Annoying Packaging

You know the feeling. You get out that new pack of oh-so-tempting biscuits, finally locate the end of the ‘pull strip’, grab it and pull – and it promptly disintegrates in your hands, along with half the contents of the packet.

Or you buy your child a new toy for a present, which they simply can’t wait to get their hands on, but you realise you need a degree, not to mention a whole tool kit, in order to remove all the wires, tags and mini-screws that are there for product presentation, as opposed to any benefit to the consumer.

OK, so this may all seem like a bit of an exaggeration, but let’s face it, a huge amount of product packaging is both frustrating to open and wasteful.

During the recent festive season I was appalled at the over-the-top packaging containing my grandson’s toys. Not only was every one of them extremely tedious to open, but the packaging comprised of a number of plastic and metal fixings that could prove rather dangerous to small children! He’s 18 months old for goodness sake, he wants toys that he can get out and enjoy with minimal fuss and certainly without a choking hazard!

And as for the boxes of chocolates and biscuits! Whilst most were quite straightforward to open, I was incensed that some manufacturers printed the ‘selection menu’ on the bottom of the pack. We were then torn between reading the selection first and trying to remember what our chosen biscuit/chocolate looked like (makes a fun memory game) or holding the box aloft and performing a minor contortion to view the pictures without spilling the whole contents of the box. What’s wrong with printing the selection on the inside of the lid or on a piece of paper inside?

When designing product packaging, companies could bear in mind the phrase ‘user-friendly’ and stop and think about the ease of opening, the ability to reseal if appropriate, recyclability of materials and practical use.

It’s great that so many manufacturers have cut down on plastics used and, in some cases, reduced the size of packaging, but could they now please think more about ease of use as opposed to products looking pretty?

Next festive season I’d like to enjoy a biscuit without performing a weird limbo dance and present my grandson with his toys without leaving a trail of plastic ties in my wake!

Where Have All The Shoe Shops Gone?

There’s no doubt about it, shopping for shoes is not the straightforward experience that it once was. Locating a shoe shop can be an ordeal in itself.

Way back in that hinterland know as the 1970s, my then local High Street was positively teeming with shoe shops, as was the shopping centre that opened there during that decade. We were spoilt for choice – Manfield, Saxone, Dolcis, Curtess, TrueForm, John Farmer – the list went on!

Are shoe shops becoming as extinct as the dinosaurs/

However, a visit back to that same High Street today is quite a different story. All that exists is a branch of Shoe Zone and a small Chockers store. Even venturing to an out-of-town retail park only yields a rather sad looking Brantano, which I view as a kind of shoe jumble sale – lots of random styles in random sizes, but not normally the one you’re actually seeking.

Of course, I realise that many High Street stores now include a shoe department – New Look, BHS, Matalan and Select to name a few – but many of these only offer women’s shoes. Where are you supposed to go to buy footwear for children and men?

This week I faced the unenviable task of buying new school shoes for my son. Needless to say, the choice was very limited. He may not be particularly fashion conscious when choosing footwear, but it would be nice to have more options available to him. My husband is also frustrated about the lack of choice – it’s not always an option to buy from premium shoe retailers and certainly shouldn’t be viewed as a necessity.

There are, of course, a number of online shoe retailers, but footwear is the last item that I would consider buying on the Internet. Finding the right fit can be a nightmare! How many pairs would I end up ordering and returning before I found the ideal fit? I want to go into a shop (or several if I’m honest), view a large selection of shoes and try on as many pairs as I like before making my choice.

I dream of walking down a High Street that hosts a range of reasonably-priced, well-stocked shoe shops and trying on endless pairs until I find my ideal style of fit. But tell me, where have all the shoe shops gone?

January’s A Good Month To ...

Avoid making a New Year’s Resolution. Yes, seriously. Many people find that the pressure of undertaking a big life change at New Year makes it more difficult to accomplish their goals. Deciding to lose weight, quit smoking, get fitter etc is sometimes easier to accomplish at a time of your own choosing, or when the weather is warmer to make you feel more optimistic. The only resolution I’ve ever made and stuck to, is not to make a New Year’s resolution!

Raid the ‘End of Sale’ rails. I’ve never been one to queue on the first day of a sale, or even turn up within the first few days of one starting. I’m much more the type of shopper that scours the shops for ‘End of Sale’ bargains. Past finds have included Marks and Spencer jeans for £5, M&S boots for £3 and toiletry gift sets from Boots at 90% reduction. OK, so there’s not so much choice towards the end of a sale, but the savings can be huge!

Fill up those charity bags. Now’s the time to clear out all of those cupboards and drawers to make room for all of the goodies that you received for Christmas. And if you received some unwanted gifts, why not donate those to a local charity shop too? Beware, however, of some of the so-called charity bags that are posted through your door. Whilst some are genuine, others most definitely are not. If in doubt, try to take your donations directly to a charity shop, to ensure that your gifts are helping the people that you intend to help, as opposed to lining the pockets of unscrupulous individuals.

Curl up with a good book. Whilst I accept that e-readers have their place, I feel you can’t beat holding an actual book in your hand, with it’s intriguing cover beckoning you to discover its treasures within. I love to turn the pages – sometimes with some speed when I reach a particularly exciting bit – enjoying the feel of the paper and weight of the tome. Snuggling up by the fire on a winter’s day, book in hand, is sheer bliss!

Celebrity Endorsements

Advertisements can often be controversial, but I do despair at the amount of celebrity appearances and voiceovers in TV commercials, which must cost a fair whack, money probably better spent on the products themselves – or reducing their prices!

I’ve touched on this subject before, see good ads, but I’m becoming increasingly irritated by the cheesiness and pointlessness of these so-called celeb endorsements. Do I care what Cheryl is (supposedly) using on her hair, which yogurt Nicole Scherzinger (allegedly) prefers or that Victoria Wood appears to extol the virtues of a Dyson? Does it make me more likely to buy these products? Actually, no.

In fact the insincerity of some of the celebrity ads makes the products appear less credible to me. Their only use is to play a game of “Name That Celebrity” – can you recognise that famous voice in the background?

Random kittens in blog,
Much like random celebs in ads

I mean, do we really imagine that Peter André regularly pushes a trolley around his local branch of Iceland and that Mel Giedroyc really believes that “You’re better off at Asda”? The amount of different Asda ads featuring our Mel’s voice in the course of one week probably earns her enough to be far more extravagant with her weekly shop!

Personally, I’d prefer more ads featuring ‘real people’, which would be more cost-effective to make and more believable. It’s not really the TV advertising that encourages me to buy a product or visit a certain shop anyway, but introductory offers for products and loyalty incentives in the shops.

The odd advert can be quite entertaining, with some of the recent Christmas ones certainly worthy of a mention. I loved the Waitrose ad with its traumatic tale of the girl preparing the gingerbread stall and the John Lewis commercial with the lad and his penguins. But whilst the Sainsburys’ World War One ad was a poignant piece of film, I rather wish it hadn’t been an advert at all, just a short film to make us all think.

So does seeing or hearing a celebrity on a TV ad make you more likely to buy a product, or do you think there presence is just a total waste of money?

Open All Hours

It’s been reported that a record number of convenience stores will be opening their doors on Christmas Day this year. OK, so technically the word ‘convenience’ implies that they’re there for you, but surely there has to be a time when even these shops close for a well-earned break.

The thought of all shops being closed on December 25^th appears to horrify some customers. “What if we suddenly discover we’ve forgotten the brandy butter or batteries?” they despair. So what? You carry on without them just like we did in the days when shops not only closed for the one big day, but several others too. If Christmas Day and Boxing Day fell at the weekend, Monday and Tuesday were declared Bank Holidays, with shops shutting for the full four days! And this in the days before a lot of homes featured a freezer!

Celebrate don't shop!

Another argument for allowing shops to open on this date is that not all religions celebrate Christmas, so should be allowed to do as they please on this day. Fair enough up to a point. However, I see no harm in declaring December 25^th a National Kinship Day, where people have the day off (with the exception of those providing vital services, of course) to celebrate family and friendship. Sometimes we all need a bit of time out of our busy schedules to appreciate those around us, unwind and be grateful for our lives. Whatever your beliefs this is a concept that we can share.

So personally, whatever I find that I’ve neglected to buy on Christmas morning, I will definitely not be venturing out to the shops to track down. Nor will I be scuttling out come Boxing Day to attack the sales. This time of year, I’m quite happy for shopping to take a back seat.

Sadly with our 24/7 culture many people want everything permanently on tap. But here’s a thought, you can survive when the shops are shut!

A Year In Supermarkets

With only weeks left of the present year, I thought it was time that I started looking back at some of my shopping experiences for the year, and in particular, what has been happening with the supermarkets.

Tesco were in the news this year for dodgy accounting, which has resulted in a criminal investigation. Now whilst this is serious stuff, and we should theoretically be concerned, as a shopper, I’m more interested in what is actually happening at ‘ground level’ so to speak. All the while I can go into a Tesco store, find what I want at a reasonable price, get good service from the staff and earn valuable Clubcard points I will continue to shop with the chain. They certainly operate the best loyalty scheme around, with points amounting to four times their value when exchanged for days out and Clubcard send out a regular supply of relevant money-off and extra points vouchers too.

Sainsbury’s, on the other hand, announced that they are set to cut the number of Nectar points that you earn on your weekly shop. (Loyalty cards) With their loyalty scheme already offering a poorer deal than the likes of Tesco I don’t think this is a very clever move. They are, however, pledging to cut more prices, so we’ll have to see how all this works out in practice.

Morrisons launched their new ‘Match & More’ card this year, (I want more) an interesting twist on a loyalty card, whereby you earn points on items that you would have been able to buy cheaper elsewhere – a price comparison that includes the likes of Aldi and Lidl as well as the other major supermarkets. What pleased me about this card was that Morrisons offered three options when it came to registering the card – online, by post or in store – a refreshing change from companies that expect you to do everything online!

Asda has never been one of my favourite supermarkets, but they’ve certainly put themselves in the doghouse recently. My daughter placed an online grocery order with them, but the goods never actually materialised (Oh dear Asda) and despite phone calls, completion of an online form, a blog post and a Twitter conversation (which reaps results in most cases) the company failed to properly apologise for the inconvenience, or offer any explanation as to what went wrong. Needless to say it’s not an experience she has rushed to repeat. In fact, my prize for “The Worst Customer Service of 2014” is hereby awarded to Asda. Perhaps they’d care to take note!

Whilst I continue to give Aldi a wide berth, having rated previous shopping experiences with them at 2/10, I have become a bit of a fan of Lidl. For me, Lidl have been one of the great emerging retailers of 2014. Most recently I’ve found them a great place to stock up with Christmas spirits – port, cream liqueur and cherry brandy all costing around the £5 mark, and tasting delicious – and I love their Stilton too! I’m sure that I’ll have much more to say about them in 2015.

So wherever you shop, I hope you’ve had good experiences this year – if not, let me know, I’m always keen to hear your shopping stories too!

Memories At Manston

It’s been a while since we’ve had a family day out, what with trying to arrange our new home into something vaguely liveable (read more at ruraljoy to throw some light on this one) and the weather becoming chillier and gloomier. So when a Saturday morning dawned bright and sunny, it seemed a good time to take my son out on a quest for material for his art project on ‘conflict”.

We trawled the Internet to find somewhere in our home county of Kent that would make for an interesting visit, whilst fulfilling the brief, so to speak, choosing the Spitfire & Hurricane Memorial Museum at Manston.

Situated on the old airfield site, the museum is easy to find and both parking and entrance are free, although there is a donation box, which merits your attention! You can also purchase items at the shop (I bought an interesting wartime-related cookbook) and enjoy a cuppa or a meal at the Merlin Cafeteria attached to the museum.

Although small, the museum does have rather a ‘wow’ factor, displaying one of the few surviving Spitfires and a famous Hawker Hurricane, each housed in their own room surrounded by interesting and diverse memorabilia. Indeed, there are some very poignant displays, telling the stories of the men involved in air combat in WWII. There are also examples of everyday items from the World War II era, giving more depth and understanding of the time.

 

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit and my son was able to get some great photos to help with his art.

On leaving the museum we noticed another building opposite, which turned out to be the RAF Manston History Museum – another little gem, so we discovered. With admission costing just £1.50 for adults and 50p for children, this contains items representing the history of the airfield between 1916 until the present day, with examples of both military and civil aircraft.

Displays include a section of a wartime street (my son found this particularly interesting), film footage of the bouncing bomb, aircraft of various types and ages and military vehicles. There is even a doodlebug!

We found the two museums very informative and enjoyable and I can definitely recommend a visit to them both, as they each have much to offer visitors – an enlightening experience!