On Tue, 16 Sep 2014 15:48:18 +0100, Dave W
wrote:
On Tue, 16 Sep 2014 06:53:33 -0700 (PDT), mike
wrote:
This must surely have been mentioned here before but, since it's always
good for a laugh and some folks won't have seen it, here it is again.
Harbor Freight, for those who don't know, is a US company that's a cross
between Screwfix and a pound shop.
This was Mad magazine's take on HF's Innovations-style flyers.
http://www.kmstools.com/assets/pages...competitor.jpg
All terrific stuff. Pity none of it is available in the UK.
You don't go to the shops very often, do you? :-)
I see endless examples of this sort of **** in emporia ranging from
Pound Shops, Aldi. Lidl and Netto all the way up to B&Q, Wickes and
other large retail sheds.
The one that really demonstrates the futility of it all (overpriced
junk that _might_just_ come in useful one fine day if only it were
able to last that long (one day)), is the cheap LED torch designed to
burn up expensive AAA cells rather than run off a single D or C cell
at a fraction of the running cost.
I saw a Duracell LED torch priced at just one pound in the Home
Bargain shop the other day[1] whilst assisting the XYL with the
shopping. The fact that it only used a single cell (ergo, using a
proper electronic ballast) almost tempted me into purchasing it
(notwithstanding that the finish of the plastic moulded case wasn't
particularly inspiring) until I noted that the single cell (good idea)
was entirely marred by the choice of AAA cell size (extremely BAD
idea).
It's an obvious ploy to create more demand in this market segment in
order to shift AAA cells (it seems the demand for 6v lantern batteries
which contain some 30 or so (36?) of this size of cell isn't quite
large enough to consume their AAA cell production line output. I'd
like to think that Ever Ready are showing such concern for their AAA
cell production facilities workforces's future prospects but I rather
suspect they're merely maintaing a supply of 'problems' needed to make
the AAA cell a 'solution'.
In any case, I got myself 3 single AA cell aluminium bodied LED
torches in our local flea market a few years back for just a quid
each.
[1] I went through a similar process whilst looking over the latest
Aldi hand lantern they had priced at £9.99. Similar defficiency. I was
rather disappointed to see that it required 3 (or maybe 4) AA cells
when there was patently more than enough room for a single D cell, if
not a pair of D's. Quite clearly, yet another 'problem' for the AA
cell size of battery to 'solve'.
If the lamp had been designed to use D cells (just one or two)
instead of AA cells, I'd have seriously considered its purchase. It's
the choosing of AA power over D power that turns a nicely thought out
piece of kit into an unmitigated lump of ****. Sadly, this is all too
typical of most such gadgetry.
The most egregious example of 'penny pinching' is those disposable
lighter packs sold in pound shops where the ignitor mechanism has been
so seriously 'under-engineered' as to render them useless long before
they run out of gas or flint (the one shot consumables you'd _expect_
to be the limiting feature of their useful life). Harbour Freight
don't have a monopoly on selling "****e Products". We have our very
own purveyors of **** here in the UK.
--
J B Good