# 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:** 48
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2023, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/941 "2023-09-28T19:04:34Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > I just realized that this picture, which I posted to the September Mini-rants thread yesterday, belongs here. > > [https://photos.app.goo.gl/Beo8PkCC5Eq9PSQD6](https://photos.app.goo.gl/Beo8PkCC5Eq9PSQD6) > > In case you can’t see clearly, the waxed paper wrapper for the stick of unsalted butter is printed in red, but the outer cardboard box it comes in features blue as its dominant color. The salted butter is the opposite. > > What genius came up with this plan? Similarly, in our area, one supermarket brand had red for salted butter and blue for unsalted, but the other has blue for salted and red for unsalted. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2023, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/942 "2023-09-28T20:02:58Z")
> [@pullin](#): > > My TV remote has a universal capability that allows control of the cable box. Among the features is turning them both on/off with a single power button. The On/Off coding is apparently some kind of exclusive-OR. If the box and TV get out of sync, pressing the power button will continually turn one of them off and the other on. The only way to correct this is walking across the room to manually change the on/off state of one of them (or finding the perpetually lost cable box remote). Not a major problem, but a continuing annoyance. You don’t have any individual on/off buttons for the TV and cable? Ours will get out of sync sometimes, too, but we just hit the whichever button (TV or cable) and then the power button. If you _only_ have one power button, that’s bad design indeed. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2023, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/943 "2023-09-28T22:22:28Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Similarly, in our area, one supermarket brand had red for salted butter and blue for unsalted, but the other has blue for salted and red for unsalted. IF, a big if, this was deliberate. It’s made to get you to buy the wrong stuff, and go back and get the right stuff. A real one I’ve come across is when gas stations switch the normal regular and premium from one nozzle/hose to the other. Regular is usually on the left, and it gets switched to the right causing people to inadvertently choose premium. ---
**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:** [September 28, 2023, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/944 "2023-09-28T22:33:41Z")
Oh, if we’re talking about recloseable food packages, I’ll nominate the sliced cheese at Aldi. It used to be in a plastic bag with a zipper seal, which worked fine. But then they shifted to a solid plastic tray with a membrane sealed over the top of it with some sort of adhesive. You open it by peeling back the membrane, which works fine, but then you can supposedly reseal it by just pressing it back down. You can’t. I mean, you can press it back down, but it won’t make a proper seal. ---
**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:** [September 28, 2023, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/945 "2023-09-28T23:03:59Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > A real one I’ve come across is when gas stations switch the normal regular and premium from one nozzle/hose to the other. Regular is usually on the left, and it gets switched to the right causing people to inadvertently choose premium. Your local gas stations have separate nozzles for premium and regular gas? What I’ve seen is one nozzle with a pair of buttons to choose the octane rating. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2023, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/946 "2023-09-28T23:11:48Z")
There are some older pumps that have separate hoses for each grade, but I haven’t seen one like that in years. But what @enipla described can apply to the pumps with the buttons as well – in California Chevron stations are notorious for putting the buttons in the opposite order from what most people are used to\*, causing people to inadvertently select premium. \*Unless you always go to Chevron stations. ---
**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:** [September 28, 2023, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/947 "2023-09-28T23:34:27Z")
Of course that also means the people who normally select premium inadvertantly select regular. I’m not sure the net difference in sales both ways would add up to something worth the implied subterfuge. ---
**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:** [September 28, 2023, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/948 "2023-09-28T23:36:50Z")
> [@pullin](#): > > My TV remote has a universal capability that allows control of the cable box. Among the features is turning them both on/off with a single power button. The On/Off coding is apparently some kind of exclusive-OR. If the box and TV get out of sync, pressing the power button will continually turn one of them off and the other on. No XOR involved. There is simply one command: “switch power state”. Any device receiving the command switches its power state: anything On turns Off and anything Off turns On. But yeah, annoying as hell when your devices get out of sync with each other and you don’t have a remote command available to resync them to any state. I have a similar but different remote problem we call "fan wars". I live in a big apartment building. Each room in each apartment has a ceiling fan. There's a wall switch that cuts or supplies power to the fan unit, then you control fan on/off and speed and also the integral light with the remote. The remotes have a 4-bit DIP switch to set the code they transmit and the fans have corresponding DIPs to set the receive code. So 16 codes. Each apartment has 3 fans. Between you and the apartments above, below and on each side that’s 15 fan/light units. Adding in the four diagonal apartments with 12 more fan/lights that’s a total 27 fan/light units nearby each other sharing 16 codes. You can see where this is going. You’re sitting there minding your business and suddenly your fan turns on. Or off. Or the light goes off or on. So you get up, hit your remote, sit back down. Meantime they got back up when their fan/light went nuts, and now they put theirs back how they want it, goofing up yours. Fan wars. The fix is easy: Set yours the way you want it, immediately turn off the wall switch and sit in the dark stillness for a couple minutes until they set theirs how they want it. Then turn your wall switch on again and you’re both happy. For awhile. Such fun. It’s “more” fun when they turn the light on in your bedroom at 3am. Best to sleep with the wall switch off which means no fan & more HVAC. Oh well. 😁 🤪 ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2023, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/949 "2023-09-28T23:42:02Z")
Assuming the number of people who normally select premium and the number of people who normally select regular are about equal. If significantly more people normally select regular it might make a difference. But I guess it really only applies to people who normally select regular who also don’t frequently patronize Chevron stations. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2023, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/950 "2023-09-29T01:51:51Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Oh, if we’re talking about recloseable food packages, I’ll nominate the sliced cheese at Aldi. It used to be in a plastic bag with a zipper seal, which worked fine. But then they shifted to a solid plastic tray with a membrane sealed over the top of it with some sort of adhesive. You open it by peeling back the membrane, which works fine, but then you can supposedly reseal it by just pressing it back down. You can’t. I mean, you can press it back down, but it won’t make a proper seal. Yes, I’m seeing that. It actually works well for cookies (Nabisco uses it a lot), but not at all for anything that’s greasy. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2023, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/951 "2023-09-29T01:58:11Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > No XOR involved. There is simply one command: “switch power state”. Hmm: ```auto void switchPowerState() { g_currentPowerState ^= 1; } ``` ---
**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:** [September 29, 2023, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/952 "2023-09-29T02:21:34Z")
Well, yes in that sense sure. I was thinking he was referring to some sort of XOR between the commands sent to each separate device. As in only one can be set to on at a time. or something else. I may well have been confused about his shorthand. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2023, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/953 "2023-09-29T07:45:09Z")
This doesn’t apply to just one product; it’s found on a lot of products, especially personal tech. **‘Soft Touch’ rubber coatings** - some products have a thin coating of a rubbery polymer overlaying a hard plastic moulded shell - this gives them a more luxurious feel when they are brand new. At some point after purchase, often a few years, but often quite abruptly, the rubber coating decomposes to a nasty, sticky goo that is horrible to handle, rubs off onto fabrics and cannot be easily removed. This sort of coating has been in use for decades now, Manufacturers who use it must be aware of this outcome, yet they still use it. Presumably designing for obsolescence then. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2023, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/954 "2023-09-29T08:14:10Z")
Yeah I found you have to use 75% alcohol wipes and vigorously scrub the area until you can gently wipe a cotton ball across it and not have any part get stuck. Old video game controllers or PC mouses have this happen a lot. I recently had to scrub the hell out of several video game controllers I was planning on selling. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2023, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/955 "2023-09-29T11:02:04Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Your local gas stations have separate nozzles for premium and regular gas? What I’ve seen is one nozzle with a pair of buttons to choose the octane rating. Yeah, I meant they do the switcharoo on the buttons. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2023, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/956 "2023-09-29T13:21:35Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > some products have a thin coating of a rubbery polymer overlaying a hard plastic moulded shell - this gives them a more luxurious feel when they are brand new. At some point after purchase, often a few years, but often quite abruptly, the rubber coating decomposes to a nasty, sticky goo that is horrible to handle, rubs off onto fabrics and cannot be easily removed. > > This sort of coating has been in use for decades now, Manufacturers who use it must be aware of this outcome, yet they still use it. Presumably designing for obsolescence then. Some shoe sole materials seem to have a similar problem. I once put on a pair of shoes to go to a wedding. The shoes were several years old, but they hadn’t been worn much, and seemed fine when I put them on. By the time I got home the soles were disintegrating, leaving chunks all over the place; I only hope they hadn’t left chunks all over the wedding site, though I didn’t notice the problem until I got out of the car when I got home and started to walk to my house. ---
**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:** [September 29, 2023, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/957 "2023-09-29T13:51:49Z")
I’ve had that happen to ECCO shoes. There’s a company in San Diego that says it specializes in reconditioning that brand of shoes so I sent a pair with deteriorating soles to them a couple of years ago. (They charge about $85 for the service.) But they sent them back unrepaired saying that that type of sole wasn’t possible to replace. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2023, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/958 "2023-09-29T20:45:08Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I have a similar but different remote problem we call “fan wars”. I have an old Bose Wave clock radio/CD player by my bed. It works with a remote. Periodically, I’ll go into my bedroom during the day, and the radio will be on (but not tuned to any station so it’s mostly noise). I’ve assumed my condo neighbors must have some device with a remote with the same frequency . ETA: I’ve had that disintegrating sole happen to shoes I’ve owned, too. Fortunately, I noticed before I left the house. Now, I just don’t buy shoes with soles like that. I don’t do “fast fashion” with shoes. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2023, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/959 "2023-09-29T21:41:18Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I’ve had that happen to ECCO shoes. Me too! Ecco boots not worn for a year or two. Pull out of the closet to wear to an outdoor event held on a graver surface. An hour later I’m walking around in boots with no bottoms. Not happy at all. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2023, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/960 "2023-09-29T22:00:17Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > I don’t do “fast fashion” with shoes. A particularly annoying thing about this with the shoes that did that to me was that they didn’t otherwise seem at all to be “fast fashion”. The uppers were really nice quality leather, apparently designed to last; and they actually almost fit me (almost no shoes do; and shoes supposed to be “fashionable” generally don’t come anywhere remotely near fitting.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621.md?page=47) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621.md?page=49)