Considering that a whopping 10 percent of consumers are left handed, why so few left-handed versions of products?
I know ordinarily 10 is a small percentage. but in the world of profit making where fractions of percents make a difference, 10 is a whopping figure.
I am looking for a mouse for my laptop and for the high-end mice I hear reviews that say things along the lines of “perfectly fits the hand” so I investigate the option to choose which hand it is ‘perfect’ for and find that there is no choice, they mean to say “perfectly fits the right hand”.
“perfectly fits the right hand” is a selling counter-point for 10 percent of the market. if it were possible to purchase the product with a choice of left or right handed version (using current methods, for example amazon) then that ten percent would be added to the market.
Heck, I’ve bought left-handed products, paid a higher price for them, and been glad to get them. I’m not left-handed myself, but I’m surrounded by lefties, and most of them appreciate a left-handed gift (though none of them like getting left-handed compliments).
My home computer mouse is a “one size fits all” kind. It doesn’t have the little indentation on the left button (made to fit the right index finger) that so many have. It’s adaptable to the right or left. I am a leftie and I buy stuff like left handed scissors. Actually the scissors can be adjusted for either the right or left hand. An interesting thing I’ve noted is how easy it is for me to use a vegetable peeler yet many of my right handed friends have a difficult time doing so. Is this some kind of lefty phenomenom?
A friend of ours was a food container designer at Pillsbury; he was one of the guys who invented the pop-n-fresh technology. They got it working, took some samples to their boss, handed him one and said, “just smack it against the edge of the table and it’ll pop open!”
Smack!
nothing happens.
Friend takes tube. Smack! pops open.
Huh. Let’s try another one. Here you go, boss.
Smack!
nothing happens.
Turns out both of the designers were lefties, and handedness mattered… they had to rework the entire package manufacturing process.
As a left-hander, I have to say there are damn few products where I actually have a preference. Scissors and spiral notebooks, yes. Computer mice (or computer keyboards, for that matter), no.
For that matter, not being a tailor, I don’t need an assortment of left-handed scissors. I don’t think there would be a full ten percent market for any given item.
Maybe that just means I’ve been co-opted into the right-handed world.
My dad bought me a left-handed desk calendar that gives typically lame figures, stats and info on a mostly daily basis (nearly a third of it is about baseball it seems.)
Today’s notes:
The notes for Dec. 31st are more entertaining:
I’m left-handed but I’ve always played instruments right-handed. My banjo, guitar, ukulele, and mandolin are all righties and I never understood why that way isn’t more advantageous for lefties. Most of the fingerwork is done by the left hand and the strumming or pickin’ is done by the less dexterious right hand.
No it wasn’t a joke. I was drunk (I am saying that a lot recently. but that’s another story altogether) and looking for mice on the internet when I read the phrase “perfectly fits the hand”
I went to www.dictionary.com and entered dexterous to try and get clues or a word for being left handed. it said did you mean ‘dextral’ so I entered that. it came up with
So I figured if ‘dextral’ is right, anti-dextral must be left. which made sense to my drunk self.
Being left-handed, I much prefer using the right hand for the mouse – it leaves my left hand free to take notes as I click through web pages with my other hand.
The main complaint I have is the shortage of left-handed desks in classrooms – my left arm always gets tired writing while hanging in air. I have gone so far as to arrive in class early and drag a desk from another classroom.
My ex (also left-handed) ran into problems in her pottery class, so she had me re-wire the (electrically powered) pottery wheel to be switchable to rotate in either direction.
I never complain, though, I figure it makes us left-handers more creative, flexible, and able to see things from more than one viewpoint.
I can’t use a mouse with my right hand. That is VERY awkward and clumsy. And I can’t seem to get my kids to remember to switch it back to the left when they’re done.
It took me years to become proficient with a vegetable peeler, but now I’m a pro. I think that just takes practice.
They have left-handed spiral notebooks??!! WHAT??!!
The thing that bothers me most about being a leftie- the way my computer desk has a outward curve on the right, but I have to stretch my arm all the way out (because there’s no left-sided curve) and it makes the whole upper half of my body hurt. I’ve pulled a chest muscle.
Yesterday I had a patient tell me I would be president. I don’t know what Bush is, but before him, 3 of the last 5 presidents were left-handed, including Clinton.
I don’t think they have left handed notebooks, per se. I think that some left handers just write on the opposite side of the page, so the spiral is on the right and out of the way.
I watched The War Room again the other night, and only then did i notice that Clinton was left-handed. And so is George Stephanopolous.
I’m a right-handed gal who always, but always uses a left-handed mouse.
Well, actually it’s a non-specific mouse. If I were you, I’d check out the Microsoft brand of optical mice, as that’s what mine is. They have a few that are curved for right-handers, but they also have some that have no strange right-hander curve or indented buttons, and these are what my (left-handed) husband and I use.
And the reason I love left-handed mice, btw, is 'cos it makes it easier for computer gaming where you use mouse and arrow buttons I never could get the hang of using letter keys for directional movement.
On a more practical level, it’s also a handy place to have your mouse so it doesn’t get in the way for data entry.
When I have to use someone else’s computer and the mouse is on the right hand side, the location of it really seems very intrusive and annoying.
I never could get the hang of using letter keys for directional movement.