-ill-pit-something-alright-impossible-to-open-packaging/285422/41 "2005-01-19T06:01:15Z")
> [@Hunter Hawk](#): > > Huh? I open CD packaging with just my fingernails pretty easily–I just stick my nail through the wrapper where the front cover meets the hinge part\*, rip the wrapper off, then peel off the security strip. Granted, using a CD opener is faster, but the fingernail method is still quite doable… Unlike the take the front door off the hinges method described a couple times (Which I’ve yet to try), your method of peeling the adhesive label works, _but_ only with **WEA** (Warner, Elektra, Asylum) and Columbia/ **Sony** labels. I challenge anyone (including [her](http://www.nailartgallery.com/donna/nailartbydonna003.jpg)) to say it’s simple with **Universal** / **BMG** CDs. ---
**Author:** ![tarragon918](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d26b3c/32.png) [@tarragon918](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tarragon918)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooo-ill-pit-something-alright-impossible-to-open-packaging/285422/42 "2005-01-19T12:10:39Z")
> [@Hunter Hawk](#): > > Huh? I open CD packaging with just my fingernails pretty easily–I just stick my nail through the wrapper where the front cover meets the hinge part\*, rip the wrapper off, then peel off the security strip. Granted, using a CD opener is faster, but the fingernail method is still quite doable. > > - I dunno how to really describe this well. Look at the front of the CD–on the left-hand side, the leftmost centimeter or so is formed from the same piece of plastic that makes up the back of the jewel case, and then there’s the seam where the front part of the jewel case meets it. Stick your nail through the wrapper into this seam, then slide your nail along the seam to cut the wrapper. I’ve tried this method and got a broken/ripped fingernail as a result! It’s not that my nails are brittle but they just aren’t as hard as most others, I guess. Sometimes I am able to open the CD packaging with fingernails, though, using that method; I’m just very leery of it especially after one tear that went down to the quick. I must also echo others about the packaging of small electronics! I got a relatively inexpensive CD walkman ($30-40) and had a devil of a time getting it out of the welded shut plastic! Sometimes even regular scissors can’t cut through that stuff - I’ll have to look into the scissors/shears others have mentioned above, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooo-ill-pit-something-alright-impossible-to-open-packaging/285422/43 "2005-01-19T13:53:29Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > 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. Take the whole stack of filters and turn them inside out. This seems to fan them out a bit and makes it easier to pull off just one. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooo-ill-pit-something-alright-impossible-to-open-packaging/285422/44 "2005-01-19T14:14:00Z")
This is why I tend to have a small collection of cheap knives with serrated blades around me. When people hassle about it, I politely explain that it’s a tool of my trade, and go in depth about trying to open heat-sealed plastic covering fragile electronics. I’ve actually gotten knives into inner-city public schools that way, back when I was prepping for Y2K issues. Simple three-four slashes along the seams, and pull it all off. Works like a charm. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooo-ill-pit-something-alright-impossible-to-open-packaging/285422/45 "2005-01-19T14:37:03Z")
> [@Honey](#): > > Take the whole stack of filters and turn them inside out. This seems to fan them out a bit and makes it easier to pull off just one. Wow. That works pretty well! Thanks! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooo-ill-pit-something-alright-impossible-to-open-packaging/285422/46 "2005-01-19T15:01:07Z")
I especially love it when they put the instruction manual/warranty card in the top, flat section of electronics gear so when you go to cut it open, you inadvertantly cut it in half. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooo-ill-pit-something-alright-impossible-to-open-packaging/285422/47 "2005-01-19T15:22:11Z")
Here’s something I’ve found works great for DVDs and CDs: go to your local office supply place and get some letter openers, the kind that look like [this](http://www.bfistuf.com/tradeshow/letter%20opener.JPG). Stick that point under one corner of the packaging and slide across. This gives you a nice big opening to tear off the rest of the cellophane. For the stickers on the edge of a DVD, if you can’t peel them, you’ll need a nice sharp knife. Just run the tip along the opening seam. This won’t harm the disc or the packaging, and it splits the stickers in half. The stickers never seem to be very well stuck down along the edge of the case, so when you open the case, peel them off from your cuts. They’ll come off in one easy piece. Now, the security tabs inside. The best thing I’ve found for those blocky plastic ones came in a tool kit my dad gave me; it’s like a long, thin metal deal, with a tiny hook on the end, kind of like the tool a dentist uses to scrape tartar off your teeth. I stick the hook into one narrow end of the plastic block (they’re mostly hollow) and slide the shaft in almost to the other end, being careful not to cut it. Then, I pry it up like a lever, and the sticker comes off in a snap. This same tool also works great on the cellophane and the stickers, so it’s basically all I need to get my DVDs open. ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2005, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooo-ill-pit-something-alright-impossible-to-open-packaging/285422/48 "2005-01-20T02:10:37Z")
My husband gave me a really cool KitchenAid garlic press for Xmas. It was in one of those damned molded, fully-welded plastic things. I got it started with my kitchen shears, then decided to “save time” by strong-arming it and just trying to rip it open. Fucking plastic slit my palm right open like a scalpel. It took several weeks to heal completely. But for sheer overpackaging, baby toys are the worst. Shrink wrap over a cardboard box, containing a molded plastic covering over the toy and a separate cardboard backing, to which the toy is cinched with (if you’re lucky) industrial twist-ties or (if you’re not) metal-cored straps which require a wire-cutter to remove. I did get a cool CD opener free at Barnes & Noble - like [this](http://www.streettech.com/archives_gadget/ezCD.html). Of course my unsuspecting husband found it, and said to himself, “What happens if I press this par - OW!” ---
**Author:** ![DarrenS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2005, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooo-ill-pit-something-alright-impossible-to-open-packaging/285422/49 "2005-01-20T03:37:41Z")
I’m surprised, in a sue-happy society like the US, that there haven’t been a slew of lawsuits by people injuring themselves on this type of packaging. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ooo-ill-pit-something-alright-impossible-to-open-packaging/285422.md?page=2)