I have misplaced my very important scissors. They are somewhere in the house I’m sure, but without them I could starve or suffer severe trauma or reaction to lack of medication. These are my designated plastic packaging opening scissors.
These are not just ordinary scissors. They have ergonomic, asymmetrical handles, high quality precision ground titanium blades and they can slice through the toughest blister pack or potato chip bag ever manufactured.
This mini Jaws of Life is important to my survival, because whether it is old age or some other debilitating affliction, I cannot tear open a foil bag, push a pill through a blister back or peel off the stupid little plastic back cover from an antihistamine package if my life depended on getting in there.
Without my scissors I get frustrated, open the utensil drawer and grab a knife. This usually results in the contents of the seasoning package or noodles spewing out onto the counter, the floor or anywhere but in the bowl or the pan.
If it’s a plastic package, the knife will jam, then slice through the edge and come out wherever it wants, almost costing an eye or setting off a trip to the emergency room. This is not childproof packaging, if you have to ask your grandson to open it for you.
It is senior proof packaging and I’m sure it’s one of the reasons older people opt for Meals on Wheels.
The next surprise is when you get into the package. I was going to have a bowl of chips and dip while watching football. I wrestled the bag open and poured the contents into the bowl. I shook the bag so the rest would come out because the bowl was only half full. There was no more in the bag.
I have had this bowl longer than I have had my magic scissors and a bag of chips used to fill it. This was hardly worth the battle to get into it.
Doing some research for this article, I was amazed to find that there are pages and pages devoted to studies on marketing to seniors, because the retail industry has just figured out that we are no longer going to die at 70 years of age and we still have money to spend.
There is actually a standard, Cen TS 15945, which sets out a technical specification for the ease of opening of packaging. How technical is it? Their test method involves asking a group of consumers aged 65 to 80 to open packaging and reach the contents inside, taking note of how long the user takes and how easy or difficult the task was. They were going to use white rats for the study, but the seniors worked more cheaply.
It is interesting to note that marketing to us old folks recommends additional lighting in the sections we shop in because of the glasses or contacts we wear. Placement on shelving should not be any higher than shoulder height and package labelling should be larger fonts. But, “while the packaging should be designed with seniors in mind, the message should not be so explicit that the consumer thinks of themselves as elderly.”
Hey, if dying from an allergy I just want to get the antihistamine out of the package. I’m way past having my feelings hurt by a warning label.
Bring back my old pill bottles. At least that’s what McGregor says.
