Emphatically not the consumer! Initiate a conversation with your friends and casually inquire as to their thoughts on the clamshell / blister package. Be forewarned as you have just unleashed the dogs of war. There’s nothing but frustration and contempt for this package. Closures and intuitive opens are other incomprehensible hot spots to the consumer. If we have the technology to place a man on the moon why can’t we have packaging that’s functional? Invariably the packaging scope widens to include environmental and surplus packaging concerns and the battle rages on. Doom and gloom for the packaging industry indeed should consumers turn the table and set the rules. Not such a bad idea actually. To be market driven rather that internally focused on sustaining monopolistic profit margins at the expense of the consumer, would surely be aligning global environmental priorities.

Retailers possibly? Well before Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. introduced their “packaging Scorecard” late 2006 to suppliers Germany was well ahead of the game in 1990 with "the Green point, dual system Germany, society for waste avoidance and secondary raw material production ltd."” Today known as the dual system Germany GmbH (DSD). Here we have the makings of a great case study on how to deploy and manage an aggressive social reform program targeting pollution generated from post consumer waste, namely packaging. The initial resistance from packaging companies to comply was intense. Aldi the most successful privately owned German discount supermarket chain was an early adopter. I would encourage anyone not familiar with Aldi to take the time to acquaint themselves with Aldi best practices. Green point began as a Non profit enterprise and in 1997 was incorporated, where there is a will there is a way.

Packaging Producers should be but are not. Herein lays the root of the problem. Having worked for a privately held monopolistic packaging company I quickly learned one does not compromise profit margins. Am I a born again packaging evangelist? Not likely. From my understanding of why a closure was not included with carton packaging until rather recently was due to cost. Financially it made no sense to assume a cost that could be deferred until absolutely necessary, regardless of consumer convenience. When in a position of dominance that’s the way it goes. As patients expire and competition increases companies become more humble and less arrogant. However monopolies are the exception today, still it’s good to know the history. The 2008 Global Packaging Industry was worth approximately 486 billion US dollars. Packaging a relatively young market with the major players heavily into the acquisition game and building empires simply pay lip service to consumer preferences, there just too much profit to be made.

Government regulatory offices the likes of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have an essential role to play however do we want the FDA to micromanage the packaging industry? Bureaucracy as we know stifles creativity. As it stands today with the alarming number of food recalls and fatalities I would say that the FDA has their hands full as it is.

What about packaging designers couldn’t they take a leadership role in delivering to market packaging that meets consumer expectations? If any of this is resonating with you or you have a strong argument on any of the points I’ve made I welcome you to post a reply.