Is it yours if you never open it?
Yes. I have the receipt and I have the right to deny the manufacturer possession if they want it back.
Is a tin of beans yours if you never taste it?
I don't think tasting something qualifies as a reasonable means of proving ownership of a product. If I taste your computer does that make it mine now that I know what it tastes like?
Janice Lester was a woman trapped in a man's body, albeit by her own choice, I would say if you don't count her, you do a disservice to transsexuals throughout the world.
She was no transsexual. She didn't transfer her essence because she believed she was a man, she did it because being a man was the only way to become Captain of a starship. Also, shouldn't you be more worried about what that episode said about women in general?
Janice: Your world of starship captains doesn't admit women.
Janice (In Kirk's Body): Now you know the indignity of being a woman. For you this agony will soon pass, as it has for me. Quiet. Quiet! Believe me, it's better to be dead than to live alone in the body of a woman. It's better to be dead.
If it wasn't for the original single disc release containing the unaired pilot "The Cage", I would have gladly left that disc in it's wrapper.
I open everything, and put it on display so I can ENJOY it for years to come. Because we all are going to die one day.
I already have a retirement plan and it doesn't include selling a bunch of mint in box collectibles that would not cover even a tiny portion of retirement anyways.
Nor do I care at all about the next collector who would get my stuff upon my death or selling it.
Now if you buy two, and flip one later to cover costs, that can be smart. I get that, and I know it helps keep some people able to keep collecting.
Storage space is another major issue obviously if you keep everything in huge packaging.
There are far better ways to invest money if your after profits in the future too.
If we're all going to die one day, what's the difference as long as the person who owns it gets what they want out of it? Packaging is an art form in and of itself, and sometimes the product never feels complete without it. Heck, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment shipped their ALIEN Anthology BluRay "Egg" set in a box that had an opening underneath of it so you can access the discs without taking the egg out of the box! You get best of both worlds with that kind of strategy.
The value of something should be measured in what the individual wants out of it. That can be from opening the package and playing around with it's contents, displaying it, modifying it, burning it or just leaving it in it's box. There is no real way to 'collect' because it's all based around personal value. A person can die happily knowing they still had something they wanted in it's box just as happily as another person who died knowing that they were opened and played with theirs.