the bane of my existence

[mejeep]

'ya know what gets my goat? Minor yet recurring annoyances such as

• leaky batteries. I scrub the corrosion out of something every week. Happily, alkaline batteries do not corrode the contacts and nearby metal as horribly as zinc-acid.
• items missing one of the rubber feet.
• items missing the remote control
• "value engineered" devices with no buttons, or

Comments

[mejeep]

re: Walmartification: it's a sad reality how manufacturers are FORCED to cheapen their products to meet Walmart's price-point. It's legalized extortion and exploitation :-( HP and other computer makers add a "-W" to the model number for the WalMart version. It LOOKS the same, but there's more plastic inside whereas the NON-W version is a little more rugged.

Long ago, MAD magazine poked fun at "Madison Avenue" for their ability repackage items to LOOK larger, particularly candy with the trays and spacers. The magic ingredient - AIR!

It's hard to shop for items because of the mis-match of package sizes.

1) For the longest time, yogurt containers were 8 ounce. Dannon led the way with 6 oz containers. The rest of the industry followed. Columbo yogurt was a holdout with 8 oz containers, but the "new owner" of the brand discontinued it, despite being the first yogurt marketed in the USA in the 60s

2) Tuna cans were probably 8 oz, and decreased 1/8 oz at a time. Then they all suddenly jumped down to 6, now 5 ounces. Recipes and "Tuna Helper" had to adjust to that.

3) USA regulations on SOME items help us, such as keeping milk at a full quart or gallon whereas Orange Juice is now typically 59 oz (down from 64 ounce / quart).