# Packaging I can Never, Ever Get Open Right **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 11, 2005, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/packaging-i-can-never-ever-get-open-right/321157 "2005-09-11T23:26:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2005, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/packaging-i-can-never-ever-get-open-right/321157/21 "2005-09-12T20:50:58Z")
For those molded plastic things, get thyself a pair of really good kitchen shears. Then you cut around the packaging, right inside the outside welds. Still get scratched up sometimes, but it’s much much easier than the way I used to do it. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2005, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/packaging-i-can-never-ever-get-open-right/321157/22 "2005-09-12T21:04:00Z")
Damn cat food bags. I gave up and use my nice shiny pocketknife on them instead. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2005, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/packaging-i-can-never-ever-get-open-right/321157/23 "2005-09-12T21:09:23Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Yeah, but why use a few words to describe something perfectly adequately, when a vague, rambling stream of drivel will do? :o Well, I can’t argue with that! ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/packaging-i-can-never-ever-get-open-right/321157/24 "2005-09-14T19:59:18Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Cereal boxes and other cardboard cartos where there is a little tab connected to a thin strip of card with perforated zigzag edges - pull the tab and tear off the strip to open - except it just _never works_ the feeble tab tears away, leaving you to pry open the flaps just like you would have done anyway. > > Plastic bags (usually containing nuts or sweets) made from tough plastic, heavily heat-crimped at the top edge, with a slot cut through the crimped part, for retail hanging the bag on a hook. Grasp the two sides of the packet and pull the crimped seam apart; you always end up with the strip of plastic above the hook slot attached to alternatie sides of the open bag; attempting to break it free propagates a tear, splitting right down the side of the bag, demolishing any hope that you might put the uneaten half of the product in your pocket. Most of the time I have the same problem with those cardboard pull-strips. Sometimes they work perfectly, but usually not. Those bags, on the other hand, are pretty easy. Here’s the trick: flip the bag over and open the bottom! You have a narrower crimp and no hole, and you get to lay a little trap for anybody who tries to steal your candy! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/packaging-i-can-never-ever-get-open-right/321157/25 "2005-09-14T20:15:42Z")
“It’s just so flingin’-flangin’ hard to open!!” 😃 Ah, modern packaging – the scourge or our times. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/packaging-i-can-never-ever-get-open-right/321157/26 "2005-09-14T20:22:12Z")
> [@Giant\_Spongess](#): > > Sharp things are good in this sort of situation. Yeah, to stab yourself with out of frustration. 😃 For me it’s DVD wrappers. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/packaging-i-can-never-ever-get-open-right/321157/27 "2005-09-14T20:46:56Z")
Plastic clamshell packaging for action figures and small personal electronics. You can’t open it at all without scissors or a sharp knife, and you have to DESTROY the package to get your item out. So if you have any intention of saving it for any purpose, you’re screwed. ---
**Author:** ![Millit\_the\_Frail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/51bf81/32.png) [@Millit\_the\_Frail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Millit_the_Frail)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/packaging-i-can-never-ever-get-open-right/321157/28 "2005-09-14T21:46:05Z")
The plastic pouch of brownie mix inside the box. Yes, I make brownies from a box, and yes, I sprayed myself, the counter, and the floor with a fine mist of brownie powder on Sunday night. (I should’ve just gotten a pair of scissors.) Mr. Frail swears that M&M bags are deadly, but I think he’s just not using enough nuance in his bag-pulling technique. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/packaging-i-can-never-ever-get-open-right/321157/29 "2005-09-15T00:28:12Z")
I often have difficulty poking the siper straw through the foil target on a juice box, or Mylar[sup]TM[/sup] pouch. In my favor, I have never hammered it open with my fist and sucked the puddle of juicy goodness directly off the countertop. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/packaging-i-can-never-ever-get-open-right/321157/30 "2005-09-15T00:39:02Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > and sucked the puddle of juicy goodness directly off the countertop. \ ---
**Author:** ![Stinkum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Stinkum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stinkum)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/packaging-i-can-never-ever-get-open-right/321157/31 "2005-09-15T00:39:10Z")
The paper bags sewn at the top with the string thingie on the side that says “pull here” and magically it will unsew itself and open nice and neat. Um, not exactly. I’ve had to rip open more bags of birdfeed and potatoes. Hate those things. There’s got to be a trick to it I haven’t mastered. The plastic encased things also get me. I’ve cut my hand on the sharp edges. I should sue someone over that. Little plastic pails that are hermetically sealed. I ended up in an emergency room after gashing my hand open trying to cut the notches so I could pry the suck open. Six stitches. Ouch. I bought a pail wrench shortly thereafter. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/packaging-i-can-never-ever-get-open-right/321157/32 "2005-09-15T02:29:59Z")
I believe the heavy gauge plastic containers everybody is bitching about (me too), are called blister paks. They’re the work of Satan i tells ya! So this company created a nifty tool for opening them. I forget if they were blade based, or heavy shears, or what, but they got good reviews. This tool? It comes in a blister pak. Emblazoned on the front, in an ‘as seen on TV’ style logo, it says ‘this is the last thing you’ll have problems getting out of a Blister Pak!’ Those Sick sick bastards. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/packaging-i-can-never-ever-get-open-right/321157/33 "2005-09-15T14:32:30Z")
Yup, really. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/packaging-i-can-never-ever-get-open-right/321157.md?page=1)