Help us, we can’t get these lids off!
AFTER reading about Sarah Rainey’s difficulties in opening a range of household products (Mail), I could only wonder how some people get through the day. I agree some packaging is a little difficult to remove, but 61 seconds to open a pack of Brillo Pads? I opened one last week in two seconds flat, by stabbing the foil with a blunt pair of scissors. As for the crumpets, just snip off the end of the pack, take out what you want and put the rest in an airtight bag.
DON BRENNER, Staines, Surrey. I WASN’T able to have lemon on my pancakes this year because I couldn’t get into the Jif lemon.
Mrs MARGARET ROWELL, Leeds. SARAH, do what I do with them all. Stab first with a knife, then cut with scissors. I’m 83 years old, with arthritis, and find mouthwash the hardest — I use a small kitchen knife to cut into the infernal plastic around the lid. I’m glad it’s not just me! ROSEMARIE WEBSTER, Windsor, Berks. HAS Sarah Rainey tried opening a jar of Mrs Elswood Pickled Cucumbers?
SARAH MITFORD, Cobham, Surrey. TO OPEN packs of shrink-wrapped fish and meat, push the point of a sharp knife into where the shrink-wrap joins the base of the packet, to release the vacuum. Then slide the blade of a pair of kitchen scissors into the small gap and, keeping it close to where the plastic joins the tray, cut round.
SHIRLEY PRICE, Hinckley, Leics. SARAH RAINEY is young, yet she still had difficulty undoing various items, taking on average 39 seconds. I am an 80-year-old widow, live alone and suffer from severe arthritis in my hands. I have numerous gadgets to help me but still struggle to open many items, including pill blister-packs — and those I do manage to open take a lot longer than 39 seconds. Perhaps manufacturers should test their products on elderly arthritis sufferers.
JACKIE COLLINGS, Combs, Suffolk. I ONCE struggled for more than ten minutes trying to open a plastic container of Persil washing capsules. Eventually, I found the solution: snip off the childproof tabs with scissors.
R. J. BRAY, Huddersfield, W. Yorks.
WHERE does Sarah Rainey get her Warburtons crumpets from? The packets we buy are clearly marked ‘to open, cut here’ at one end. What gets me are those packets with a tab labelled ‘Pull here’ — you pull and it comes off in your hand.
DENIS SHARP, Littlehampton, W. Sussex. MY HUSBAND laughed when he read this (long overdue, in our opinion) article about products that are virtually impossible to open. I have had rheumatoid arthritis for 30 years and many times cursed products and had to call my husband to open them. While I appreciate that child safety is important in some containers, is it really necessary to make them so incredibly hard for adults to open?
L. GADSBY, Truro, Cornwall. WHEN Thames Water replaced the old pipes in our road, we were kindly given free bottles of water, which were squeezy plastic with a flap lid. The only way to open them was by cutting with a knife. They really should ask elderly people to try opening new designs of container first.
PEGGY McMANuS, Cranleigh, Surrey. I WOULD add ring-pull cans to the list of hard-to-open products.
RuTH ADBY, Caversham, Berks. I WAS once reduced to standing on my doorstep for ten minutes, clutching a bottle of toilet cleaner, until a couple walked past and I could ask the man, ‘Excuse me, could you open this for me please?’ He did.
S. HuNT, Chepstow, Glos. CAN you add Toilet Duck to the list? It sends me quackers trying to open it.
LYNDA EDWARDS, Luton, Beds.