Security tags are gay

The above picture makes it look painless, right? Wrong...

Last night, I had the all too familiar frustration of buying a brand new DVD only to get it home, and go through the painful ritual of taking off all the fucking security stickers and other stickers from the packaging, damaging the packaging in the process. So I thought it was high time I posted my thoughts about the issue.

With some DVD's, "SECURITY DEVICE ENCLOSED" labels are stuck along the three edges of the case to ensure that we not only know that there is, indeed, a security device enclosed, but that we'll have to fuck around for 5 minutes before we can break in to the case and see it.

Security tags are USELESS!!!!!!!! They probably encourage more kids to steal than deter them. RF-tag or no, the labels themselves are security devices because they inhibit would-be five-fingered fraudsters from easily opening cases in the store and making with the discs, WITHOUT the case. I've seen kids walk through the security doors just to piss off the employees for a laugh. On many occasions, I've seen many people go through the door, the security alarm goes off, and none of the employees even bat an eye. They don't care because they're only making $6.50 and hour and it's not worth the effort to hassle a petty thief. On one other occasion in Japan, I saw a guy go through the door at Tower Records with 5 or 6 CD's that were still in the hard plastic bounding, obviously he hadn't bought them and he wasn't even trying to hide the fact that he was ripping the store off. As he went through the door and the alarm went off, I think maybe one girl looked over from the counter, shrugged her shoulders at another employee beside her, and that was it. Just like that!

Maybe some people don't care, but I'm a designer, so to me, the packaging is just as important as the contents, so I like it to look good. I don't know how many CD's or DVD's I've bought in the past that the same thing happened. The standard jewel cases for CD's are usually no hassle, just peel it off, the worst thing that can happen is that you have sticky residue all over your jewel case that you easily remove with some rubbing alcohol. Same with standard DVD cases.

Recently, however, many designers are choosing not to use standard jewel case designs, opting for slicker packaging which is usually paper, not plastic packaging with a label insert. Even the small black security tags they've been using on such packaging usually can't be removed without damaging the package somehow, especially if it's been stuck on for a long time.

I only hope that someone (maybe I should invent something myself) will come up with a better idea that doesn't use any adhesive materials, because it really BURNS MY ASS to have my time wasted plus have my packaging ripped.