If a product is marketed to people with arthritis, shouldn’t it be easily openable by people who have arthritis? Not that every arthritic person has pain in their hands, of course, but many do. Rich was surprised when a foot cream meant as a gift for his arthritic mother arrived with a childproof cap.

Recently my wife and I ordered two tubes of AVON Healthy Arthritis foot cream as part of a gift for my mother, who suffers from the ailment. The picture on the website shows a tube with what looks like a standard flip-top cap.

Imagine our surprise when they arrived and were sealed with press-and-turn CHILDPROOF CAPS — not the kind of thing which any self-respecting arthritis sufferer would want standing between them and foot relief. The active ingredient in this is Oil of Wintergreen, which is certainly not a controlled or dangerous substance (other products containing the same thing, like Ben-Gay, have standard caps). My email to AVON netted me with an interestingly-worded response, in part:

“It might be disappointing for you when your expectation regarding the Foot Works Healthy Arthritis Achy Foot and Muscle Cream packaging was not met. However, please know we’ve let the Marketing team know about your complaint. They’re always very eager for feedback from Customers and Representatives. Be assured they’ll keep your comments in mind when making future decisions.”

That’s it. No apology, no offer to replace with different caps, no clue of what they were thinking.

I dunno. Am I expecting too much from them? Am I wrong in thinking that something marketed to help a joint ailment should be easy to open?

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