# Stupidest product design you’ve experienced **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 25, 2023, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621 "2023-03-25T02:57:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 104
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2026, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/2061 "2026-05-16T21:15:31Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Most of the problematic installations are at airports where there’s simply no room to put in longer tables. Which is no help if that describes your home airport. > > … In their defence I assume most of these terminals were planned for pre-9/11 security. > [@LSLGuy](#): > > … > > Professionally speaking … > While you’re standing in line, there is nothing preventing you from removing everything from your pockets and putting them all into your purse, or an exterior pocket of one of your bags. Such that as you approach the actual screening machines and the too-short table, you merely need to heave your bags up there, doff jacket, belt, and shoes as applicable, and move on through. > > … Only, in my case, I also need to open my bag, unpack laptop sleeve, extract laptop from sleeve and put into bin, unpack iPad sleeve, extract iPad from sleeve and put into bin, extract power bank case, extract power bank and put into bin. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2026, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/2062 "2026-05-17T14:09:34Z")
> [@Mops](#): > > Curiously the station _after_ security screening, where you get the bins back and pack/pocket/don the separate items again, not always but often is of appropriate size so you do not have operate frantically. If you every fly out of Milwaukee, they have an area for doing that: [![](https://www.jsonline.com/gcdn/authoring/authoring-images/2025/04/16/PMJS/83119927007-mjs-tdaytravel-travel-desisti-00429.JPG?crop=1948,2599,x1168,y0) ](https://www.jsonline.com/gcdn/authoring/authoring-images/2025/04/16/PMJS/83119927007-mjs-tdaytravel-travel-desisti-00429.JPG?crop=1948,2599,x1168,y0) ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2026, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/2063 "2026-05-17T15:09:06Z")
Many airports have benches just past the security checkpoint which are convenient for putting your shoes back on and putting stuff back in your pockets. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2026, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/2064 "2026-05-17T15:24:39Z")
> [@Mops](#): > > Are there any airports where this put-things-into-bins station is long enough? Tbh I’ve never been at an airport where this _wasn’t_ the setup. This is EWR: [![](https://townsquare.media/site/385/files/2016/11/Automated-Screening-Lanes-B-11-22-16.jpg?w=780&q=75) ](https://townsquare.media/site/385/files/2016/11/Automated-Screening-Lanes-B-11-22-16.jpg?w=780&q=75) ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2026, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/2065 "2026-05-17T15:31:41Z")
At such stations, there is a TSA agent behind the conveyor who instructs you when to push your bin forward. I think they are trying to time things so your bin goes forward at about the time you will get through the screening process. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2026, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/2066 "2026-05-17T15:43:49Z")
Yes. They don’t want your bags into the bag scanner much before you get through the people-scanner. Otherwise there’s an overflow of bags at the output end when anyone needs extra people-scanning. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2026, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/2067 "2026-05-17T15:49:26Z")
BTW, [this is the scanner](https://www.analogic.com/imaging-and-detection/checkpoint/) I frequently see at airport checkpoints. What amazes me is that so many bins disappear into that scanner before emerging on the far side, much more than the machine seems capable of holding. I almost wonder if the machine is sending them downstairs and back up. ---
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2026, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/2068 "2026-05-17T19:57:33Z")
I feel your pain–working for the military, I had at least one site that had an 18-digit password! (I’m not kidding) which also had to be changed every 90 days, no repeats or lookalikes, and I had 18 different sites. I had to keep a book with all of them, along with dates so I could keep up ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2026, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/2069 "2026-05-18T00:29:57Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Many airports have benches just past the security checkpoint which are convenient for putting your shoes back on and putting stuff back in your pockets. That “recombobulation area” text at the top isn’t a caption, it’s an actual sign in the airport. That’s all I was going for. The airport put that up years ago as a joke. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2026, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/2070 "2026-05-18T22:01:46Z")
I just spent 3 nights in the hospital. There was a remote that handled calling the nurse, turning several of the lights on and off, and the TV. It also had a numeric keypad (for what? Entering nuclear codes?). What it did NOT have was any controls for raising or lowering the bed. Those were on the rails. Above the level of my shoulders i.e. unreachable without doing some twisting that I was explicitly NOT supposed to do. Lose the fucking numeric keys and put 3 buttons to raise / lower the head and foot, as I’ve seen elsewhere. Oh, and my feet were jammed quite painfully against the footboard on the second night where they had not been the first night. It wasn’t until early morning where a nurse figured out how to move the footboard. There is a "long " button where the patient cannot see or access it, and evidently the housekeeping staff is trained to put that back into default position, because I had the same issue the third night and it was my husband who figured that out. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2026, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/2071 "2026-05-18T23:18:49Z")
> [@fedman1](#): > > I had at least one site that had an 18-digit password! (I’m not kidding) which also had to be changed every 90 days, no repeats or lookalike Argh… If they’re able to enforce a no-lookalikes policy, then those aren’t passwords. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2026, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/2072 "2026-05-19T03:52:33Z")
> [@fedman1](#): > > I feel your pain–working for the military, I had at least one site that had an 18-digit password! (I’m not kidding) which also had to be changed every 90 days Holy cow. When I was in the navy we had [cypher locks](https://www.nokey.com/sargreencypc.html) to get into the secure spaces, four digits on five rocker keys to get all ten available. One location I had to memorize six of them that changed every month. Two things made it easier, - Three changed on the 1st and three on the 15th - After a day or two the combo was in muscle memory, to the point where if someone asked what the combo was I’d have to mime pushing the keys to tell them. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2026, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/2073 "2026-05-19T10:03:24Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Argh… If they’re able to enforce a no-lookalikes policy, then those aren’t passwords. Having some experience in cryptography, I share your sentiment. There should be no way for the system to interpret “scudsucker” and “scudsucker2” as similar. I can accept they compare the hash of your previous password to ensure you are not just reusing the same password, but those two are fundamentally different in cryptographical calculations. I mean, using a random string, we get an MD5 encoding of cd384fcf9378a444eb541fd1d96cfb18 Adding a “2” to the end, we get 5715b80d7fb8f865dfd802dc6a58e316 And MD5 is hardly the best encryption available. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2026, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/2074 "2026-05-19T11:42:42Z")
> [@scudsucker](#): > > There should be no way for the system to interpret “scudsucker” and “scudsucker2” as similar. I can accept they compare the hash of your previous password to ensure you are not just reusing the same password, but those two are fundamentally different in cryptographical calculations. The system takes the plaintext of the proposed password and computes the hashes of a bunch of different variants of it. If any of those match the hash of the previous password, the system rejects the proposed password. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2026, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/2075 "2026-05-19T12:49:38Z")
This seems unlikely, IMHO… granted I am not an expert. Let’s say, my password was “scudSucker07\_1” Using just MD5, and not SHA256, the permutations of, 1. scud is not a common word 2. sucker is a common word 3. the number 07 is random 4. the punctuation (underscore) is random 5. the number after the underscore is random 6. the capitalisation of the word “scudSucker” 7. (I must note that, this is merely similar in format but not actual design of my real password structure) is both incorrect and unpredictable, given the context. None of this is going to show up on “rainbow tables” unless there has been a password breach, and in any case I use a different varient for every site where I need to enter a password. With SHA256, such a password will probably only be cracked in around 2 years of serious effort, and if a hacker wishes to access my SD account, well… best of luck. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2026, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/2076 "2026-05-19T13:53:37Z")
> [@scudsucker](#): > > Let’s say, my password was “scudSucker07\_1” When you updated to this, the system could easily check if any of these were a previous password: > **** > > scudSucker07\_1 > > scudSucker07\_ > > scudSucker07\_0 > scudSucker07\_2 > scudSucker07\_3 > … > > 0scudSucker07\_ > 1scudSucker07\_ > 2scudSucker07\_ > 3scudSucker07\_ > … > > cudSucker07\_1 > > cudSucker07\_10 > cudSucker07\_11 > cudSucker07\_12 > … > > 0cudSucker07\_1 > 1cudSucker07\_1 > 2cudSucker07\_1 > 3cudSucker07\_1 > … And so on for whatever pattern the implementor cares to process. I’ve found that many systems do simple tests by omitting the first or last character of the proposed password and rainbowing all possible characters prepended and appended. I have not found any system that implements more complicated rainbows. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2026, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/2077 "2026-05-19T15:44:19Z")
My password is a variant of my deceased cat’s name. I think it is relatively secure, unless, by accident, no-one really, really knows me. The cat was pretty cool, but it turned out she was not a male, and I wasn’t very ready when she gave birth to three kittens. Her “male” name still performs part of of my complex passwords. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2026, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/2078 "2026-05-19T17:14:51Z")
> [@scudsucker](#): > > I think it is relatively secure unless, by accident, no-one really, really knows me. FWIW, while I don’t know what you do to turn it into your password, I DO know your cat’s name, and I’m just some random guy on the internet. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2026, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/2079 "2026-05-19T18:49:29Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > I DO know your cat’s name, I doubt that. But in any case her name is followed by a succession of numbers, letters and symbols that only make sense to myself. So you might (arguably) know the first 5 characters, which I doubt, but you do not know the next 4, and you can’t know if I did a substitution (eg, an ampersand for an ‘a’) in the characters, in the first few characters nor where.. if I even did.. @Joey_P, what is my cat’s name? I’l help you out. Her name was a common culinary plant. Good luck with the guessing. Hint: I adopted her believing she was male. So she had a male name. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2026, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/2080 "2026-05-19T19:00:06Z")
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