“Of all things spinning out of control in the US,
packaging is clearly the most dire. It’s impossible now to get anything you buy
in America open. A package of chewing gum. A vacuum-sealed,
clear-plastic cardboard sleeve, inside of which is a shiny socket wrench. A
bright Mylar packet containing 14 lightly salted peanuts and openable only with
my teeth – like a chimp. I had to use a box cutter to stab my way through the
tungsten-steel plastic encasing a padlock I’d bought to keep thieves from
stealing my motorcycle. When I got through the first layer, I found I’d created
numerous edges so sharp that I sliced deep into my finger…Security, I suppose,
is the theory. Not my security, but the retailers’ – from, I guess, theft?
Lawsuits?... I’d gladly sign a waiver saying all injuries are my lookout, if I
can just get into my Ibuprofen-PM bottle at 2am.”—Novelist Richard Ford, “The Diary: Richard Ford,” Financial Times, October 13, 2012
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