Hopeless pumps and squeeze mechanisms

The film covering many meat products is also extremely difficult to completely remove. We are expected to recycle the tray, but not the film. I’d guess that, as removing the film from the edges can be so hard, many people won’t bother.

Tesco bacon have got it right. I can pull up the corner and it peels off all four sides. If they can get one thing right why can't they get more.

I get annoyed with the spray for the shower cubicle glass. The trigger gets worn out when the bottle is still half full. So I squeeze it and have to keep pulling it back up with every squirt. (Hard to explain but some of you may understand what I mean). I can't get the top off to decant to another sprayer.

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knspol

Struggled to open a bottle of bleach for a couple of days, asked
younger visitors to try but no luck. In the end managed to cut the top off the bottle with some difficulty but now have to find another receptacle for it!

You need one of these! I inherited my MIL's, which is like the one with the white handle.

Struggled to open a bottle of bleach for a couple of days, asked
younger visitors to try but no luck. In the end managed to cut the top off the bottle with some difficulty but now have to find another receptacle for it!

Stand shampoo bottles, mayonnaise etc. upside down with the lid on when they are not in use. You may have to prop them up behind the bath taps, or stand them in a glass or mug, as the makers have craftily used containers that are hard to empty completely. (They sell more that way.)

Gravitiy will then ensure that the contents is near the top of the bottle, so you readily can get the shampoo or whatever where you want it, when you want it. As long as you can get the top of, that is!

Oh …and of course there is the shipping and transporting.ie can it survive it’s journey to the other side of the world, and will it last X number of months.

Yes, the bleach bottles are very difficult to open. Those indentations to press have little give. I’ve had to force them open with a sharp knife. Even the handwash pump bottles often don’t work. The film covering many meat products is also extremely difficult to completely remove. We are expected to recycle the tray, but not the film. I’d guess that, as removing the film from the edges can be so hard, many people won’t bother.

Most of these products have a “perceived” demographic that they push there stuff towards, with glossy ads on tv and online.
When did you last see a face cream or dental care product or vitamin advertised with the image of anyone over say the age of 48 and most likely a “celeb” at that?
That’s part of this issue.

The other is that being older just isn’t “sexy” and sex, youth, obscene good health are the industries main focus.
I wonder what might change this perception.
Any ideas. because at the moment these manufacturers do not seem to give a proverbial.

Plastic soup tubs is one of my bugbears.

Trying to break the seal is impossible for me.
I could go on with loads of other difficult to open packaging etc.
Why is everything designed to make life difficult.?

Suggest we put these complaints on twitter. I'm getting very fed up of pensioner-proof jars, bottles, and pate pots. For some, I need to bring a pair of pliers and a screw driver to bear and of course, there is always a risk of self-injury with that.

Then there is the plastic film on other pots., and there is a need to use scissors as not able to get a hold of the tiny little extra bit tagged on the corner to pull it off cleanly.

Supermarket reviews can help as well.

I have endless problems with any container that needs opening, pressing or squeezing. The worse is ,or are, spray deodorants.
The only one that I can use is properly is Dove, even though it's a bit expensive. I've got various gadgets in the kitchen for opening bottles and cans etc, but spray things are hopeless. My hands and wrists seems to be terribly weak.

My most valuable kitchen utensil is old fashioned nut crackers. I couldn't open any squeeze and turn containers without them.

I spy an “opening” in the market here😉 when flogging menopause and 8 year olds “skincare” products has run out of steam we’ll see stuff being sold to the “older customer”.
It will take ‘em some time to cotton on but it won’t be long.!

Course the price will rise, that is a guaranteed.

I thought it was all just me until my dil said she has the same problems.

Those bottles where you have to press the sides and press down at the same time de-press me.

Any top that is a supposedly ‘safety’ top defeats me! The new tops on drinks etc are so hard. On my Goats milk a few days ago I thought the top was secure. Later milk dripping from fridge door as top was not secure! All the fights on bleach bottles have made me ask the Delivery driver to open them for me. Good job none mind helping! One of the pleasures of getting old, not complaining as it beats the alternative even if there are no awkward tops to open there 😂

I put washing up liquid into a pump action bottle that matches my kitchen so can be left next to the sink. It use less and looks very swish. Shampoo/ conditioner bottles are a source of gritted teeth for me. IMPOSSIBLE to get out all the contents and some are as heavy as house bricks . Grrr!

oh, I forgot my pet hate - toothbrush heads for electric toothbrushes. They are so 'well' packed they should be gold plated. Come on- it's only a toothbrush!!

I have a big bottle of shampoo that is quite heavy. On amazon I saw refillable plastic bottles which I thought would solve my problem. Trouble is the mechanism has to be pumped vigorously to get the shampoo out ----as a foam. Since my hair gets done first under the shower I have to have a sit down before proceeding.

Any one else cut the tops off toothpaste tubes when they're done. You'd be surprised how much more there is hidden under the shoulders of the tube

I get annoyed if a washing up or laundry liquid bottle doesnt have a flat top which if not would mean I cant rest it upside down to get the dregs out😡

I thought it was just me because I am really cackhanded. I find many things infuriating - even those that are supposedly intended to make life easier. Packaging nowadays is a real trial.

I bought new kitchen scissors the other week. They were encased in plastic packaging which was so difficult to get into that I had to use scissors to open it. Anyone see the irony in that?

I used to get the lip balm Lipsyl until they started to enclose the tube in soft plastic with perforations round it at the level where the top met the body of the tube. In theory twisting the two parts made the perforations tear so that the top came off and you could use it. In practice, I could twist until my hands were sore without the plastic giving way. So I wrote telling them this and suggesting that as their biggest market was older people who preferred lip balm to coloured lipsticks and whose hands were often arthritic and less strong than younger ones, they might modify it slightly. Their reply was to thank me but say that they done a lot of research into what people wanted, and that enclosed were some samples of their new product. These were three different fruit flavours of balm - all wrapped in exactly the same plastic straightjacket I had told them I couldn't open. I gave them away to younger relatives.

I don't know what most of these things are. Either we don't have them here in Germany (yet) or because of my policy of not buying anything in plastic bottles. I've never had any of these problems.

But might I suggest that many things might come out easier (shampoo, washing up liquid, anything water-based) if you diluted it a bit. add some water (once you've got the bottle open) and give it a good shake. You could certainly make sure you get out the last drops in the bottle that way.

Bleach bottles - impenetrable. Those tubs of hoummus or sauces, with a little plastic widget on the side - nail breaking - even attacking said tub with a scissors it remains firmly closed. You need an entire toolbox (or a three year old) to get into most childproof packaging these days.