Good Riddance to Clamshell?

I have never understood why the manufacturers of consumer electronics insist on wrapping their goods in impenetrable plastic, making the merchandise tantalisingly unobtainable. Often, nothing short of a power saw can pry the wrapper open.

Now, thanks to this article in the New York Times, I have learned that this packaging is called "clamshell" and that there is a reason for this madness.

In an attempt to boost sales, manufactures switched to this type of packaging from boxes so that customers could see the products on retailers' shelves. At the same time, they made them impossible to open to prevent these items from disappearing out the door in shoplifters' pockets.

Fortunately, help is on the way. Realising that more than 6000 people in America a year sustain injuries serious enough to send them to the emergency room, some manufactures, including Sony and Microsoft have launched efforts to make their packaging more user-friendly.

Let's hope they succeed!