Basmati Rice BAG - Packaging Fail

We.  Love.  Rice.

We eat a boatload of it.  People who swear off rice as part of their diet always amaze me.  When they talk about cutting out rice, in my head I am thinking, "But whyyyy?  And HOW???".  Let's just say, if you and I were on the same team in Survivor, you would have to guard the rice pile...

And we think Trader Joe's Basmati Rice is a great deal and tastes awesome.  Why, in the original review of it we gave it an almost perfect score - it got a 4.5 ( link to review here ).

A bowl of rice, one of life's simple pleasures.

But when we ate it last night we were once again reminded of the goofy, incomprehensible PACKAGING of this stuff.  Check it out:

When full, it was very dangerous to open and handle this bag!  This photo is taken after some has been used.
See how the opening is like a third of the way down the bag?  WHY???

WHO DOES THAT?  Who puts the opening to a RICE BAG, remember, rice is made up of teeny tiny bits that like to jump around - who puts the opening part-way down the package??  Trader Joe's, that's who!  Yes, instead of opening at the TOP, their Basmati opens part-way down the front.  It is downright bizarre.

Poor David, working hard to try and pour rice out of this ridiculous bag without spilling any.

So, Trader Joe's, what say you?  Certainly we cannot be the only shoppers who are confounded by this!  Readers, have you noticed this oddity?  Let's speak up!  Let's make signs!  Let's have a protest!!  Let's make a petition!!!  (Can you tell the current political climate has gotten me worked up?)  Seriously though, I just want to understand the reasoning behind this odd packaging choice.

The product still ranks a 4.5 rating, but the bag gets a 1.