Amazon Launches "Frustration-Free Packaging" 353
mallumax notes Amazon's new Frustration-Free Packaging initiative. Over several years the retailer hopes to convince many of its suppliers to offer consumer-friendlier packaging. It's starting with just 19 products from Mattel, Fisher-Price, Microsoft, and Transcend. Until this program spreads to more products, better get one of these (ThinkGeek and Slashdot share a corporate overlord). From Amazon's announcement: "The Frustration-Free Package is recyclable and comes without excess packaging materials such as hard plastic clamshell casings, plastic bindings, and wire ties. It's designed to be opened without the use of a box cutter or knife and will protect your product just as well as traditional packaging. Products with Frustration-Free Packaging can frequently be shipped in their own boxes, without an additional shipping box. Amazon works directly with manufacturers to box products in Frustration-Free Packages right off the assembly lines, which reduces the overall amount of packing materials used."
Best packaging innovation ever (Score:5, Insightful)
They could also call this (Score:5, Insightful)
"Laceration-Free Packaging" as far as that cursed clamshell packaging goes. I hate that crap, good riddance.
Re:Best packaging innovation ever (Score:5, Insightful)
I'll be happy if... (Score:4, Insightful)
I never accidentally cut the cord of something while opening the packaging with a pair of scissors.
Knowing that you've accidentally ruined something worth $50 or more is a horrible feeling.
I'm not crying, I just have something in my eye! (Score:5, Insightful)
*sniff* I never thought the day would come!
Seriously, as a parent, I've seen packaging on kids toys get progressively worse. Not just ultrasonic-sealed plastic clamshells, but toys attached to cardboard boxes with dozens (sometimes over a hundred) wire twist-ties and highly strecthy rubber-band-like straps.
It took me over an hour just to de-package ONE toy for my kid last Christmas. Seriously, there is no excuse for such obnoxious packaging. I, for one, will be keeping a close eye on this initiative and it will likely make me look at Amazon first for my purchases.
Will they do this for DVDs? (Score:4, Insightful)
Now Amazon needs to do this for DVDs. After all, Amazon doesn't have a shoplifting problem.
Given that DVDs are a shock-insensitive waterproof object shipped inside a rigid case, they should be mailed with far less packaging. A manila envelope would be sufficient. Most of the perimeter seals, "Security Device Enclosed", and shrink wrap could be dispensed with. One seal that's broken on opening would be enough to identify packages that have been opened.
How about frustration free snack bags? (Score:3, Insightful)
You know what I mean. Plastic snack bags where the tops are fused together so tightly they're near impossible to open. When you apply the force required to get the top open then the cheap plastic bag splits all the way down to the bottom. Chips/pretzels spill out. Oh joy.
Re:lawsuits... (Score:3, Insightful)
The package doesn't maim the customer, the customer maims themself. There is a proper way to open a package, sometimes it's not all that clear, but it is possible to open a package without causing bodily harm. It's not all that apparent, but quite a bit of thought goes into designing a package; sadly, the end-user isn't always the main concern.
Re:lawsuits... (Score:5, Insightful)
You can dance around it all you like... but it doesn't change the end result. People every day are injured in some way by this "two plastic bubbles melted together" method of packaging. Because it practically requires bladed weapons to open.
I have instructions on jars that tell me to twist open a cap... I'd say the whole twist cap thing is pretty self explanatory, yet people feel the need to put instructions on how to open jars.
You know why there's no instructions on how to open a solid lump of plastic? Because it being able to be opened isn't on their mind at all... not that it isn't their "main concern". They'd put it in a solid lead bubble with a cytotoxic theft deterrent system, but sadly that costs them more money.
Re:Will they do this for DVDs? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Better opener (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:How about frustration free snack bags? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:lawsuits... (Score:5, Insightful)
The package doesn't maim the customer, the customer maims themself(sic). There is a proper way to open a package, sometimes it's not all that clear, but it is possible to open a package without causing bodily harm. It's not all that apparent, but quite a bit of thought goes into designing a package; sadly, the end-user isn't always the main concern.
That's the defence that Detroit used to fight the safety features that they were dragged kicking and screaming into introducing by Ralph Nader. Initially they blamed the victims instead of taking responsibility for producing dangerous products.
I'm sorry, but packaging should protect the product AND be possible to access safely. If there's no obvious way to use it and avoid injury, the designer is at fault.
There is no way that I have discovered to get into a clamshell without running the risk of serious injury either from the metal blade that I have to use to cut it, or the plastic blade that is formed when using scissors and always ends up pointing into the path of my oncoming hand.
Whoever invented plastic clamshells should be sentenced to an eternity of sitting in a dark room opening one of his creations after another.
Especially: Fix those two pieces of stupid tape (Score:4, Insightful)
... that ruin the clear plastic cover over the artwork when you try to remove them.
Re:Best packaging innovation ever (Score:4, Insightful)
The odd thing is that even in situation where theft isn't an issue (like, behind the counter, or in a locked case) the products are still (often) clad in highly annoying, theft-proof, finger-slashing packaging.
In any case, the manufacturer could still use user-friendly packaging, and the stores (were it an issue) could use those reusable plastic lock-boxes you sometimes see software or videos in, which are cheap enough to buy in quantity but still need to be opened with a key at the register. One could make a case that this is even more secure than blister packaging (the anti-steal rfid is inside the locked box, instead of glued on the outside) and since the boxes are reused, much waste is eliminated.
Frustration? Try tamper free (Score:3, Insightful)
I'd quite like to know that shiny new 8GB SD card is actually brand new and not returned or refurbished goods.
Just how hard do people find it to use a knife or scissors anyway? Have schools gotten so over cautious that you now need a college education before you're permitted anywhere near safety scissors?
Re:lawsuits... (Score:4, Insightful)
Yeah..like everyone has a pair of those laying around...
[rolls eyes]
Re:Best packaging innovation ever (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't think you realize how cheap those blister packs are, or the economy of scale in packaging everything a given manufacturer makes in the same kind of packaging (even if not the same size). Different kinds of packaging require different kinds of very expensive machines to handle, and that means different assembly lines that can't be easily converted to a product that uses the other kind of packaging. And so on.
Plus, at the retail end, anything the requires a key to sell requires, if not a manager, at least a senior employeed who has been vetted more throughly than the average cahsier.
Re:They could also call this (Score:1, Insightful)
That's funny, I thought "Frustration-Free Packaging" was a pseudonym for a torrent file.
Re:lawsuits... (Score:3, Insightful)
I've paid for tools specifically for opening blister packs, and the net result is only that I do less damage to myself rather than none at all. Short of wearing work gloves and safety glasses and then taking an angle grinder to the packaging, I can't think of a better way.
Re:lawsuits... (Score:2, Insightful)
I'd say you are the one dancing around the issue.
-Yes the blister packs require a knife or scissors to open.
-Yes it is annoying.
-Yes if you are clumsy or not paying attention or just plain dumb you might cut yourself or damage the product.
If you screw up, perhaps next time you will be more careful. Consider it a life lesson.
Re:I'll be happy if... (Score:3, Insightful)
....if you're doing that with 2 gauge, it's going to take a hell of a lot of solder and heatshrink to hold it together.
Seriously. If you're working with cables that carry enough power to mandate a conductor with a 1/4" diameter, let the pros take care of it. You'd also likely want something a bit thicker than heatshrink to insulate it.
(A typical extension cord is ~14AWG = 0.06")
Re:lawsuits... (Score:5, Insightful)
Even if they did, tin snips still aren't very effective at getting open blister packs safely unless you're wearing heavy work gloves, in my experience. You'll still end up with a sharp edge whipping around, even if you're not ripping it open with your hands (which is undoubtably unsafe).
The fact that we have to have this discussion at all just goes to show the level of insanity that went into blister packs.
Frustration-free packaging can't come soon enough. I hope Amazon works out a deal with CD and DVD distributers too. They're not blister pack-dangerous, but still a major pain in the ass.
Re:lawsuits... (Score:2, Insightful)
You expect hot coffee to be well, hot. It's supposed to be freshly boiled water. Otherwise it is luke warm.
If you pour hot coffee over yourself, you can expect to be burnt.
It's not McDonalds fault that not only are their customers stupid, but so is the justice system that will reward their customers for being stupid.
Re:lawsuits... (Score:5, Insightful)
That woman who sued over hot coffee was not simply whining about scalding her hands. She went to the hospital with 3rd degree burns. Probably the coffee had been reheated in a microwave. One hazard of heating liquids this way is that you can make them superhot [wikipedia.org] without causing them to boil.
Anyway, we both know that people's hatred for blister packs has nothing to do with the risk of personal injury. (I have several scars on my hands from cutting vegetables or slicing bagels. Not one from opening a blister pack.) It's the extreme frustration you experience while you try to cut away enough plastic to get at the contents. Unfortunately "frustation" aint tortable.
Sawsall? (Score:3, Insightful)
What about the numbnuts out there that use a Sawsall to open the damn things? I must admit to being tempted, but decided prudence mandated scissors instead.
Re:lawsuits... (Score:5, Insightful)
You expect hot coffee to be well, hot... If you pour hot coffee over yourself, you can expect to be burnt.
The point of the Liebeck case wasn't that the coffee was hot -- she expected that much -- but that it was significantly hotter than coffee is supposed to be. Coffee served at industry standard temperature can sit on bare skin for quite a while without causing more than a mild burn (redness and tenderness), whereas coffee served at the temperature that Ms. Liebeck's coffee was served at can cause third degree burns (requiring skin graft surgery) in as little as 2 seconds.
In other words, coffee is dangerous, but this coffee was significantly more dangerous, therefore she should have been warned.
To put it in perspective: everyone has spilled coffee on themselves at some point in their lives (I've done it, and I don't even drink coffee). Yet her coffee spill resulted in $11,000 in medical bills. Can you not see the difference between this and a normal coffee spill?
Re:Best packaging innovation ever (Score:5, Insightful)
Anything that requires a key requires basically any lackey who works in that department to unlock. No seniority at all.
Having been involved in retail management for 25+ years, I can tell you, with certainty, that if it's worth locking up at all, it's worth your minimum wage sales drone's effort to steal. Far more theft in most retails stores is by employees than by customers.
At many stores security usually does an audit at the end of each night to check for theft in all locked areas
And at far more, that would require hiring security personnel (who are more expensive to employ, and a lot more expensive to hire, since there's no point in hiring a security person who hasn't been vetted with a background check, unless you want them to organize the employee theft ring) specifically to review those tapes, because most stores that have anything worth locking up have quite a bit worth locking up. And, generally speaking, a lot of it is dispersed enough that it's not under a camera. Cameras (and recording systems) are rather expensive, especially if you expect to be able to actually identify even someone you know in the video, and installing them is a lot more expensive. At most retailers that even have security cameras, less than 10% of the total sales floor is recorded by one. And your minimum wage employees won't even have to figure out which lockup cases aren't watched, since that will be part of their orientation (if you know how to run your store).
The only solution to virtually any security/shoplifting problem in a retail store is, ultimately, to spend money. Generally quite a bit of it. Which comes out of your 3-5% profit margin.
Retail's a bitch of a business.
Re:Best packaging innovation ever (Score:3, Insightful)
I may have mentioned I've been doing retail management (and above) for 25+ years now.
You haven't. I can tell.
Yeah, some retailers do things your way. They tend to be outfits like Fry's, which also feel the need to hire door nazis to search through your bags on the way out. Not to stop shoplifters, mind you, but to cut down on (but never eliminate) theft by employees.
Re:lawsuits... (Score:5, Insightful)
I work at Starbucks. In fact, I worked there this morning from 5am to noon. I've worked there for a few years, so I know what Im doing there.
Our coffee is between 190F-200F. We only hold it for 30 minutes, and it's warmed during that time. Also, when telling customers how to brew coffee, we recommend 190-200F, unlike green tea, coffee needs very hot water to unlock the flavor. However, we steam lattes only to 180 before giving dire warnings to customers who want hotter. Ill usually say "Grande SCALDING mocha" or something to warn the drinker.
Ill say this: only a moron puts a boiling cup of X liquid between their legs. Everybody knows coffee is SUPPOSED to be hot. Now, however, lid deign does indeed suck, and fair to sue over. Especially how many lids crack at Sbux. During rush (7-9 am), I perhaps, deal with around 10 defective lids. They could easily cause insta-burning spill.
Re:Best packaging innovation ever (Score:4, Insightful)
As the trend goes to software being sold with nothing much besides the DVD we might very well just give people the jewel case and put an antitheft shell around it. And then we use bigger shells with the same locking mechanism for hardware. Bam, immediately training transfers between the music, software and hardware departments.
If your cashiers are too stupid to know how to operate the detagging device on the register - what the hell are you doing emplying such morons? The fact that they're cheap doesn't mean they're cost-effective.
Re:Best packaging innovation ever (Score:3, Insightful)
Obviously, the improvement is that your finger-slashings will cost less, as your suppliers' inventory shrinkage is reduced, because all finger-slashing activity that has not been synergisticly consolidated with efficiently manufactured security packaging improvements could be appropriately transitioned with a consumer-education campaign that promotes the value generated by the innovative, presentation-friendly, product-protecting security packing. Of course, the critical cornerstone of the consumer-education campaign would most likely be a demographically-targeted message promulgated via the subject matter experts from the center of excellence in the public relations department. This would be easily financed, in part, from the forward-realized funds the savings extracted from the efficient consolidation of finger-slashing and security packaging upgrades yielding interdepartmental savings that are one of the cumulative components that demonstrate the management team's leadership in reaching a key milestone found in the critical path of plans to implement the corporate economic strategy.
Re:Best packaging innovation ever (Score:5, Insightful)
Because then we don't buy the product as it's too expensive, which forces the manufacturer to cut those costs.
No-one is forced to buy any particular brand. Unless you consider yourself a consumer - ie the lowest form of life, destined to open your wallet every time the tv tells you to. You can tax the manufacturer or the consumer but in the end it's always the consumer who pays.
Here in the UK we used to have milk delivered every day in glass bottles. The milkman used to collect the empties for washing and refilling, and the delivery was done with electric vehicles. But - it was cheaper for the milk companies to use plastic and get rid of the milkman, so now we have problem plastic going into the ground as landfill AND the milk has to travel much further to regional bottling plants then be re-transported back to its original area for sale in shops AND we have put thousands of people out of a job*. So which is cheaper in the final analysis ?
* These workers were also delivering bread, vegetables, other dairy products, and also were usually the people who alerted the emergency services when somebody was ill or incapacitated (due to yesterdays milk still being there) and also helped keep burglary and crime down by being around at times when everybody else was asleep. But no, fuck that, we want cheap and disposable. Money rules FTW.
It's about time! (Score:5, Insightful)
I will NEVER forget being forced to buy a CAT5 cable while on travel once upon a time. Upon returning to my room with it I was faced with one of those damned impossible to open packages. Thanks to TSA I had no knife, no scissors, no normal way to slash open the damned package. I ended up sawing it open on the metal frame of the bed like a madman! Truly disturbing to get so desperate to open one of the damned things.
I really miss cardboard packaging and I hope that Amazon's example starts a trend...
Re:Best packaging innovation ever (Score:4, Insightful)
I can tell you're in Retail Management. You actually think that searching CUSTOMERS cuts down on EMPLOYEE theft.
Re:Best packaging innovation ever (Score:3, Insightful)
I can tell you're in Retail Management. You actually think that searching CUSTOMERS cuts down on EMPLOYEE theft.
It does.
It's much easier and safer for employees, particularly those working at the cash registers, to collaborate with a friend and simply avoid scanning a few items in order to steal them, rather than try to walk out with the stuff themselves. It's hard for management to catch by watching the checkout process, and if a cashier is caught, it's pretty easy for them to pass it off as an honest mistake.
As a bonus, this sort of attack also defeats the RF tags that many retailers use. They're normally disabled by the cashier during the checkout process, so the crooked cashier just disables them without ringing them up.
Checking customer bag contents against receipts is an effective way to prevent this sort of theft. Of course, it also pisses off the customers.