Beyond the waste they generate (there's often more packaging there, by mass, than the actual condiment inside), they're a huge pain to open. In my experience, 70-80% of those require applying considerable force to tear them open. This turns from hard to impossible if your hands got greasy, like they tend to get when e.g. you're mid-way through eating your fast food meal, and need to add some extra sauce. Out of those 7-8 per 10, there's always that one that won't give, no matter what, and I have to fish for some sharp object to puncture it with.
No, perforations don't help - half of the packet types I've seen don't have them, and those that do, usually the perforation is made a bit too high and tears off without opening the packet. No, it's not just brute strength that's needed - it must be precisely applied, or you'll spill half of the condiment on yourself. And no, one isn't enough, you need to open 2-3 to get some reasonable amount of sauce for a serving. Multiply this by amount of people sitting at the table, since I end up opening their packets for them (see: strength requirements), and I hope you can see where my frustration is coming from.
I'm actually considering getting back to having a knife always with me, just so that I have something to open those packets with - now that pandemic is "over" and I end up dealing with them semi-frequently again.
So this is three paragraphs of hate with no solution?
The perforated ones work fine (Kikkoman soy sauce and the chick fil a ketchup dips are solid), it's just when the condiment makers elect for the cheapest perforation or no perforation that they can some times, maybe, need to adjust your grip or use a fork.
Is your solution no condiments because you personally struggle or even more waste by requiring more plastic containers with a lid like what salsa comes in or the much larger containers like what the nugget sauces come in?
> So this is three paragraphs of hate with no solution?
Welcome to the Internet.
Maybe I have a decade-long stroke of bad luck, but "use a fork" is almost a default - except the intersection of restaurants serving condiment packets and restaurants serving metal utensils is... empty set, in my experience.
> Is your solution no condiments because you personally struggle
Ideally, they'd just make the perforations better and align them better, or just do whatever it is the makers of VIFON instant noodle soups do with the "flavor concentrate" packets - they're still not the easiest one to open, but there is always an area on one or two edges where you can tear it perpendicularly to the edge, and it'll tear off the entire adjacent edge in one swift go.
> or even more waste by requiring more plastic containers with a lid like what salsa comes in or the much larger containers like what the nugget sauces come in?
I'd have to check, but I think the little plastic containers my local pizza companies use for sauces in delivery orders would come out way ahead, because a) they have better ratio of surface to volume (flat condiment pack is literally about the least efficient you can get), b) nobody in their right mind would size them down to equivalent of single condiment package, and c) they're made from thin, single-type plastic - while condiment packages are some weird plastic/metal/foil combination that also doubles as advertising space.
I don't know that I've ever met a non-arthritic adult who struggled with more than the rare fiddly condiment packet. Are we experiencing different types of packets? There's some out there that are a pain, but I've never been sat at a table where only one person was capable of opening the packets.
Interesting that this comment is the top upvoted one. I remember reading a twitter data analysis and the sentiment that drives engagement the most by far is anger. Maybe it's true.
Didn't expect this to get to the top; I really just hoped for a little reassurance that I'm not the only one who has only bad experiences with those.
Also, my hate towards them stems from two additional reasons: 1) they're shaped to be wasteful, pretty much maximizing the amount of packaging relative to the amount of content, and 2) they're made from some mixed material -- and both of those reasons stand in stark negative contrast to the simple, humble, tiny, transparent, plastic jar with a lid.
Taking a charitable view to the point of stretching credulity, perhaps condiment packets are optimizing for transport costs, mostly because the very strength that makes them near-impossible to open by unaided human hand, also means they can be piled up in a container without the risk of breaking. But given the logistics of today, I find it hard to imagine this is worth the loss on volume of actual product shipped. The plastic containers may be much weaker, but you can stack them in layers with some padding in between, and save on the volume. Or better yet, ship the condiment with kegs, ship the plastic containers open and stacked, and have the staff (or a machine) dose out the condiment at the point of use - the same way it's done with soft drinks and coffee.
In this case the frustration expressed is relatable. I'd be willing to bet most people here have at one point or another struggled with a condiment packet that was poorly designed or badly manufactured. Personally, I'm just happy to see the environmental impact mentioned.
I love posts like this. I save them in a bookmark folder called “ Internet Graveyard”. It’s filled with wonky, peculiar, vintage(-esque) websites of all sorts. Legendary GeoCities pages, enthusiast blogs, soundboards, inter-dimensional cable…
>Twitter no longer allows people without an account to view tweets.
I've seen several tweets, linked from other sites, and I sort of got interested as i seemed to be allowed to see quite a lot (splash screen was just clicked closed). If I can't see what makes it interesting as a platform then I'm never going to use it for even longer than i haven't already (save maybe 15 mins total over the last few weeks).
Yes, and Australia had it first. This type of packaging was invented by Sanford Redmond and licensed out to various companies, including Masterfoods in Australia and Mitsubishi/Dispen Pak in Japan.
Once, in the mid to late 2000s, my high school English class was using some old textbooks that were fished out of some dusty closet. They had last been used apparently in the mid-80s. When I opened the book that was handed out to me, the pages were stuck together. I pried the pages apart to find a 1980s-era mustard packet that some cheeky teen from many years past had lovingly slammed shut into the to-be-time capsule of a textbook.
Highschool 99-03 here. There was this kid named Kevin.
The big cafeteria has a small entrance and exit to the food service area. The exit was a bottleneck.
So Kevin's daily modus operandi was to pick up a dozen or so ketchup and mustard packets (the soft squeezable ones). Twist tbem to be super puffed out. Then drop them coincidentally on the ground in the little exitway.
It would create an utter stampede of shock and chaos within seconds, as colored condiment sauce would spray everywhere indiscriminately.
This lasted for months and they still never banned the packets. Or caught Kevin.
I really hate when restaurants choose to use these, but then are incredibly stingy about them. I want enough ketchup to make a puddle to dip all my fries. Yes, I will use all of it. No, two packets are not enough. Yes, I will pay extra for this luxury if necessary (not usually even an option!).
It's funny when one day, you get to a place that tries to measure out the packets and even charge you for extra - and then another day you go to a McDonalds or KFC (the two where this happened to me more often), where if you mention you want extra ketchup, the cashier will just absent-mindedly pull half a dozen from some cupboard and dump them on your tray without even looking or counting.
BTW. it happened to me once with sauces - in a KFC, and we're talking about sauces they nominally charge for, that come in small, sealed plastic boxes. I mention I'd like some extra, and the cashier just asks me which ones, and then gives me a total of 6-8, no extra charge. To this day I don't know why they did it.
Depends on where you live. In most of Europe, sauce always costs extra. For example a regular packet of ketchup at McD's here in NL is 30-50¢ depending on the location.
Heinz ketchup in the silver packaging just hits differently. I don't know why but it feels fancier. Also do you remember the first time you saw the new heinz packet? The big one? I remember being so happy at the amount you get per packet vs needing like a dozen of the regular ones making a packet massacre when you're finished eating.
I looked for the Heinz Dip & Squeeze packets there but didn't see them. Maybe they don't meet the site owner's selection criteria since they're a plastic tray not a foil/plastic pouch?
I rate them a solid 8 - you get a good amount of ketchup, the packaging is innovative, but tearing the top open to squeeze can be difficult.
I have a soft spot in my heart for foil packs after I spent a summer working in a factory that produced foil packets of vitamin A&D ointment and sterile surgical lubricant.
For eight hours a day I would stamp empty boxes with expiration dates and give them to a dozen or so people sitting at conveyor belts. When they had filled the boxes, I’d take them away and put them in larger boxes, seal those boxes and put them on pallets.
Speaking of condiments, if you are in a restaurant where they have a ketchup dispenser and provide those little paper cups for you to put it in, there's about a 99% chance you are using those cups wrong. Here's a short (38 seconds) video demonstration of how they are designed to be used [1]
>I carefully remove the contents of my packets by making an incision along one of the short seams on the back. (I prefer the right-hand or bottom seam.)
I rinse the inside of the packets thoroughly to ensure all sauce is expelled. (I employ a drop of dish soap for oily condiments.)
I then wait until the packets are completely dry before I place them in baseball card cases to preserve them cleanly and safely for many generations.
I'm surprised I'm the first to say something about the waste they produce. They seem to be relic of the 80s or 90s where no one cared.
Buying a meat pie in Australia used to mean you could get a squeeze from the tomato sauce bottle, but now the little packet is litter producing and a chargeable extra.
These older packets have transported me to earlier times in my life when times were more free and easy going. Maybe its because I have many fond memories of childhood hanging out with friends at various fast food places. In little ways the quality of everything has degraded so these older designs harkins back to a time when things felt better.
>I carefully remove the contents of my packets by making an incision along one of the short seams on the back. (I prefer the right-hand or bottom seam.)
I rinse the inside of the packets thoroughly to ensure all sauce is expelled. (I employ a drop of dish soap for oily condiments.)
I then wait until the packets are completely dry before I place them in baseball card cases to preserve them cleanly and safely for many generations.
Beyond the waste they generate (there's often more packaging there, by mass, than the actual condiment inside), they're a huge pain to open. In my experience, 70-80% of those require applying considerable force to tear them open. This turns from hard to impossible if your hands got greasy, like they tend to get when e.g. you're mid-way through eating your fast food meal, and need to add some extra sauce. Out of those 7-8 per 10, there's always that one that won't give, no matter what, and I have to fish for some sharp object to puncture it with.
No, perforations don't help - half of the packet types I've seen don't have them, and those that do, usually the perforation is made a bit too high and tears off without opening the packet. No, it's not just brute strength that's needed - it must be precisely applied, or you'll spill half of the condiment on yourself. And no, one isn't enough, you need to open 2-3 to get some reasonable amount of sauce for a serving. Multiply this by amount of people sitting at the table, since I end up opening their packets for them (see: strength requirements), and I hope you can see where my frustration is coming from.
I'm actually considering getting back to having a knife always with me, just so that I have something to open those packets with - now that pandemic is "over" and I end up dealing with them semi-frequently again.