Years ago in the 70s I worked construction…building homes, and I was on the roughing crew. We put up the frame, roof, siding and entrance doors.
When working on a two story frame, we’d always seem to end the day on the top floor/deck when it was time to pack up and go home for the day.
We would pick the new guy and send him to the ground and tell him we would drop all the tools and such down to him, instead of carrying it all down the ladders. We would lower the saws by the cords and then it was the 50 pound boxes of nails. We would hold a box over the side and warn him if the box was close to full, half full or almost empty. Then you would drop the box and he’d catch it. After about the third box , we’d pick a empty box and hold it over the edge…warning him “this ones almost a full box” while we made it look like a struggle to hold it over the edge. Every one of them would hit themselves in the face with that empty box.
We had some real greenhorns at times.
Once, this young fellow started and we were building a home on a hill where you could see across the corn fields to the local lumberyard about a half mile away. On about the third day we were on the second floor deck putting up exterior walls when we heard the foreman tell the new guy “Run down to the lumber yard, we’re short on 5/8 inch plywood…get 4 sheets”. We went back to our work and about three minutes later I happened to glance up and the kid was literally running through the 2 foot high corn field…heading to the lumberyard. He didn’t come back for an hour, because he was waiting for a truck to go his way???
Since printer ink cartridges and razor blades have been addressed in this discussion I will consider them fair game. Just to be sure I will include something automotive related. A few years ago I downloaded a dozen automobile racing posters from the 1930s. I printed them on cardstock using quite a bit of printer ink. The sliding type paper cutter I used to trim them to 5X7 and 8X10 for framing had a razor sharp blade.
Years ago I had a HP desk-jet printer in my shop at work. Our computers were replaced and came with a newer model printer. When the “sample” cartridges soon ran out of ink I had new cartridges for the old printer in my desk. They looked identical to the new ones but had different stock numbers and would not fully seat in the new printer. On closer inspection I discovered the old cartridges had a small rectangular bump and the new cartridges did not. My Dremel tool made short work of the bumps and the old cartridges worked perfectly. Profit generation through intentional sabotage. Done by the manufacturer. GRRRRRRRRRR!
I use Gillette Mach 3 razor cartridges. They have quadrupled in price over the last 10 years! Why! When they had merely doubled in price the manufacturers excuse was that steel prices had increased in Sweden although it was never stated that they used Swedish steel. Hmmm… Blades in the Mach 3 cartridge are 1 1/2 in long by 1/16 inch wide times 3. That is not much steel. The manufacturing cost of the cartridge are mainly: Raw materials, buildings/real estate, machinery, utilities, packaging, labor. shipping, marketing, and taxes. Raw materials consisting of tiny amounts of steel and plastic per cartridge would have to be a fraction of 1% of total production cost. At the time my research led to the more expensive steel BS none of these manufacturing costs had significantly increased much less doubled. I have seen the price of a 5 cartridge pack go from $4 to $8 to $12 to the current $16! GRRRRRRRRRR!
Thank’s @insightful, and a happy birthday to you too.
I’m heading off to Arizona for a week tomorrow to enjoy the warmth.
My buddy finally got his shop built and we’ll be wiring the place including the lift, compressor, lights and outlets. Running his air lines, and water. Then moving all his tools and the like from storage. Then build a “run in Shelter” for the horses.
Should be a busy week for work, but I know him…he just wants me because I don’t have a problem with being on ladders. It will be nice to see him…it’s been 6 months.
He’s a pilot too and I hope he takes me flying. I’d love to see the landscape.
At least it won’t be COLD Wisconsin.
Gillette is or was a Minnesota company. Their marketing strategy was to give the razors away and make their money on the blades. Not unlike printers. The ink pays for the give away prices on the printers. That’s actually the strategy on a lot of products. Maybe power companies should give Teslas away. I’ve never used blades but electric myself or Bic throw aways.
Bing I only use about 1 blade per month so the cost is not breaking the bank. I don’t mind paying a fair price for any product or service. I do have a problem with being lied to and cheated. I have a Remington electric shaver but don’t use it very often. I bought it a couple of years ago and it was about the same price as 20 years back. I guess Remington has yet to discover corporate greed.
Dont imagine the Teslas would use enough electricity to really be comparable to the ink razor blade ripoff,they will have to do something to them to make them garage queens like most modern vehicles,would I miss oil changes,clutches,gearbox maintenence,emissions equipment replacement,exhaust pipes ,racket,etc?In a word no.,Now how about the airless tyres(which are getting closer)after fooling with a balky Briggs &Stratton powered riding mower during cold weather,I’m now wishing for an electric riding mower(the cost however initially is about triple)so I guess I’m stuck in the same quandary as when I buy a new vehicle the new models have perfectly adequate features,but the vehicle I want is 10,000$ more-so I buy the cheap one and regret it everytime I get on the road,so planned obselescence will always tend to keep some of us poor and the others wanting a little more for our dollar