If you have a piece of gum or breath mint it's generally polite to offer one to who ever you're with.
With gum this is easy enough but mints are a different story....in Australia at least. Thanks to the standard mint container opening size it's difficult to tip one out without getting more than you bargained for. The other alternative is more awkward as it involves touching multiple mints leaving the question who takes the mint from the container? The person who will eat it? Or the person who has to eat the rest of the mints?
I hate the packaging for a number of other reasons:
- Mints tend to rattle around in the container making an annoying noise
- The dimensions just aren't convenient
- The metal container seems like it could be used for something else which makes you not want to throw it out.
On a recent trip to Japan I discovered a solution to this problem: Mintia. It's awesome slim line design slips effortlessly into your bag or pocket, with the tiny mint size meaning you can still carry 50 mints. The size of the mints vs. the size of the container, coupled with the fact it's made of plastic, means no annoying rattle. Best of all is the dispenser that offers you the solitary mint you need. They also have great names like "dry hard" and "wild and cool", with alternative flavours such as grape (warning grape is addictive - I ate a packet in a few hours), orange and calpis soda. There's even a wide variety of covers available for the more image conscious.
Some may call this anal, I call this appreciating good design. If you're not convinced just refer to the image below. On the left we have the beautiful slimline Mintia packet politely offering you a mint, on the right the ugly step sister eclipse. Enough said.
.JPG)
