It's amazing that so many things that are medicinal, or otherwise intended for people who are not at 100% are packaged in a way that makes them impossible to open.

Zyrtec-D, and Flonase come to mind. Two great examples of companies that must really hate their customers.

Zyrtec-D has to be opened by peeling a micro-thin layer of foil away from a paper-thin piece of plastic.

Flonase is sealed inside a plastic blister pack that can only be opened with stout scissors or garden shears. It is designed to not be openable by human hands.

I'm sure this packaging saved the companies 1¢ per package in costs, and earned some North Shore middle manager the bonus he needed to buy his kid a second boat.

Sadly, the number of things sold on Amazon in "Frustration-free packaging" is dwindling by the day.

All of this goes along with what I call the Elderly Tax. As a society, in many ways we punish people for living a long life.

For example, at the grocery store, a theoretical eight-pack of bottled water costs $3.00. A theoretical 32-pack of bottled water costs $5.00. But no older person can lift a 32-pack of water. So to get 32 bottles of water, an older person has to pay 140% more just because they made the mistake of not dying young.

> For example, at the grocery store, a theoretical eight-pack of bottled water costs $3.00. A theoretical 32-pack of bottled water costs $5.00. But no older person can lift a 32-pack of water. So to get 32 bottles of water, an older person has to pay 140% more just because they made the mistake of not dying young.

The grocery store I go to (large regional brand) has for the last few years been asking people at checkout if they need help carrying their groceries to their car. Some packaging is ridiculous (remember people having to go to the hospital and get stitches over clam-shell packages?), but I can't imagine an elderly person wouldn't get help carrying a heavy item if they asked for help - people want to be good Samaritans.

That's half the battle... getting it from the curb, up the stairs, and into the home is also a problem that the helpful folks at the store won't solve

In cases like that of the bottled water, where the difficulty is because it is a large package bundling several smaller items, you can open the package in the car and bring the smaller items inside in smaller groups.

I've noticed the generic version of Flonase is usually in a thin cardboard box which can be easily opened by sliding a finger under one of the flaps and breaking the glue. The spray itself has a little tamper seal on it which is perforated and can be peeled off pretty easily.

Looking at the packaging between the two I think it's more about branding than saving a cent or two. The name brand Flonase package is colorful and eye catching and very pretty. The generic one is a plain dull box which just says "Allergy Relief Nasal Spray".

Keeping the product looking nice in transit is a factor too. I notice the generic Flonase boxes are sometimes a bit crushed on the shelf because the packaging has zero structural rigidity. The stuff inside is fine but it looks bad. This never seems to happen with the name brand packages due to their more robust design.

> All of this goes along with what I call the Elderly Tax. As a society, in many ways we punish people for living a long life.

Somewhat related: https://imdb.com/title/tt9270362/

An excellent film about how society simply isn’t built for older people, and the struggles that they go through on a daily basis. Very affecting.

I have to use pliers to open new bottles of the ranch dressing I buy. It's ridiculous how tight they are.

I used to buy “peak tea” in the single serve bottles. They seem to have changed the packaging slightly on the newest runs - of maybe at a certain factory as I see both packaging.

But - they have this impossible to peal / remove layer of heat shrink material over the top lid - I have to always use two hands and knife carefully.

on top of that, they seem to fill them to the very top, if I’m not careful taking off the lid I spill it.

I actually stopped buying them because of 1 - cost for something I didn’t really need, but also 2 - the package difficulty.

> But - they have this impossible to peal / remove layer of heat shrink material over the top lid - I have to always use two hands and knife carefully.

That stuff is the worst! Bottles of soy sauce come with that stuff on in the UK and you have to decide: am I going to risk getting that stuck under my fingernail like the worst splinter, or am I going to risk trying to pick at the edge with a sharp knife with all that entails.

Yes, there's that as well. Things aren't just child-proof, they're full on human-proof. What a smart way to not increase consumption.

It often works to use the cap to push that wrapper off (by unscrewing it).

I've not specifically opened one of those bottles though.