Products that need a rehaul of their packaging, to make them easier to use?

[JMSA]

Metanium. A thick yellow cream for baby's bum. I have been using a little for menopausal itches. But the packaging is a disaster! A flimsy metallic tube that splits at the sides, so that you have cream coming out everywhere. I don't want to waste the cream, so have put the tube in a little plastic bag. It's still incredibly messy to use though. When this finishes, I'll go back to a sturdy tub of Sudocrem, which is frankly the superior product anyway.

Superglue (any brand of) - the glue dribbles out and the lid ends up being stuck on. Again, messy and wasteful to use. And because I'm dyspraxic, I've stuck my fingers together more than once

Is it just me?

Keep it in the fridge once opened. I've some that's probably a year or two old in there that's still fine. Mind you, you'll still need two pairs of pliers to unscrew the cap!

@ChristmasFluff I agree wholeheartedly with the tesco mouth wash bottle , they are a true pain in the arse to open .

With childproof lids, I think they should have a 'normal full closed' position above the lock position so that if you don't need the locking you can do it up that far without it being likely to come off or leak.

Agreed, the French don’t plastic wrap their cucumbers and they’re fine.

Agreed with microwave ready meals peel back plastic backing, why are they so hard to peel back? Same goes for Parmesan cheese with the peel back and resealable edge, it does not work. Also sometimes the cathedral city cheddar resealable strip, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but same on lots of these strips like eg cat dry food.

Does the plastic wrap on cucumbers not give them a longer shelf time?

There must be some value in wrapping or the supermarkets just wouldn't spend the money doing it.

IDK why they wrap them in the UK. I wouldn't buy them like that.

The only places I’ve seen them sold unwrapped was in the olden days (70s) before plastic wrapping them was a thing, and in greengrocers and farmers/organic markets now.

@Sugarfree23 everything or most things fruit and vegetable related in UK is plastic wrapped now, even things which don’t really need it like swedes, celeriac. The only things I’ve noticed recently which aren’t wrapped in plastic are pumpkins, raw beetroot, squash, pineapples and certain fruit and like broccoli, onions, bananas etc where you can but not always get the choice that they’re plastic wrapped or not.

I’m guessing that the packaging market is huge and has a monopoly here which is why it’s used a lot. Sainsburys did make it slightly better by introducing eg paper bags for eg mushrooms and plastic mesh bags to put eg loose peppers, courgettes etc in.

We complained to our supermarket, and they stopped wrapping most things. Occasionally things like broccoli come wrapped - and every time it happens i complaiin.

Things like green beans often come wrapped, and they still sell red/yellow/green peppers in a plastic pack - but people are complaining about that too. We all use net bags and either they get weighed at the checkout, or you weigh them and put a sticker on (you can choose between unwrapped, in a bag you brought, or in a plastic bag provided by the shop. People have been observed pointing out to others that you don't need to put a bunch of bananas in a plastic bag, and this week i noticed the shop only had a very small roll of bags available.

@GonnaGetGoingReturns yes some fruit and veg is wrapped some isn't.
So the supermarkets must be making the decision on what is worth and what doesn't.

The benefit might be easier quicker to put a bag of apples in the trolley vs 6 loose ones quicker to check out.

Cucumbers have a longer shelf life if they are wrapped. So supermarkets must be calculating its worth spending 2p to protect them rather than them ended up as witþò

they should be charging for the environmental impact of their choices though.

Agree on a lot of cans with ring pull that snaps and harder to use a normal can opener on them after.

I have cerebral palsy. one of the drugs I take can come in simple push out blisters or sometimes a screw cap bottle. Then one brand has this monstrosity where every single pill must be individually peeled to release it. My able bodied friends struggle with it. I think at some points it is cheaper for the pharmacy or only brand available.

Back in 2007 I bought a banana in Morrisons. I was so flabbergasted I took a picture. Hopefully things have moved on since then!

@Borborygmus that's bonkers.
Of the 18p how much of it went on the plastic tray & plastic wrap?
The time for someone to put the banana on the tray, plastic wrap ?
And the power to heat the wrap?

Bonkers!

Rice cakes. Why don’t they come in resealable packs? They’re soggy within a day if you don’t decant them into an airtight container.

Body Shop shower gel. They are too hard to squeeze. Hard brittle plastic that doesn't give at all. I was given 3 large bottles as a gift but have had to decant them into an old, more flexible bottle than cost a pound in my local chemist.

I was given some beautifully scented l’occitane shower stuff, and those bottles are similarly rigid. They’re smaller bottles, so I thought they’d be ideal for swimming, but I can’t get any of the chuffing stuff out of the bottles!

Tins of paint - all of them. Bent spoons, knives and abandoned second coats because couldn't get back in to paint that has sealed itself shut.

Basically any hair conditioner.

As a curly girl, I use a LOT of conditioner and the fact that it's normally packaged in the same sort of bottle as shampoo is pointless.

Why can't you buy conditioner in tubs, like hair masks, so that you can scoop up what you need and, more importantly, scrape out the end?

Conditioner is thicker than shampoo, it doesn't come out the same way and you end up either wasting stuff or having to water it down...

One thing we can get grow well in England is good cucumbers. I just slice right through the plastic wrapping cutting the piece I want, then lengthways, and chuck the bit of plastic which has now fallen off.

I didn't think I'd miss cucumbers until I went on holiday to a place which only sold the type for pickling.

Those little sachets of sauce that you get in pubs/cafes. They have a corner marked with 'tear here',but I estimate that around 75% of them won't open.

You're just misreading the packaging. That's where the tears are meant to land when you cry from frustration at trying to open them. The dotted line is the track your tears will likely follow.

This sort of bottle. Where there is a little tab which you are supposed to peel off all around the bottle to break the seal. The tab always breaks off, or it is hard to get it to pull all the way around. I normally just thrust at DH and he opens it. If I have broken it he opens it with a knife. 🫣

If you have hand issues like arthritis you don't stand a chance. This is a health company so people would be looking for supplements to maybe help with arthritis- why do this?

www.naturesbest.co.uk/herbs-spices/turmeric-curcumin/turmeric-tablets-20-000mg/?sku=135-60&src=GOTUMEPLA&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIiv7Fy8-IggMVB-TtCh3nsgYPEAQYASABEgLIDPD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds