Jeff Wisnia wrote:

[snip]
I took one down to my workshop and measured its current draw with
the lamp off. It was a bit over 9 watts. It appears that the
ballast is powered up continuously and there's a couple of control
lines which get diddled by the switch on the lamp's column to make
the bulbs turn on.
[snip]
Am I missing a reason why those lamps were designed that way other
than it may have enabled the manufacturer to save a few pennies on
each one?

The 9 watts may have been keeping the filaments hot so they'd start
instantly. Were the "ends" of the lamps warm?

--
Ray Heindl
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