words Alexa Wang
Ah, wrap rage – the bane of our collective existence. You’ve undoubtedly experienced it at some point as a package-receiving adult. You know the feeling: you feel your blood pressure rise as you claw feebly at the impregnable plastic wrap, tape, or triple-wall-corrugated cardboard standing between you and what you ordered. Thankfully, certain tools exist to stop wrap rage in its tracks.
Box cutters, specifically of a higher quality, are perfect for opening packages quickly, easily, and safely. Let’s dive into how these tools create a stress-free package opening experience, and what to look for in an effective yet safe box cutter.
How Box Cutters Can Make Opening Packages Easier
No More Fighting With Layers of Tape
Do you ever feel like you’re going to battle with the layers of seemingly impenetrable tape on your Amazon delivery? Instead of clawing your way through it and sending your stress levels through the roof, reach for a box opening tool. If you have a high-quality box-cutting knife by your side, you’ll find it’s more than capable of putting that pesky tape to bed, whether it’s acrylic packing tape, masking tape, duct tape, or paper packing tape.
Cut Through Various Packaging Materials With Ease
Here’s something your dull butter knife can’t do: cut through various packaging materials with ease. What types of packaging materials, you ask? While corrugated cardboard is the most common type of packaging, others like triple-wall-corrugated cardboard, clamshell packaging, and other plastic materials are also well-used.
You might find other materials inside the box, such as plastic wrap, shrink wrap, cling film wrap, and poly plastic bags. Imagine trying to slice these materials with an unsharpened kitchen implement. Ouch! An effective box cutter will take care of all of the above.
Make It a Risk-Free Cutting Experience
Every cutting experience presents some kind of danger – even something as ostensibly harmless as opening a box. It’s essential to arm yourself with the right tool when tackling packages. A sturdy and safe-to-the-touch box-cutting knife will ensure your cutting experience is risk-free so you can get back to doing the important stuff.
Spend Less Time Cutting
Who wants to spend time struggling with a package? You have better things to do with your time. A high-quality box cutter will tackle a box in no time flat. You won’t need to stress over heavily fortified Amazon packages again.
What To Look For in a Box Cutter
Sturdy Yet Safe Blade
A quality box cutter blade can make all the difference between a hazard-free box opening and a hospital trip. While searching for your perfect cutter, consider investing in one with a zirconium oxide blade. It’s a hefty ceramic with a toughness that outlasts standard metal. It can easily cut through a wide variety of materials, too.
But that’s not all! Zirconium oxide is safe to touch, making it a double threat for its effectiveness and safety. Plus, it never rusts or dulls, so you’ll spend less time sharpening your blade. You’ll save more money because you won’t have to change blades as much.
Durable Yet Comfortable Handle
We’ve all been there – our utility knife or box cutter handle causes major hand cramps even when used for a short time. It sits awkwardly in our palms, rendering it unsafe. You want handle material that feels like a second skin. Enter glass-filled nylon. Glass-filled nylon is a durable material that can withstand the elements. It’s long-lasting, so you’ll get plenty of years of productive use out of it.
However, glass-filled nylon is also comfortable to hold. You’ll minimize your risk of developing repetitive strain injury (RSI) if opening packages is a significant aspect of your profession. Repetitive strain injury is caused by repetitive movement and overuse of parts of your body. This mainly affects hands, fingers, shoulders, forearms, wrists, and elbows. RSI impacts muscles, ligaments, tendons, and nerves.
While RSI eventually heals, it’ll undoubtedly throw a painful wrench in your professional and personal life. So, investing in a handle material like glass-filled nylon for your box cutter will make all the difference.
Ambidextrous Design
Lefties, you no longer have to suffer in silence. There are ambidextrous utility cutters on the market suited for left-handed folks. Sometimes, all that’s required is a mere switch of the blade orientation to allow for safe, easy, and breezy use. Using an ill-suited tool for you results in unwanted medical bills and painful injuries.
No-Tool Blade Change
Some box cutters don’t require extra tools to change blades. This minimizes your downtime and decreases your risk of injuries from adding another tool to the equation. Leave that additional implement in the toolbox. Work smarter, not harder!
