a lot of problems with packaging! And most
of these problems involve in-home use and
storage. For participants in the food distribu-
tion industry, those problems areas can be
turned into major opportunities.
Remember the flour sacks? They have
hardly changed in 200 years. Oh, you can
open them all right—so what if the flour flies
all over? But try to reseal them. Or try to
pour flour out neatly.
How about cereal boxes? This was
another big consumer problem noted by our
study. Well, you can get them open--one way
or another. But who has the time or patience
to pull the tab properly? And besides, who
can open the inside wrap without ripping it
to shreds? One manufacturer has introduced
zip lock bags inside—a good and promising
direction.
How about rice and pasta? With smaller
families, you don’t always use a whole box of
spaghetti at one meal. So, how do you know
how much to take out for the number of
people you have? There is no way to measure,
and there’s no way you can close those boxes
conveniently and keep the spaghetti from
falling out and rattling around in the cabinet.
What about those frozen vegetables in
the little boxes? Unless you are going to use
the whole box at once, you have a problem
on your hands. When you open the box you
almost always destroy it. Usually the vegeta-
bles are all frosty and stuck to the side of
the box; so you have to pry them off with a
knife, figure out how to cut the brick of
green beans in half, and then somehow reseal
the package and put it back in the freezer.
Some consumers elect to do their own repack-
aging job, because the one provided just won’t
work.
What about ice cream? It’s hard enough
to open without destroying the cardboard
carton, but it doesn’t really reclose very well
anyway. Once you’ve opened ice cream, con-
sumers tell us that it definitely declines in
quality, and it takes up a lot of space.
Another category—frozen juices—causes
all kinds of problems. You know those little
plastic strips—they’re supposed to unpeal the
top neatly from the container? Well, con-
sumers find those extremely difficult to grab
and hold on to; the can is usually cold when
they’re doing it; it hurts their fingers and, if
they use a knife, they have to watch out that
they don’t cut themselves; and in the end,
when they finally do open it up, the juice
frequently splatters.
Our King-Casey study shows that one of
the major food categories is filled with pack-
aging problems—cookies, crackers and bis-
cuits—over $4.5 billion at retail. Consumers
tell us that they’re so frustrated with the
packages that will not reseal, that they have
to eat the last two cookies in order not to
leave them there to get stale. Now, when
you put that with the fact that these con-
sumers are probably on a diet, you know how
irritating this must be!
Finally, a package can add value
by providing task assistance
Maybe as we think back, it was the TV
dinner that started it all—just pull the alum-
inum tray out of the box, put it in your oven
and thirty minutes later, a sumptuous feast!
Another approach to helping with the
task of meal preparation has been boil-in-
the-bag entrees and vegetables. This seems
convenient—no preparation other than popping
the bag in boiling water, open and serve.
But how convenient is it really to open these
bags, get the food neatly and cleanly on a
plate without burning your fingers or slopping
water all over the place? Our survey indicates
it is not as convenient as we had hoped.
Another example of lost opportunity are
those cardboard cartons for juice. Yes, we in
the industry have tried to be helpful here,
too: you just open the carton, and it has its
own pour spout. But think about the con-
sumer’s task at home: have you ever tried to
shake up the orange juice once it has been
opened? Try to hold the spout closed without
squirting Tropicana all over yourself! Provid-
ing task assistance through packaging is one
Journal of Food Distribution Research
February 88/page 9