Is your package a candidate for the "oyster" award? According to Consumer Reports, this is not a good thing. The March issue of Reports lambastes the packaging industry for a variety of faults in product packaging. It even identifies which packages they consider to be among the worst. To its credit, the article does show examples of new and improved packaging of the so-called problem child packaging. Not surprisingly much of it revolves around the difficulty of opening and closing packages, especially clamshells. This is a notoriously thorny issue.

Consider these factors about your package to determine if it is an "Oyster award" candidate.