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.
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.
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.
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.