Small changes you would like manufactures to make

[SamBeckett]

I dont mean thing like less salt / sugar / fat in foods or a complete rethink of a design just little things that would make them better / easier to use.
For me it is ;
Cheese I wish it was produced in square blocks so that one or two slices would be enough to fill a round of bread instead of about eight narrow slices. Some supermarkets sell their own in larger blocks but they tend to be the size of a house brick and not strong enough taste for my liking .

Clam shell packing , just NO , stop using it its to bloody hard to open and we don't need more plastic in this world .

Resealable packing , not the zip-lock type but the ones that have sticky tags that are meant to keep to keep the pack closed - they just don't work , yes I know I can decant stuff into containers or buy them clippy things but they could also put more sticky stuff on the tag.

What would you like to see changed ?

I'd also say that manufacturers need to actually test children's toys on children, some are impossible. It's like they designed it and then made it despite it not working, but it looks ok. Which I guess they did to save money on redesigns and time
On prototyping etc.

The shower gel in ball thing is already done for bubble bath - they're called bath pearls, will try and attach a link. Although infuriatingly some are then still packaged in plastic!

bubbletcosmetics.com/products/confetea-melting-marble-oil-bath-pearls

French supermarkets often do the bottle recycling where you get a few pence, we loved it as kids and I wish they'd do it over here.

Definitely more and better pockets for women. I never cease to be alarmed and amazed at the sheer size and weight of DD and DW's purses, let alone handbags.
Stop changing the USB standard. We've had B, Canon/Fuji B, Mini B, Micro B, the Apple thing and now 3/C, which finally works. Also make the damn things out of SWG16 so they last longer than 3 months.

@rslsys Yes! Absolutely!!! One universal safety approved car seat base for the UK. Sold at a set standard reasonable price. None of this blooming money grabbing none sense where this car seat don't work with that base do you have to get a new safety base - doubling your costs! Especially as car seats are now used throughout childhood so multiple car seats and bases are required.

Bravissimo or Pepperberry do great shirts for those of us with a larger than normal chest.

But not if you are also more than averagely tall.

Half-sized packets of feta cheese. I can never use a full pack once opened before it goes off!

Yes! @echobelly

I completely agree about food portions.

There's only 3yo DD and I at home. Whatever I cook has tonnes left over - majority of it ends up in the bin. I refuse not to cook from scratch but the waste drives me nuts.

I just eat the same thing for more than one meal or put things in the freezer - there's just DP and I here and he gets fed at work quite a lot.

Means you have to cook less often, so saves time as well as reducing food waste.

@HippoRampage
I agree with you , the cubicles where I work are so small the only way you can shut the door is to straggle the toilet. I am size 16 so not skinny by any means but not v big either .
And put hooks up so I don't have to put my bag / coat on the grubby floor

@pantherpants
Do you mean cheese wire type cutter or is there some new invention out there that I've not come across yet ?

Ban all paperwork and have deliveries only signed for electronically using hand scanners. I'm sick of all the paperwork our manufacturers trail in. Some of them have gone electronic and send me the deliveries by email which is brilliant. I don't have to file the shit then 😑 It's all such a waste of paper as I never use them anyway!!

Puffy I know about those. Mine have no plastic, are packaged in beautiful glass jars and look like a cross between round jelly babies and bonbons.

Waitrose sell tiny packs of feta. Expensive though.

@SamBeckett here it is .. think mines form a supermarket, but got a friend one from Robert Dyers recently as she was jealous.

Toys should be sold in packaging that you don't have to completely destroy in order to get the toy out.

Years ago toys would come in a box which could then be used to keep the toy in.

My ideas for less single use plastics:
Cardboard boats rather than those plastic things they use for berries and mushrooms.
Either replacing bags of dry goods (rice, pasta, dried peas, nuts etc.) with glass jars OR having bins of them in the supermarket that you can take your own jars in and fill them up.
Brown paper bags for veg rather than plastic.
Perhaps controversial but I wonder if getting rid of things like the meat and bread ailses and instead having a meat, fish, bakery and deli where you can put your things into a paper bag or a glass or plastic tub you can bring with you would reduce plastic waste.
Glass milk and juice bottles.

On a non environmental note, kids clothes in bigger sizes, and sizes being more generous. Not to normalise overweight kids, just because the clothes are adorable and I want to wear them.

I think every car boot should be lined with some non-smelly rubber/plastic. None of this fabric stuff - I have dogs and it's a nightmare - even with various boot covers etc. Even if I didn't have dogs I want washable hardwearing stuff (even on backs of seats) that can be washed down in the event of dirty shoes, spilt shopping, dog hairs etc etc.

paper bags for everything, shopping, loose fruit and veg etc

agree why cant chocolate be wrapped in paper and foil?

I'd like knicker gussets to be extended forward by 1cm.

@minmooch it’s possible to buy both generic and car type specific boot liners off eBay for a few quid. You can also often get garages to throw them in when you buy a new car. Not quite as good maybe as come as standard from the manufacturer but still solves the problem.

Ban all paperwork and have deliveries only signed for electronically using hand scanners.

In a similar vein, maybe start penalising people who don't use electronic boarding passes/tickets/other paperwork when travelling.
(or incentivising those that do)

It's nuts to bring backup printouts when the vast vast majority of people either personally have, or are travelling with someone who has, a smartphone to access this info. The small minority can be handled via exemptions at time of booking or something.

OR
Maybe make the travel provider responsible to rollout electronic versions of everything and make them liable if the traveler has the correct e-paperwork but the company scanners etc can't read it or whatever.

Sorry, but I much prefer to have a paper boarding pass. It's just a pain in the arse to find the right screen on a phone to show the scanner, and make sure it's charged up and not lost, broken, stolen or out of battery.

I always have a printed boarding pass, which is much easier to fold up and keep with my passport and it seems to get people through boarding faster than everyone fiddling with their phones.

But I do like electronic receipts in shops if it is the 'Uniqlo system' ie there is a screen at the checkout for the shopper to enter their email address, rather than to have to spell it out to the cashier for them to correctly interpret and enter (my first name has 2 spellings so they need to get that right, and my short but fairly uncommon last name is always misheard, mispronounced or misspelled even when I spell it out they will repeat it back to me wrong ) and if you do it yourself, you know that you have rejected being added to the mailing list.

"Milk lasts at least a week in the fridge and can also be frozen." It doesn't taste as nice after a few days in fridge nor having been frozen, plus I mostly drink it straight so I like it to taste good and if it were frozen I'd have to wait ages to be able to use it! Plus as I said I have limited freezer space.

Sashh - I have heard of olio but quite honestly I am not at all comfortable with the idea. Partly it must be said as I have OCD and other mh issues which mean I wouldn't be confident accepting from other households where I don't know how hygienic they are and I also struggle dealing with people coming to my home/strangers. I'm housebound at the moment so kinda stuck.

"There should be a universal base for all child car seats so that any seat can fit on any base." Universal fittings for anything that comes in parts or has replaceable parts would be good! I've been struggling to get a replacement mop head recently, but applies to many things like "Tupperware" boxes, pan lids etc universal sizings would make many such replacements much easier.

Tesco do "free piece of fruit" too.

Ahhhh - how has none of us said this one? (Written before I saw your post ultimateirritant)

Women's clothing sizes in standardised measurements! My first thought was the being a size 18 in one shop and 14 in another bollocks - or even in the SAME shop being a size 18 in one style and size 14 in another! Meaning the ridiculous nonsense of having to take 2-3 sizes of the SAME item into the changing room! Just have the measurements in bloody cm or inches like men's clothes!

But also lengths! I'm a teeny 5'2" and a "standard" length for trousers in some shops/styles but a "short" in others - and skirts don't even come in a variety of lengths! Maddening!

Cm &/or inches please clothing manufacturers!