Freee (for Free)

In 2008, online retailer Amazon introduced Frustration-Free Packaging to help combat customer “wrap rage.” In a letter posted on the company’s Web site, CEO Jeff Bezos explained:

“Wrap rage” describes the frustration we humans feel when trying to free a product from an nearly impenetrable package. Some products are hermetically sealed inside plastic clamshell cases, while others (especially toys) use plastic-coated steel-wire ties.”

The new packaging is designed to be opened without the use of box cutters, razor blades, or knives. Amazon’s initiative is also a green one, in that the company uses smaller, 100 percent recyclable cardboard boxes and less overall packing material. The bad news for consumers is that it’s only available for select Amazon products, and we’re still stuck with the same old, same old from most other retailers.

I’ve never heard of “search rage” being linked to library catalogs, but you can at least make yours frustration-free by finding and correcting typos like Freee. OhioLink contains 3 entries for this lowest-probability error, but one of them is for the chapter title “Evereeebodeee's freee,” and another appears to represent the Freee Art Collective.

(Box cutter, from Wikimedia Commons)

Deb Kulczak