I'd have to check the package (and it's out in the garage, where I can't get to in the wheelchair) but I suspect it's #1.

That being said I do know about problems in recycling streams and overstock and all that. But yes, in theory at least, we are recycling it.

I forget what the most recent item was, but took me no more than 10 seconds to open the "anti-theft" packaging. No tools -- that'd be cheating. Blister-packs & clamshells still have their weak spots.

Over the next year you will see retail and clubs move to a hybrid package that is part plastic (around the item to be shown) and cardboard. The glue holding the plastics to the cardboard is strong and just as difficult to open as the plastics. Get out your Open-X, scissors won't do it.

And of course, this is "green" packaging so that will be reflected by all the vendors.

Be happy that to note that most clubs have moved to tray packaging of cardboard "product cards" in some high theft products and that also allows the product to stay in the original packaging, negating the need for the plastic overpack. This also lowers $1-2 from the cost.

@Telekinesis123: Maybe he can be on the new show "America's Next Top Male Model"?

@kaceetheconsumer: I'm curious. Here in NYC, we recycle only the 1- & 2-coded plastic. Is the packaging coded that way? Or does your locality take any and all plastic? Plus we have to ensure it's narrow-width botttle and not a wide-mouth. It's confusing to have to refer to our recycling guide to see if we trash something or recycle it.

@drjayphd: My most recent one was a 2GB one from NetApp. It was at a lunch & learn event.

What line of work are you in and do you ever go to your industry's trade shows?

I know in the past he's used multiple drives for swapping with research colleagues at work as well. He has referred to the boss at a previous company having a "dice bag full of thumb drives". I gather that it's an efficient way to swap files amongst researchers.

Either admit that you design packaging primarily to deter theft, or stop claiming that "less plastic" is your priority.

Yeah, that's definitely what I think happened. I've also seen those three-pack USB drives in other stores, and the regular packaging (minus the large plastic encapsulation extra package) wasn't that large. This also leads me to believe that what you said is what happened. At the very least, it's probably not MORE plastic...

after a recent trip to a department store, i've discovered the ONE AND ONLY product that these impossible-to-open "blister packs" should come standard on (& yet they don't): underwear.

when you see a pile of rummaged thru undies, there's really only one sane response..."GNOMES! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! AAAAYYYYYEEEEEEE!"

I noticed the same thing with propel. I purchased a six pack of Lemon and noticed they changed the formula after one sip. I don't think it's just the HFCS, but it's no longer drinkable imo. One of the main reasons I even bothered trying it was that is was HFCS free. The large opening was a bonus.

I hope the saved enough money to make up for the lost customers as I've stopped buying it as well.

@kduhtoe: I thought they just loved to rape the environment and slaughter kittens?

@hypnotik_jello: Theft? Thumb drives are dirt cheap now. I think I have a dozen sitting in my laptop bag. Vendors hand them out like candy.

In addition, they changed the formula. It's now loaded with high-fructose corn syrup instead of sucrose. That makes it taste worse. And they dropped the one flavor that, at least in the 3 stores I bought them at, was the biggest seller (or the least distributed) ... they were always having troubling keeping that one flavor in stock. They also dropped the 24 ounce size (the most convenient).

So I don't buy their product anymore. I make my own at home, now.

Not that the new packaging is appropriate, mind you...

@John Henschen:

I'm secretly amassing a collection of gas station keys that are attached to cinder block. I soon will have enough blocks to build an extension to my home

For the record, the plastic is in the recycle bin.

Sounds like a simple miscommunication. Sandisk decides to reduce the plastic packaging for all of their products, so they have their graphic department add that graphic to all of the cardboard bits. Costco gets special packaging though, and their packaging wasn't reduced. Graphics department adds the graphic anyway, because no one told them not to add it to the Costco packaging. They never even see the packaging, so they're none the wiser.

Inside the giant plastic clamshell, similar to the one in this story, each of the cartridges was in its own box. Inside each box was a foil bag and a plastic bag. Inside each foil bag was the actual printer cartridge, and inside each plastic bag was the instructions for installing it, along with a couple of sheets of marketing material for HP.

I couldn't quite fathom how that much packaging could possibly have been *less*.

This clamshell package (with the "Less plastic" logo) is something I've never seen before - so I'm assuming it's a Costco thing. If this is the case, between the clamshell and the inner plastic bubble - this actually uses MORE PLASTIC.

Yay Costco!

So...how much plastic was there before? It must have been the size of a car door.

The plastic is 1/10000 of an inch thinner.

@hypnotik_jello:

All a theif would need to do is show up with an exacto-knife..

As a consumer, my hatred for these Plastic cases runs so deep that on several occasions I decided that the effort involved in prying out the gadget was not worth making the purchase.