This gets my vote! 
The main reason is that they are very easy to automatically fill on the assembly line. For instance, the binoculars in the OP would have to be packaged in a box, requiring a human being to pick them up and place in the box - things like that are difficult to automatically stuff into boxes. But with an open clamshell, the binoculars are just dropped into a form-fitting space. The other half is folded over, then a heat source melts the plastic halves together.
As everyone else mentioned, it hangs up on pegs or sits on a shelf, provides excellent visibility and much better theft deterrence (especially if an RF tag is inside). From the manufacturer’s point of view, it’s all good. You stabbing your hands is not their problem.
Eh, on “How It’s Made” there are plenty of machines that seem to be able to package items in boxes just fine. I realize that a TV show is not the ultimate in cites…but it’s quite possible to package stuff neatly in boxes, even fragile items like binoculars.
It’s probably EASIER to package stuff in clamshells, and cheaper too, which is why they do it. And as others said, it’s a damn sight harder to open the clamshell discreetly in the store and sneak the item out of the packaging.
Clamshells are still evil, though. Consumers should not have to risk injury when opening a legitimately purchased product, and I can’t imagine why there hasn’t been a class action suit against the makers of these horrid devices.
http://www.totalinjury.com/news/articles/consumer-awareness/wrap-rage.aspx
“The Consumer Product Safety Commission reports that an average of 6,000 people per year end up in hospital emergency rooms due to packaging-related injuries. Countless others also suffer injuries while opening products but don’t visit the hospital.”
Yes, I have nicked myself opening those #%^&)(*#%^& things sometimes, but never so baddy that I had to seek treatment.
Add medical waste to environmental problem. Note, 3 cheers to Minneapolis for their waste to energy program.
This clamshell opener appears to come in a clamshell itself!! Catch 22.
I got one of those flat security tags shoved under my thumb nail far enough to start bleeding, because it was stuck to the product shelf sticking out like a razor in a utility knife.
You get quite fragile things packed in this too e.g. a desktop microphone. It can be tricky to get the item out without breaking it or at some point cutting the cable :smack:
…which is good for the manufacturer because then you might buy another one.
I am I the only one who uses a vise and a chainsaw to open clam shell packages? And it seems like anyone who can shoot a bear and make a purse out of it could also figure out how to cut open a clam shell package. Get with the program, Agent Foxtrot!
I laughed bitterly when compact fluorescent bulbs first came on the market in a blaze of “Uses less energy! Last longer! Less waste! Environmentally friendly!” And how were they packaged? In giant clamshell packages with no recycling codes on them, so they had to go in the trash (ours is landfilled.)
I use an X-acto knife or utility knife to open them. There’s something kind of satisfying about it.
Confessions of a peeping tom.
With a knife I just trace around the corner where the part that sticks out meets the flat part of the package. Usually 3 sides will do it then it just hinges open. Still a pain though.
I asked my ER doc (when I was still working there) if he’d seen very many accidents (cuts) from those things, and he told me that was his bane, slipping knives from that packaging.
Is this suable? (suitworthy?)
Q
After you do that, make sure you are wearing kevlar gloves when you go to extract the item, because there’s a FAR greater-than-zero chance the edge of the plastic will slice you open.
Well if you’re the type that normally cuts themselves when using a knife, then opening those packages is best left to a skilled knife-wielder.
Amazon has a program with manufacturers to package goods in “frustration-free” boxes, which eliminate the clamshells, or the boxes and wire ties used to package children’s toys. Their website says that they have thirty vendors and over 350 products available like this, which really isn’t very many.
I have a vague memory of someone a class action suit a few years ago. I don’t no if it ever made it to court or not, I think when I read about it it was just something that was being threatened. Maybe another Doper will have a clearer memory?
I’m not talking about being cut with the knife; I’m talking about the actual packaging cutting you when you reach in to retrieve the item.
Ah, a start! They have no shop lifting problem. Maybe employee theft.
I think stuff comes from Amazon in clamshells simply because thats how they get it from the manufacturer. Its probably more expensive to have a separate packaging for stuff going to mail-order places then retail stores then it is just to ship everything in a clamshell, even if its anti-theft function is pretty useless for something thats being mailed directly to the consumer.