A Good Idea Gone Bad

For John, BLUF:  Try to avoid the Tide Pod Challenge.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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My Wife came to me with a package for Tide Pods, with the complaint that she had to cut the top off the package because she couldn't use the red slider to open the top.

So, I took the challenge and after a couple of tries was able to slice open the top of the package.  But, it took some pressure on the slider to do it.  More pressure than my wife was able to exert.

I think this is bad packaging design.  There are people who design packaging for a living.  Sometimes they make mistakes.  For instance, when I was stationed at Eglin AFB the packaging people were dealing with the fact that the containers for shipping cluster bombs (CBU-24, 48 and 52, at the time, all using the SUU-30/B Dispenser) was made of pre-rusted steel (corten steel) and people in the field (out at the Air Bases using cluster bombs) were attempting to sand down the collapsable containers and paint them.  So they looked nice.  These containers were a great cost saving idea, but the customers were thwarting the value added.

I understand the need for "child proof" containers, but they can also be "old people proof" containers, and old people wash cloths.

Tide needs new packaging, packaging that meets customer expectations, rather than trying to frustrate the customers.

And, they need to keep in mind that every solution contains within it the seeds of a new problem.

Regards  —  Cliff