On Monday, August 5, 2019 at 1:16:43 PM UTC-4, Sam E wrote:
On 8/5/19 8:08 AM, Bill Gill wrote:

[snip]

You're saying the case is wired to the neutral?Â* That seems very
dangerous
because with a two prong plug if you plug it in backwards, now the
case is hot without any fault in the toaster.

You'll have to work at plugging a 2 prong plug in backward.
The prongs are 2 different widths, so the plug will only
go in one way.

Bill

I've used a bolt cutter to edit a few plugs (not a good idea to do this
with a toaster), just with a few things that have polarized plugs for no
good reason.

--
"Is reading in the bathroom considered as multi-tasking?"

To answer the actual question asked, I'd say that toasters don't have
grounded plugs because historically before grounded receptacles went
into effect, they did not
and today manufacturers figure that they'd cut their sales by selling
ones that did. There are still plenty of homes with two prong receptacles,
even if it's only 5%, you;d cut your market. And new homes have GFCI
so it's not an issue there. Caught in between are the kitchens with
grounds that go unused, but no GFCI.