Review on 500-Pack 1" X 1" Clear Plastic Jewelry Zip Bags - 2 Mil Thick, RECLOSABLE Strong & Durable Poly Baggies With Resealable Lock For Travel, Storage, Packaging & Shipping by Gregory Plump

I see, and tend to understand, the negative comments regarding the initially apparent difficulty in opening these bags. If done correctly, however, these bags and even those half the size of these . yes, bags 1/2" wide . are no problem at all to open, and these, at 1" x 1" are a breeze to open with NO DAMAGE, STRETCHING, OR DISTORTION AT ALL to the bags in 99+% of the opening process. It's actually harder to explain than do. Simply hold the bag upright between your thumb and index finger with the bag somewhat centered on your finger and thumb and essentially repeat the motion that you would use to snap your fingers across the outside of the zip seal line (except of course here you are using the thumb and index finger as opposed to the pads of your thumb and middle finger used to snap your fingers). Keep in mind that you may need to experiment a bit to get the best results with your particular process, you know, as in exactly where you position the bag to set it up for the opening process, how hard to hold and "snap" your fingers, etc. I personally see the most important positioning issue to be precisely where to position the actual zip seal line with regard to the pads of your finger and thumb (for me its 90 degrees to my fingers with the zip seal crossing the center of the pads of my finger and thumb). Also, I personally use my thumb and middle finger, especially with the very tiny 1/2" x 1/2" bags . which have a separable zip seal width of MAYBE 3/8" at most due to the manufacturing process and the up/down zip seal alignment heat stamping process. and I can easily "snap" open with no damage or distortion whatsoever 1/2" wide bags as fast as I can bags 4" to 5" wide. and often faster depending on the particular bags since these ARE opened by grabbing the bag edges and pulling the bag's zip seal open, and it's often difficult to grab and separate the bag's opposing zip seal "lips" to do that pulling to open.Depending on your dexterity, finger size, bag size, etc, it may be easier on you to wet your fingers and/or the bags with water, or even vinegar if you are having undue trouble opening them for whatever reason or difficulty for the particular bags at hand. This isn't something difficult at all, and it's not like you"ll have to "practice", especially on these 1" wide bags. The 1/2" width bags may require a bit more attention to detail but are still very easy to do in very short order if you handle it right.Either way, within less than 4 to 5 minutes of "practice", including reading this, you should be opening these things with relative ease.within 4 to 5 more minutes of doing it, you'll be opening these things very quickly, and more importantly, with zero damage, stress, stretching, tears, etc to these little bags. The most important thing to remember here is that you will need to shear the zip seal open, and NOT pull it open!Another method that is useful is to use something like the rear end of a spoon or such, insert it into the top of the bag slit to the point where you touch the zip seal, then slightly twist the handle while you also mimic the shearing description above, altered accordingly to accommodate the insertion and manipulation of the spoon handle or similar implement. I add with minimal description the second method to try if you for whatever reason are unable to easily carry out the first description.Again, I use my middle finger and thumb, and I can open these things as fast as I can "load" them between my finger and thumb and snap my fingers. I use the tiny 1/2" wide bags for tiny seeds, and I simply shear open the number I will need before I do anything else, and I'll open 50 in literally maybe 2 minutes, then pick up each one for filling, then slightly "pinch" the edges of the bag at the zip seal line enough to part the bag's "lips" for filling. YET AGAIN, the main thing to remember here is to SHEAR the zip seals open, and NOT PULL the zip seals open. Its easiest for jobs that require opening numerous bag to shear the zip seals open on however many bags you'll need to use then stack them for the next step, and not to open them one by one as you are about to fill them, especially if you are filling a large number of bags and/or if you find that you need to wet your fingers with water, or even vinegar if you are having an exceptional amount of trouble opening the bags for whatever reason.SHEAR OPEN, DO NOT PULL OPEN, and experiment a bit with your method if you are having trouble, and within less than ten minutes, reading this and fiddling around included, you'll be cranking out even the tiniest of zip seal bags open with no damage or even the slightest of stretching or distortion of the opened bags.