The amount of force required to open containers feels like it varies based on type of food contained within while seeming relatively consistent within food categories (jam jar lids are, generally, harder to open than peanut butter jar lids; peanut butter jar lids seem harder to open than that of animal cracker jars).
Are there any sanitary benefits toward a tighter seal that constrain certain food categories and not others in this way? Or is it just something along the lines of genre convention: ‘Well, jam jars have historically felt this way, and we don’t want to rock the boat’? Is it a cost-savings thing (‘If we add a notch or a tab on a lid for the user to latch onto for leverage, it’ll cost more because [new injection mold, materials cost, shipping cost]’)?
Is there a UX design book for food containers? It feels like such a foundational part of society, but I’ve never really thought much about it at all.
Peanut butter goes bad more easily than animal crackers, so it has to be vacuum sealed which makes it harder to open. Jam is produced hot so it can’t be poured straight from the machine into plastic containers, and the heat-resistant combo of glass jars with metal lids is harder to open.
Is that true? Peanut butter (natural, not even the highly processed stuff) stays good for many months after opening without refrigeration, in a jar or even in clamshell-type packaging when you buy it freshly ground in store.
The amount of force required to open containers feels like it varies based on type of food contained within while seeming relatively consistent within food categories (jam jar lids are, generally, harder to open than peanut butter jar lids; peanut butter jar lids seem harder to open than that of animal cracker jars).
Are there any sanitary benefits toward a tighter seal that constrain certain food categories and not others in this way? Or is it just something along the lines of genre convention: ‘Well, jam jars have historically felt this way, and we don’t want to rock the boat’? Is it a cost-savings thing (‘If we add a notch or a tab on a lid for the user to latch onto for leverage, it’ll cost more because [new injection mold, materials cost, shipping cost]’)?
Is there a UX design book for food containers? It feels like such a foundational part of society, but I’ve never really thought much about it at all.
Peanut butter goes bad more easily than animal crackers, so it has to be vacuum sealed which makes it harder to open. Jam is produced hot so it can’t be poured straight from the machine into plastic containers, and the heat-resistant combo of glass jars with metal lids is harder to open.
Is that true? Peanut butter (natural, not even the highly processed stuff) stays good for many months after opening without refrigeration, in a jar or even in clamshell-type packaging when you buy it freshly ground in store.
I suspect things also have to be tightly closed to prevent theft in shops… the kind where the thief would take a bit and then close the jar again.
When the jam cools it makes it’s own vacuum seal.