“Wrap rage.” That’s a real term for the frustration you feel when you have to battle through that hard plastic clamshell packaging. Who among us has NOT lost blood in the battle with these things?

The stuff is relatively new—I think the first time I encountered it was when CDs first became popular in the 1990s. Which means that for decades, centuries, millenia, aeons we did without it. And in most cases we don’t need it now.

Just last week I cut my hand open trying to get through the hard plastic surrounding a lock for my gym locker. Really? For what possible reason does my cheap metal lock need to be encased in this stuff? In ancient times, when I was a kid, the VERY SAME LOCK made by the very same company just hung—bare nekkid—off a hook in the hardware store. Don’t need it, folks.

And worst of all, it cannot be recycled. So centuries from now, whatever creatures still inhabit our planet will be cutting their fingers or toes or feelers or whatever on the very same sharp plastic edges.

Bah. Humbug.