I JUST CUT MY FINGER. I WAS TRYING TO EXTRICATE A TOOL
I got for Christmas from its clear clamshell packaging—you know, the
kind of heavy-duty sealed plastic that requires sturdy scissors, Herculean
strength, and a small nuclear device to remove.
The finger cut resulted from a sharp edge created when I sliced open the
plastic and tried to pry it apart to get at the tool inside. It’s not the first
time I have put my blood on the line for the sake of product packaging.
I realize that there are advantages for manufacturers and sellers to
package products in polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene, or polystyrene
plastic shells. Such packaging is designed primarily for point-of-sale
retailing. It is see-through, so it makes it easy for consumers to evaluate
the contents inside. It also eliminates the need for a photo or drawing
of the product on the outside of the package. And it’s
tamperproof and deters theft. No one can easily break
open the packaging in the store to remove the contents. Heck, I have trouble enough opening it when I
get home.
While this type of packaging is an advantage for
merchandise sold at retail stores, it can be something
of a detriment when it comes to e-commerce. I have
written before in this column that manufacturers need
to rethink packaging for products sold online. Clear
packaging holds no advantages for e-consumers. They
can’t hold it, turn it over, and look at it when making
a Web purchase. The only packaging these customers
care about is the packaging that protects their goods
during shipping.
Point-of-sale plastic packaging also tends to be much larger than its
contents. The extra material surrounding the item is designed to catch
the eye in a retail store. But the larger size makes it costlier to ship, especially under dim weight pricing. The extra packaging could be removed
at the distribution center, but that may not be cost effective when you
factor in the additional labor.
Online retailers can require manufacturers to deliver their products
in different packaging. Such vendor compliance mandates are handed
down all the time, and we hope to see more of this in the future. Of
course, this may mean that manufacturers have to invest in additional
packaging lines and separate processes for items sold through e-commerce and items sold in stores.
One other interesting point to note: Knowing that I have a love-hate
relationship with plastic clamshell packaging, my wife bought me a special pair of cutters designed specifically to open it. The ironic thing is that
the cutters themselves arrived encased in the same kind of plastic clamshell that required such a tool to free them. I think I bled that time too.
bigpicture
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