The scope of a localized package variable variable is not really the same as a lexical, and the existence of that variable is persistent in a way that a lexical is not, even if the value becomes undefined. That's not really the point though. The point is that this is a bad solution. Changing the code so that subs are called with the variables they need (providing isolation they don't have when used with globals) is a good solution. Bad "quick fix" solutions should not be encouraged. Think of the poor guy who comes across this code next and how his eyes will bug out at the "local our" junk.