April 27, 2010
Too Tight for Comfort
Wedgied again…
Have you noticed things are getting harder to get into and I’m not talking about colleges? I just bought some new lipstick and, for my protection, it had no less than two plastic-encased side adhesive…units, rendering the package safe in case of a germ or nuclear attack.
And CD’s? Don’t the record companies get that it’s not itunes, Limewire and file sharing that have practically put them out of business? It’s their stupid industrial-encased CD’s that thwarted their sales efforts, forcing many of us who thought downloading meant one of the washing machine cycles, to access music through our computers.
I knew something needed to change the day I was attempting to open a new CD I’d purchased – Joss Stone, just for an interesting side note – while I was driving. We know texting and/or answering the phone while motoring is dangerous, but oh, boy, this CD thing was a new level of daredevil. I found myself using my teeth, so as not to be an unsafe driver but, really, when you’re hurtling along with a large plastic object dangling just below your eyeballs, that can’t be providing any positive peripheral enhancements.
As is the case with anyone whose life, situation, world has gone out of control, I knew this couldn’t continue and I would no longer buy music this way. Unless the record companies got a clue and a) created packaging that could be accessed as easily as a ding dong; or b) included industrial-strength scissors with the packaging, I was through.
And perhaps I wouldn’t have noticed this trend of overly engineered casings so much if, in a purchasing one-two punch, I hadn’t immediately acquired a new curling iron. Once again, I found myself searching for all manner of objects that may be utilized by people with opposable thumbs in order to gain access to something they want. This time I was even at home and I couldn’t get into the blasted thing sooner than what turns out to be my personal best of 10 minutes. Argh!
So, my message is really to all those retailers out there who seem to perennially scratch their heads over diminished sales statistics because they’re absolutely sure they’re providing the type of products we want and just cannot figure out why we’re not buying what they’re selling.
Make the products as easy to open as it is to use them. Stick that in your sales projections and tabulate it!
Too Tight for Comfort
Wedgied again…
Have you noticed things are getting harder to get into and I’m not talking about colleges? I just bought some new lipstick and, for my protection, it had no less than two plastic-encased side adhesive…units, rendering the package safe in case of a germ or nuclear attack.
And CD’s? Don’t the record companies get that it’s not itunes, Limewire and file sharing that have practically put them out of business? It’s their stupid industrial-encased CD’s that thwarted their sales efforts, forcing many of us who thought downloading meant one of the washing machine cycles, to access music through our computers.
I knew something needed to change the day I was attempting to open a new CD I’d purchased – Joss Stone, just for an interesting side note – while I was driving. We know texting and/or answering the phone while motoring is dangerous, but oh, boy, this CD thing was a new level of daredevil. I found myself using my teeth, so as not to be an unsafe driver but, really, when you’re hurtling along with a large plastic object dangling just below your eyeballs, that can’t be providing any positive peripheral enhancements.
As is the case with anyone whose life, situation, world has gone out of control, I knew this couldn’t continue and I would no longer buy music this way. Unless the record companies got a clue and a) created packaging that could be accessed as easily as a ding dong; or b) included industrial-strength scissors with the packaging, I was through.
And perhaps I wouldn’t have noticed this trend of overly engineered casings so much if, in a purchasing one-two punch, I hadn’t immediately acquired a new curling iron. Once again, I found myself searching for all manner of objects that may be utilized by people with opposable thumbs in order to gain access to something they want. This time I was even at home and I couldn’t get into the blasted thing sooner than what turns out to be my personal best of 10 minutes. Argh!
So, my message is really to all those retailers out there who seem to perennially scratch their heads over diminished sales statistics because they’re absolutely sure they’re providing the type of products we want and just cannot figure out why we’re not buying what they’re selling.
Make the products as easy to open as it is to use them. Stick that in your sales projections and tabulate it!
No comments:
Post a Comment