Has anyone else noticed Zip-locks have changed?
Has anyone else noticed Zip-locks have changed?
I've noticed that every product I've bought in the past year with a zip-lock seal is destroyed with common use. I actually think the zip-lock itself has gotten stronger. The bag rips before the seal opens on half the bags now and whenever I try to opens bags I had no issues with before, I find myself stretching/warping the plastic before the seal eventually opens.
It's pretty frustrating and I am seeing it across many products. Cheese bags, storage bags, snacks etc...
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I don't think the zip-lock got stronger, I think the bags got thinner and weaker. But either way, they do tear more than they used to.
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Which... might be ok, if the object is to reduce plastic consumption and pollution.
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It's not. It's to make more money. Everything will continue to get slightly worse - year after year - for as long as this current economic ideology continues.
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The point is… before you could reuse the bags MUCH more often, now I’m blowing out gallon ziplocks after 2-3 deli bought and home diced vegetables uses. The zipper is stronger like OP says, but the sides are tearing more easily.
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Then get rid of the non-functional ziplock part altogether. That'd save way more plastic.
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Otherwise known as shrinkflation. Selling a product for the same (or higher) price, but adding less of the product. By cutting small, barely noticeable portions out a little at a time, the company saves money in materials, but continues charging the same price. Basically, min-maxing profits.
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shrinkflation
nah it's just corporate greed. Calling this 'shrinkflation' gives these greedy price gougers some form of excuse by linking it to inflation even though they're doing this to us simply because they can.
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There is actually a trick to open them. Just slide the two halfs of the zip along each other and (between your fingers) the ends will pop open. This is a trick I use in my retail job almost every day.
Hope I explained that well enough.
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"Retail" ;)
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When you think you finished your sandwich, cut the corner off the bag to find even more breadcrumbs.
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That works a couple times, but then the side seams of the zipper part will start to tear.
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Does it work on commercial products with ziplock ? That always tears for me
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It works pretty well. You're applying opposite sideways forces to the zipper itself rather than pulling on the plastic film of the bag.
Edit: if you want to be sure you don't blow out the corner of the bag, pinch it with your other hand before sliding your thumb towards it
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The greatest lie ever told is "pull here to open".
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I would say that is high in the list but "pull my finger" is worse. It's a lie by omission because they don't tell you what is going to happen next.
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I sometimes get fresh tortillas from the grocery store bakery, and the bags they use are the absolute worst. The zip-locks are fine, but the plastic the bag is made of is so thin that it can't withstand the pressure needed to open the zipper, inevitably tearing the bag open and defeating the entire purpose of the zip-lock.
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Put your thumbnail in between the middle of the ziplock and pry it open from the middle.
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I've noticed this on zip top food packaging; it's as if the zipper is a separate piece of plastic that is very weakly glued to the bag itself and it doesn't extend to the outer lips where you pull it open, so you end up separating one side of the bag from the zipper.
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Yeah I keep buying bags of cheese where the zip just rips off the bag when I pull the zip open. Really annoying.
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I tried to open a zip locked bag of trail mix and degloved my hand
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Ziploc, the OG name brand, seems about the same as ever. The trouble is in thousands of knockoffs for niche uses. They haven't benefited from decades of tweaking the design to be strong enough, but not too strong, and easy to get back together.
Legal weed bags are the worst.
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The weed bags are the worst. And it's usually because the zipper is so damn strong, the bag breaks instead of opening.
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I disagree. The problem described by OP is one that I have with Ziplok brand primarily.
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On the bright side, think about all the plastic pollution that happens because the government won't let me take my own glass jar to the weed store!
Wait that sucks actually
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What state are you in?
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I only notice this with weed baggies from legal weed. Not only is it not an official Zip-Lock™ system, they're made specifically to be hard to open as a child safety feature. But it's too good at that, being difficult for an adult to open too.
Most others are so weak, they never actually snap shut properly or they're just incredibly thin and tear right off the bag when you try to open it.
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- Pull down the packaging to expose the seal.
- If there's a little 'extra' plastic bit attached to the ziplock, pull this and the other side. Using your thumbnail to loosen the seal while doing this can help.
- Take a big whiff from the bag, then put your weed in a mason jar with a moisture pak like a decent human being.
- Save the bag and bring it back to the dispo if they take empty packaging. It's probably still going into a landfill, but at least you can say you tried.
Alternatively, grab a knife or some scissors and skip to step 3.
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Oh I know how they're supposed to open, but yeah I usually just take scissors to them because I have my own jar and a huge box of those O2 packet things someone gave me.
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I almost ripped a nail off trying to open my edibles a few weeks back. I now put them in a few childproof jars from other edibles that I've saved.
On a side note: those bags aren't childproof, as any kid with a pair of safety scissors is going to make quick work of them.
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Maybe they should, like, not make them look like candy bags. Thanks, capitalism, for ruining weed before it's 100% legal.
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I switched to the store brand. Ziplock name brand bags got too hard to open.
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Yeah this is just noticeable because most products weren't even resealable, they just expected you to seal em yourself with a clip, twist em, put em in a container, etc.
Now they are adding cheap resealable zips to the bag, which is nice in theory but the bag material has to be strong enough to support it.
Actual ziplock baggies themselves are made of thick plastic that can take a bit of abuse.
But cheap paper plastic hybrid materials a chip bag us made of can't handle that sort of load, so it becomes the fail point.
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You r still in tha matrix neo
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I've noticed a lot of Zip-Lock bags i use at home tear at the seams sometimes, and the resealable bags from store bought food generally just sucks. Some bags of cheese or "deli meat" bags have a hard time resealing properly, and i find i have to keep opening and resealing before i feel every part of it snap together.
But honestly it all just generates more trash to toss out.
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It's part of inflation - in this case the cost may stay the same (or even go up a bit) but you receive a cheaper product in return for that similar cost than the past.
The important thing is that people will continue to purchase the product regardless, not knowing any better, and thus the manufacturer pockets the profits. Always remember that the goal of any corporation is to produce short-term value for its shareholders, and... no, that's it, period.
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I rage nearly every day when a bag either rips beside the seal, or has such garbage perforations that you have to use scissors on it regardless of their presence.
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I exclusively use Hefty brand (because they have the best zippers) freezer bags (because the bags are stronger). I'd suggest trying those.
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I buy thick reusable and washable ziploc-like bags like these instead.
I still have a couple of disposable ones in case I need to give it to someone and don't expect to get it back.
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Are you using the name brand bags? Ziploc is one of the few products where buying the actual name brand makes a big difference.
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Yes. I have a mix of those and the target / smart & final bags. The issue is appearing in all of them, and also in random foods that use that style of seal as well.
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The stretchy blue ones they make now are awesome. Unfortunately awesome, I buy them sometimes now after years of avoiding them and just reusing whatever bags. The ones that cheese slices come in do seem to have ziplock that is too strong/tight for the bag, I agree. Whether it's a function of the zipper changing or bags using less plastic, I don't know.