What's New

In Minnesota it is finally spring, or what we call spring, 2 sunny days in a row without snow, sleet, freezing rain, or temps freezing at night. So in preparation to go to the fishing opener my son wanted a new fishing reel. He is young and still learning, so we picked up a Zebco. Fishing opener is a big deal in Minnesota for retailers, resorts, bait shops, and gas stations.

Well, that is where it went downhill for me. It came in one of those bombproof clamshell packs. I get they work for retail display but, wow are those hard to open! I did manage to get it open with only some minor injuries. This could have been avoided if they would have put it in a small box.

When I was a kid there was no clamshell packaging that I knew of. I bought every reel in a box. I saved every box as a kid. (Yes I was that kid)  The cool thing now is I have all the receipts of where I bought everything and the original packaging. No one is ever going to save a clamshell package, they just spent 20 minutes slicing and dicing to get into it.

With the retail model changing, I think boxed goods are going to become an item again. For one they are way easier to get into. Two you actually can pack them in a box and be efficient. They are easier to face and make the shelves look full. I know my retailers at some point in the year look terrible only having 1 reel on a peg. If you have a box no one can see how empty it really is.

So next time you are at your favorite sporting goods retailer check out those Zebco fishing reel packages and let me know how to open one without 100 cuts.