Do You Suffer From 'Wrap Rage'?

"Wrap rage" is a new term that has been coined to describe that feeling you get when you spend ten minutes wrestling with an item's packaging.

And the problem seems to be getting worse. One survey found that many people feel that in the past decade packaging has gotten increasingly harder to open, The Early Show Correspondent Tracy Smith reports.

Here in the United States, they don't keep statistics on the number of people who get hurt opening packaging, but in Great Britain they do. And they found that in just one year, 67,000 people got injuries ranging from cut fingers to sprained wrists, from just wrestling with wrapping.

Peter Clark, says: "They use scissors. They use knives, all sorts of tools. And it's pretty scary to listen to some of the stuff. I'm surprised that people aren't getting hurt more often."

He is the president of Product Ventures, a company which designs product packaging. He says his designers must create packaging that protects the product during shipping, prevents it from being opened and stolen in the store, and is still cheap to manufacture.

"There's a real business reason why packaging is the way that it is. It is the balance between pilfer resistance, and in some cases child resistance and making things easy to open," says Clark.

But Clark says some packaging is getting better, and he showed a couple of examples, starting with a new, improved paint can.

Pointing at it, he says, "This is a great invention. First of all, it has a carrying handle. But the most important feature is that it has a quick and easy opening, where you just twist open and you see here it has a pour spout so you can control your pour, and it has a drain back feature designed into it. So all that mess you used to get in this container now neatly drips back into the container, and you just take this and reseal. No tools required."

He also has a special design for a coffee can, which traditionally would need a can opener. "Potentially cutting yourself," he says, but holding a canister he notes, "This canister, again is very thoughtfully designed. It incorporates a value-added handle, which is nice so that you don't have to cradle it like a football. And then, you can just conveniently pop the top. And then peel back the seal, the freshness seal. And then scoop up what you need. And the conveniently reseals, then you can burp it too."

So the next time you're struggling, and trying to get something out of its package, remember that help may be on the way.

"There's definitely hope. Just complain enough about it and companies that produce these things will invest in making them better," says Clark.

One of the biggest complaints is items that are packaged in hard plastic containers.