PACKAGE DEALS

Am I the only one who gets irritated about multi-product packaging? It is SO annoying to have to purchase a bunch of stuff I don’t want just to get the one thing I do.

For example: I needed to replace the seat cover on the driver’s side of my car. The passenger seat cover was okay. I just needed one. I didn’t even care if they matched exactly. Everywhere I went—TWO seat covers in a package. All. Over. Town. Finally—FINALLY I found just one that did not look like zebra hide, or was covered with shedding fuzz, or some gosh-awful combination of colors like pink, poop brown and pyook green. The Just One went well with my passenger side seat cover. And even though it was the price of two I bought it anyway just to support the one item packaging.

How about pot holders? You know, the simple padded things to protect your hands when you pull items out of a hot oven. Could I just buy pot holders? NooOOoo. I had to buy them with oven mitts, matching table napkins (like oven mitts and table napkins would ever be seen together) and dish towels. And don’t tell me to crochet hot pads. Those things have evil holes in them that let fire through. I finally gave up and bought some ugly hot pads—without dish towels or oven mitts—at the Dollar Store. First time I washed them all the color came off. Now REALLY ugly.

Then there are shoe strings. Only need one pair just that size and color, but I have to buy three or four. And batteries and pencils and pens and soft drinks. When you’re on the side of selling a product, wrapping a bunch of things together in indestructible plastic is great idea, but from a consumer’s point of view it is just another aggravation.