Thursday, January 24, 2013

Brains & Muscle

Watch as my son holds our granddaughter's Christmas present, a mermaid doll. This is the back of the box, and we are trying to formulate a plan for how to open it.
As you can see, there are plastic thingys, wires, tape, and metal ties. We decide to begin the attack with a pocket knife.
By now, we have used several different implements and have finally managed to release the doll from the box prison. The doll is OUT! This whole time, Anne Marie has been waiting and waiting...

Only to find that her beautiful red hair had been STITCHED and SEWN into a thick clear plastic strip!!! Putting the pocket knife and other implements away, we now had to find something to remove her hair from it's sewn in plastic strip without actually cutting the hair itself. By now it has  been about half an hour and Anne has lost hope of ever actually having the doll. And of course my question is WHY? Any thoughts?



“Remember: The duller the ax the harder the work; Use your head: The more brains, the less muscle.”
Ecclesiastes 10

I may be taking the day off from the computer today. If so, see you Saturday!


33 comments:

Mary Bergfeld said...

That is really strange. Is there a number on the box that you can call? That is really overkill. Poor Ann Marie. I hope she's not too disappointed. I hope you andPhil are both well. Have a great day. Blessings...Mary

Annie Jeffries said...

Well, that's strange. And I haven't a clue as to why. Never saw it when I as buying dolls and not doing it for g'girls. Yet. I don't get it.

Annie Jeffries said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Andrea said...

It's because the dolls are foreign made & come thousands of miles on their journey to this country & all over the world. If they didn't stitch & strap & tape them all down, they'd probably be a jumbled heap by the time each little girl opened them.

The fact that we can't get a doll like this made in this country is the most disturbing thing of all.

To me anyway!!

--Andrea
XOXOXO

SquirrelQueen said...

It's getting to the point where they should print directions on the outside of the package telling you how to get in. I know they want to keep things like the doll from moving but it takes a lot of fun out of getting a new toy.

Arti said...

Ah, that is a lot of work for a sweet present like this. I am sure the company can think of better ways to prevent damages than stitching and sewning the hair up like that. The doll looks so beautiful, I hope Anne receives her gift soon.

Sr Crystal Mary Lindsey said...

I get so exasperated to the heavy packing everything seems to have. The mermaid doll is beautiful, but oh what a job to get her out. I believe much of the packing is display to add to wanting people to buy. Can you imagine buying the doll without all that fuss.. She would not have as much appeal. Thankfully your granddaughter has a good daddy who is pleased to help.

Hootin Anni said...

I'm not sure as to why the hair was stitched...oh my goodness.

From the Kitchen said...

Santa is outsourcing!

Best,
Bonnie

Alice said...

The stitched hair is new. My youngest received some dolls we had to free from the box this way.

Reanaclaire said...

This must be a very special mermaid.. what is hard to open are normally precious..

Neal said...

Seems like everything you get nowdays requires a box knife or scissors to open.

Kim@stuffcould.... said...

This is funny how over packed many things are...nice that you showed it...overkill is a good word for it

Remington said...

They really have them put in place don't they?

Lisa @ Two Bears Farm said...

Sheesh. I hate all that packaging stuff in the toys, but the hair is a new one!

MadSnapper said...

no clue why.. glad it was you and not me. i tend to get really irritated when things are fast in a box. no dolls for me, but it seems everything we buy is package like this.

Marie said...

I've never seen hair stitched, but I haven't opened a doll in many years!
Enjoy your day!

LV said...

Obviously the packers do not have the child in mind. I am sure the little one will enjoy it m ore after having to wait so long to get it.

Chatty Crone said...

Negative - because people used to steal them from the box and bring it home and leave the box there.

Positive - I love, love, love your header! What is it?

jp@A Green Ridge said...

LOL!!! My grand daughter would have lost interest in the darn thing and moved on to something else!...:)JP

Ruth Hiebert said...

One has to wonder at all the packaging. Only positive thing is that someone is getting paid to pack it all

LC said...

Packaging presents a challenge to being able to enjoy so many types of purchases these days. Now, I want to hear the rest of the story on how the adults extricated the dolls luxurious locks.

And did I miss an earlier explanation of that striking header? Hope you enjoy your day off!

Ruth Kelly said...

For security reasons, they make us all feel like idiots trying to get a toy out of the box but it is beyond me why they would stitch through the hair. That seems very odd. Get your sewing picker out.

George said...

Products that can be freed from the packaging drive me nuts. I hope you were finally able to free the doll.

Rose said...

Not sure about why they had to do the hair like that....I think the other is probably to prevent theft. I am always amazed at how hard it is to get to some of the toys.

Cheryl @ TFD said...

Oh, the packaging on things nowadays just drives me nuts! I often wonder how older people manage to open anything. Then, I remember I'm getting older myself and maybe that's part of the problem. :)

Filip and Kristel said...

I find it strange it is so difficult to open the box and get the doll out. Special hair colour, she must certainly like this.

Greetings,
Filip

S. Etole said...

Packaging can be very frustrating these days.

Linda said...

It's too bad packaging is so difficult to open these days.

Unknown said...

Ginny, some of these packaging techniques make no sense. I wonder what the purpose is too as they must cost a lot to do, crazy! Love your Scripture as always - have fun playing in the snow.
ps we don't seem to live that far from each other, it would be fun to meet up sometime!

Ann said...

That's crazy the way they did that hair. I've never seen anything like that and have no idea why they would do that.

Karin said...

I have a hard time opening child-proof pill bottles - never mind tackling extricating of the doll from her cardboard cell. Yikes! That stitching of the hair is puzzling - probably so it's not all tangled after the long ocean voyage to bring those goods to this side of the world.

As one of our residents commented, upon seeing the beauty salon full of waiting people, "This is a place to study patience," so likewise you all had to study patience!

momto8 said...

oh my gosh!

Sunday Sunset

 I snapped these from the Target parking lot. The sun had just gone down, but the trees were hiding the very bottom part of the sunset. Life...