Good News for the Holidays

The New York Times reports that a number of retailers and manufacturers, including Amazon.com, Sony, Microsoft, and Best Buy, are offering "product packaging that will not result in lacerations and stab wounds." The companies "have begun to create alternatives to the infuriating plastic 'clamshell' packages and cruelly complex twist ties that make products like electronics and toys almost impossible for mere mortals to open without power tools." According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, "impregnable packaging" has sent about 6,000 Americans each year to emergency rooms with "injuries caused by trying to pry, stab and cut open their purchases."