I can’t undo…

Aha! Not just me then.

The latest “improvement” - designed to save the planet is tops on plastic pop bottles such as coke, lemonade. The top is designed to stay attached to the collar of the bottle even when the seal has been broken while opening, therefore both get recycled together.
Problem is they are sharp and nasty and difficult to refasten.

Many products are contained in very sharp edged packaging eg tubes of toothpaste/creams medicines in foil.
I think it is to save money as the containers are definitely thinner and flimsier than ever.

Pop bottles and large milk containers are sometimes so thin that they bend over and the contents spew out in unexpected directions.
Information/ directions printed in ridiculous coloured print that can barely be made out without a spot light and magnifier
So many containers have a foil seal under the cap now too which requires a sharp object to break into it.

I also find the wording on shampoo and conditioner bottles difficult to read when I’m in the shower and not wearing my glasses !
So many times I’ve squeezed the conditioner first instead of the shampoo - if only they could make the wording bigger.

I had this problem in my twenties .
I had to buy a super duper can opener .

Now , I can't get the mayonnaise out of those squeezy bottles and open a bottle of Listerine .

I understand the manufacturers have to make things safe and ''child-proof'' but ...!

My daughter as a child was watching me struggling with a pill bottle one day.
Eventually she said kindly, "Would you like me to do it for you Mummy?" 😅

There are bespoke dog harness makers, no idea if they can help. I struggle with my dog's harness too. I think you can get one with just one clip on the top, which may at least reduce the struggle. There is also a company that makes them with industrial velcro but l think I'd struggle with that, plus she's bit of an escape artist (I don't have arthritis, just weak hands). I can't see a tool helping to release the plastic clips without potentially hurting the dog, fingers or breaking the clip. For me it's not a question of grip but rather strength.

Bottle /jar whatever straight in the door jamb hold tight and twist works every time

With recalcitrant pasta sauce jars, I invert them in a few inches of hot water for a couple of minutes. The lid expands enough to make removal easier.
(NB use a towel to remove because the lid will be hot!!)

I can sympathise with most of these despite kidding myself that my hands are still quite strong!
Thank goodness washing capsule containers have now been changed to cardboard boxes, rather than the very awkward plastic ones.

I'm with you on this Spuddy. I find it really hard to open out the plastic bubble/foil covering on paracetamol packs.

Spuddy, that’s a great idea, I never thought of doing that, does it work every time? Pasta sauce jars are really hard to open.

There are four of the squeeze things in a row on my grandsons life vest when we take him out in the boat, I’ve given up trying to unfasten them and hand him over to grandads big hands to release them.

I've got a rubber circle, they're brilliant and I don't actually have any problem with them, but with the arthritis in my hands I can't always grip! If it's a jar and my hubby is out I have to hammer and small nail in the lid to free the air to get the lid off!

I can’t open many things but strangely have no problem with wine bottles 🙃

And those tops on medicine bottles like Night Nurse etc. where you have to push down hard and twizzle at the same time! All I get is clicks and even more pain in my badly arthritis hands! A few days ago I had to get my hubby to undo it, he's a strong lad but even he had difficulty!

I understand the manufacturers have to make things safe and ''child-proof'' but ...!

My dog's coat has the squeeze and clip fasteners, and I can't get them undone - OH has to do it every time. Twice I have caught the skin on my finger when fastening them. Bleach bottles are a pain too - I can't get those undone. Consequently, I have instructed OH not to die first.

midgey

Sago your company plan is great….but how about going to sheltered housing schemes, coffee mornings for the housebound? If people are out and about that is already a level of ability.

It is not our company plan, we work to the clients brief.

To visit such places would not be feasible.

We have to have a cross section of consumers many people out and about yesterday had mobility aids, we had stroke victims, many arthritis and lymphoma sufferers and a lots with poor strength.

They all have to be consumers of the product.

Sago your company plan is great….but how about going to sheltered housing schemes, coffee mornings for the housebound? If people are out and about that is already a level of ability.

I have spent the past few days doing just this!
I have a company that arranges product tests, we are currently testing different caps for a well known household product.
We will have tested 6 caps on a thousand people when we finish in December.

It works like this; We have on street recruiters in the City centre who find us the respondents, they must meet certain criteria, they then come into a conference room we hire and we ask them to remove the different caps, each removal is assessed and graded.
If the respondents have any disabilities it is noted along with age and gender.
The test takes approximately 5 minutes and each respondent is given £5.

We then input the data for the client.

Every product on every supermarket shelf that is produced by large manufacturers will have gone through rigorous testing.

I find some plastic packaging really difficult to open and often take a knife to them. I once threw a package of sandwiches across the staffroom in work because I couldnt open the thing.

However I have no problem with old fashioned tin openers - the kind where you drive in a little pointed blade and lever it open. My nephew cannot manage them and has to use the type where you wind a little key. Fortunately I dont drink alone so he is always here when I want a bottle of wine opened.

Absolutely Cabbie21 😂. I also swear a lot when trying to squeeze the top off the bleach!

I think that the rubber circles I aquired years ago have a bit more 'cushioning' than the average rubber glove and seem especially good for harness fastenings. But I see how rubber gloves would make much more sense for bottle caps, and will try it.

I get totally frustrated with my grandsons car seat, which also has the squeeze fasteners! He gets similarly frustrated with me when he can't understand why Grandma can't let him out of his seat quickly enough! Obviously we get there eventually but it's so difficult.

Ive just spent a frustrating 5 minutes trying to extricate Activia yoghurts from their cardboard wrapper which had no apparent join. Just who designs all these inaccessible items? It’ll bite them in the bum when they get older and arthritic! 🤯

DD2 uses a dog harness. I’m terrified that I’ll nip the dog fastening it and getting it off is almost impossible for the same reason. Luckily, when he’s here with me, I use a slip collar/lead on him, so no problem.

I have sometimes asked the person on the till or another customer to open a bottle of bleach or wine. The loo cleaning can wait,but wanting a glass of wine, already chilled in the fridge but you can’t open, it is so frustrating.