At almost any cafeteria, I am bound into run into three types of albeit not-so-eco-friendly, convenient on-the-go items: 1) plastic utensils, 2) straws, and 3) salt / pepper / sugar / ketchup / mustard / mayo / honey packets (which I’ll refer to condiment packets for the rest of this article). For the most part, these single serve packets are a great deal for customers. For instance, that Whole Foods hot foods corner has free ketchup single serves saves me the need to buy a new bottle of ketchup, or bring another full-sized bottle from home whenever I want a side of home fries.
That said, I hate opening these single serve packets because whenever I do, I almost inevitably end up with condiments on my fingers. If it’s granular (salt, pepper, sugar, etc.), I need to brush a few grains off my fingers; if it’s more liquid-y (ketchup, mustard, mayo, etc.) , I need to wipe whatever gets smeared onto my fingertips.
Consider the average single serve condiment packet in the above diagram. To use, one rips open the small tearing (often perforated). By doing so, however, the small amount of condiments stuck to the right corner often spill or leak out onto one’s hands.
While I can’t find any formal explanation behind the current design, I’m sure a lot of planning went into it. The small tear makes it convenient for anyone, even someone with grubby fingernails, to easily open the packet. Additionally, the corner position of the tear is strategic; if it were placed closer to the middle (like in the design above), the packet would be more evenly split, resulting in a greater amount of condiments stuck to the torn-off corner.
One proposed solution I have is to seal the packet differently. That is increase “the margin” of the bags (the part that is pressed sealed) Then, have a small opening “passage” so that we minimize the condiments stuck in the corners. While this design is a bit more complex because of the additional passage, and thus will cost more to manufacture, it will boost the user experience of these single serve packets.