Dear Mattel,
As a lifelong fan of your products, I write this with frustration, but no intention of discontinuing my time as a customer.
I recently purchased your "Couture Angel Barbie Doll" and am quite frustrated. Although the doll is absolutely gorgeous, I spent almost 1 hour trying to remove her from the packing, and remove all the packaging from her. I have been a lover of Barbie dolls all my life and have spent a considerable portion of my life trying to get Barbie dolls out of their boxes. I have even spent time trying to get Barbies out of their boxes for a young cousin. The packaging problem is different depending on the type of Barbie. In the case of collector Barbies, when packaging these beauties, please keep in mind that if we, as collectors, actually remove these dolls from the boxes, we want to do as little damage as possible. This is quite difficult when delicate, feathered wings are strapped in with plastic t-bar ties the size of pinheads. Words are insufficient to try to explain removing t-bar ties so small you can't see them, trying to get slightly bigger ties of the same type out of a doll head, unstitching a dress, and unstrapping arms and legs all without damaging perfectly styled hair and a very well puffed dress. And that's just collector dolls. There's a whole 'nother category for trying to get a thoroughly overpackaged doll out of it's box while there's a three-year-old hanging on your leg. Ripping the stitching out of doll hair takes long enough already, and to a young kid that's even longer.
I am aware that the reason you package Barbies like this is the horrible shoplifting problem in the country, but it seem like there must be a better way.
Sincerely,
Peetey Graves
A Very Annoyed Customer
