Any clean way to open plastic packages?

[Boomhauer]

You can't handle a zip tie? Turn in your man card.

Oh I can...but when they are securing in something that's breakable or something you don't want to mar is when they get aggravating. Otherwise my pliers snap them right off.

[Firethorn]

Those things arn't made to be opened, they are made for display.
As such, it is my right as a consumer to say "stupid company, if they want to resell it when I returned it, they should have used smarter packaging"

They're not just made for display, they're made for theft deterrence.  They're harder for a thief to surreptitiously open the package and simply take the contents.  Harder for the company to argue that it's a stolen item and not a used(but in 'like new' condition) if it doesn't have it's tags, packaging, or at least video of the thief taking the packaging off, along with said packaging...

[Ben]

They're not just made for display, they're made for theft deterrence.  They're harder for a thief to surreptitiously open the package and simply take the contents.  Harder for the company to argue that it's a stolen item and not a used(but in 'like new' condition) if it doesn't have it's tags, packaging, or at least video of the thief taking the packaging off, along with said packaging...

Sadly, true. Once again, no good, stinkin', dirty, low down thieves ruin it for the rest of us.

Thanks God for Amazon (who doesn't have to worry about shoplifters) frustration-free packaging.

[MikeB]

This actually works quite well. Kinda scissors with offset blades.

http://www.amazon.com/Zibra-ZPCOPEN-OR-Universal-Package-Opener/dp/B000IHHOVI

I was given it as a gag gift one time after I was complaining to someone that the person who invented the bubble packaging should be shot. Turned out I actually use the gadget quite often. If not home I just use a pocket knife.

They sell stuff in this packaging in Airports! 

[vaskidmark]

This actually works quite well. Kinda scissors with offset blades.

http://www.amazon.com/Zibra-ZPCOPEN-OR-Universal-Package-Opener/dp/B000IHHOVI

I was given it as a gag gift one time after I was complaining to someone that the person who invented the bubble packaging should be shot. Turned out I actually use the gadget quite often. If not home I just use a pocket knife.

They sell stuff in this packaging in Airports! 

Cute.  And the reviews say it does what it claims - which is to open

sealed clam chell packages

But how does it do on the plastic packaging?

stay safe.

[Larry Ashcraft]

I use a 24" stomp shear.  Really.

What, you don't have one?

[Gewehr98]

I like it when people mangle the plastic packaging, then return it.

It then goes on the discount aisle for me.   

[charby]

[AJ Dual]

http://www.countycomm.com/hookknife.html

Hook it over one edge and just pull.

[Nick1911]

I use a 24" stomp shear.  Really.

What, you don't have one?

Larry, that's as bad as me using a lathe to open tuna. 

[sm]

Scissors.

Ben said it best:

And the inventor should be shot. And then shot again.

[griz]

And the inventor should be shot. And then shot again.

I disagree.  The inventor should be sealed inside a form fitting plastic package until he tells us an easy way to open them.

[RoadKingLarry]

And the inventor should be shot. And then shot again.

Then hermatically sealed in one of his own blister packs, dead or alive, doesn't matter.

[MechAg94]

Then hermatically sealed in one of his own blister packs, dead or alive, doesn't matter.

No just lock him in a room without scissors or knife and put all his food and water in those same packages. 

I've actually found that you can trim the seals lip off the sides and it can make those packages easier to open without cutting up everything.  Kind of a pain though.

[230RN]

I use a 24" stomp shear.  Really.

What, you don't have one?

I tried using a shear-type paper cutter, but:

(A) It only works for packages with flat bottoms.

(B) It's more of a pain in the ass getting out the paper cutter and setting it up on the table than it's worth.

I also tried a Bernz cutter, but it had the same problem as the paper cutter WRT the item having a flat back.

Mostly, I just use scissors. And, while I ain't gonna spend no $11.00 for a single-use product, I was thinking of buying one of those kitchen shears for cutting up chickens and the like... which has multiple uses.

I refuse to use a knife on them.  I'm too clumsy and I know I would cut myself.  Got enough scars already.  And it always happens 187 milliseconds after you start to think, "Watch it, if it slips you'll cut yourself.. OW!"

There are some now which just have little "pips" molded around the outside edges and are pretty easy to open.   Sometimes, even without toolery.

Yep.  Detcord.

But for the lowlife thieves who made all this, and locks on your house, necessary.

Terry, 230RN

[Sawdust]

I have a pair of heavy-duty scissors that look more like snips (short, thick blades) that I got just for this task.

They work great on blister packs and those wire-ties that hold toys down in their packaging.

Sawdust

[p12]

Tried the scissor route. Kept having cuts or near cuts. Started using a mini utility blade for the task. Works good but not for salvaging the packaging for a return.

If it's broke I don't care about the packaging. Not my problem.

[Larry Ashcraft]

I tried using a shear-type paper cutter, but:

Yeah, they don't work so well, with the curved blade.  A stomp shear is a "guillotine" style shear, where the blade come straight down, but at an angle.  I discovered it worked when I had to engrave something like forty Cross pens that were blister packed.  It would have taken me longer to get them out of the packaging than to engrave them.

For the zip ties and wires, I have a little tiny pair of side cutters I got at Lowe's, and I keep several pair of the $1.98 scissors from Lowe's too, for opening poly bags.

There's all kinds of weird little tools I use every day.  A pair of 8" bolt cutters from Harbor Freight to remove backings from things I mount on plaques, and a couple pairs of split ring pliers for assembling keychains, and several pairs of needle nosed pliers.

[Scout26]

Many moons ago when I worked for Pepsico, these where the standard issue scissors for the restaurants. 

Somehow, around the time we found out we were going to be let go, our boss went around and and gave us all several "going away gifts" that he had liberated from hither and yon.  Included were a couple of pairs of those scissors. 

That was 1996ish.  Still going strong, best damn scissors I've ever owned and will cut through anything.

[Larry Ashcraft]

I bought a pair similar to those from Kershaw that I gave to my wife at least 25 years ago.  They still work, but they're about worn out.