Jack Out Of The Box

My daughter bought a cake decorating kit. It is made in  Switzerland - world headquarters, presumably, of squirting icing on sponge. It certainly seems so from the promotional announcements on the outside of the package; there are paeans of praise and promises of paradise on every surface. It is the sort of cardboard box that would be worshipped in remote jungle villages in a Conrad novel.

And the cake decorator is just a plastic icing squirter with nozzles...

What a contrast to the sober and refined packaging for modern cameras...oh, wait. Don't look at the pictures on this one or the advertising blurb on that one. Concentrate on the one in the plain cardboard box. Inside of which is a box worthy of a Fabergé egg...You may tire of the camera in a few years but don't lose the packaging - it will eventually be worth a fortune.

Sigh.

The other end of the packaging spectrum generally originates in Wung Fou Province with the Extremely Auspicious Ever Victorious Camera Accessory Company. The cardboard box that surrounds their product - a pretty well-made lighting set that's good value for money - is made of recycled water buffalo ears. Or the straw that John West rejected. Whatever, the thing spontaneously disintegrates in your hand as you try to get it onto the shelf. Biodegradability is a fine thing, but there is the matter of timing.

Please, manufacturers...a box that has a clear label as to contents, plus a barcode that works and a serial number if applicable. Enough room inside to repack the goods after demonstration or display, and simple wrapping - not a cardboard origami puzzle. Sturdy enough to travel, but accessible once it gets here. The sales assistants of the world will pray for you.