# 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:** 58
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2024, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1141 "2024-02-28T02:43:13Z")
It’s common in parts of Europe for couples to use separate duvets, and you’ll often see hotel room photos like that. Here’s a random blog about it. > **[Sleeping in Germany: Do German couples use separate beds and blankets?](https://www.fromcherrytokirsche.com/2018/02/sleeping-in-germany-german-beds-sheets.html?m=1)** > > Blog about an expat in Germany, travel, tips, food, and Instagram. I never really looked at comforter dimensions; perhaps they’re the same even if they’re used differently? I’m happy with mine, though it’s getting old and I’d like to replace it. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2024, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1142 "2024-02-28T02:55:25Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Or 250 degrees Kelvin would be really pathetic. That’s why I prefer the Rankine scale. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2024, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1143 "2024-02-28T13:59:09Z")
> [@Al128](#): > > any SD’er worth their salt, knows that there is a nitpick in your phrase … Ironically, if you have a degree you’re more likely to know that you don’t need a degree. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2024, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1144 "2024-02-28T15:25:22Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > Comforters and duvets are supposed to hang over the sides a bit - if it was just exactly the size of the mattress , it wouldn’t cover a person in the bed. They are not supposed to reach the floor like a bedspread I know a comforter isn’t the same as a bedspread, so I don’t expect it to hang to the floor. I just want it wide enough to reach the bottom edge of the box spring. With the king comforter on the king bed, I pull it down to almost the box spring on the side that is noticeable when entering the bedroom. The other side facing the wall barely has any overhang at all. For me it’s just aesthetics. I wonder why comforters have stuck around for so long. In days gone by, it was always bedspreads. We slept with a top sheet and a blanket. The bedspread was usually folded down to the foot of the bed when you went to sleep. A made up bed with a bedspread always looked so nice and neat with the spread tucked under the pillows. Now you have a comforter that doesn’t reach over the pillows, and there are multiple pillows to cover up the regular sleeping pillows. ---
**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:** [February 28, 2024, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1145 "2024-02-28T16:14:13Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > The blanket (and sheets) are supposed to cover your body, not just everything from navel down! Unless, of course you’re female. That’s why someone invented the [Hollywood L-blanket](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ModestyBedsheet). ---
**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:** [February 28, 2024, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1146 "2024-02-28T16:48:37Z")
> [@TRC4941](#): > > I wonder why comforters have stuck around for so long. In days gone by, it was always bedspreads. We slept with a top sheet and a blanket. The bedspread was usually folded down to the foot of the bed when you went to sleep. A made up bed with a bedspread always looked so nice and neat with the spread tucked under the pillows. Now you have a comforter that doesn’t reach over the pillows, and there are multiple pillows to cover up the regular sleeping pillows. Hah - I too was taught to do the “fold down the bedspread at night” thing. Which seems silly - Mom always had quilted bedspreads for our house, and that’s a lot of extra warmth right there. We keep ours pulled the whole way up in the winter. In the summer we take it to the dry cleaners, then leave it in a closet until it’s cold enough to need it again. Yeah, the bed never looks as nice in the summer, but we don’t routinely entertain guests there anyway 😁. Comforters are, honestly, just a fashion choice. I’ve rarely even seen one that covers the entire mattress, let alone box spring, and you kinda need a bed skirt to cover the box spring. Those are another horrifying design. Yeah, they look spiffy, but in general they cover the entire box spring - which means you need to LIFT THE ENTIRE MATTRESS to install it. And they get in the way when you’re making the bed. Comforters and “bed covers” (which were fashionable for a while) both seem to require matching / coordinating pillow shams, to make the bed look good. Our guest bed was my mother’s, and comes complete with a bed skirt, matelassé bed cover (that pretty much covers the mattress), and shams. I’ve never been sure whether I’m supposed to remove the sham from the pillow and use the pillow to sleep, or put the whole thing aside like I might with a throw pillow. Give me a traditional bedspread, any day. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2024, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1147 "2024-02-28T17:14:58Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > Comforters are, honestly, just a fashion choice Yeah, mostly. If I wanted the mattress and the box spring completely covered, I’d just go with a blanket and a bedspread. I mainly use a duvet because it’s easy to just throw it over the bed without actually making it. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2024, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1148 "2024-02-28T17:36:56Z")
So… comforters, blankets, bedspreads, duvets and bed covers are all _different things_? ---
**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:** [February 28, 2024, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1149 "2024-02-28T19:23:26Z")
> [@TRC4941](#): > > I wonder why comforters have stuck around for so long. In days gone by, it was always bedspreads. I always used to take them as two separate things: a comforter was for warmth, though you might want a pretty one; a bedspread was to protect the bedding and look good over the top of the bed. I use, in the winter, a blanket with a comforter over that and a sheet or light bedspread over the top – the last one can be easily washed if a cat pukes on it, and usually prevents me from needing to wash the much heavier comforter, which pretty much makes a large washing machine load on its own. Somewhere along the line a lot of people seem to have taken to using the comforter to replace both the blanket and the bedspread. Either they don’t have cats (or dogs allowed on the bed), or they must do a lot of laundry. – reading this thread has pointed out to me another advantage of being short. The bedding is generally plenty long enough for me. ---
**Author:** ![sunacres](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@sunacres](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunacres)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2024, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1150 "2024-02-28T20:11:06Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > Either they don’t have cats (or dogs allowed on the bed), or they must do a lot of laundry. Or, maybe they’re male. Gender stereotype, to be sure, but widely understood nonetheless. For those of us so afflicted the entire enterprise of “bedclothes” falls into the category of stupid product design. Please get those extra six decorative throw pillows out of my way, I want to take a nap! ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2024, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1151 "2024-02-28T20:32:59Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > So… comforters, blankets, bedspreads, duvets and bed covers are all _different things_? You forgot quilts. I assume a duvet is like a [trivet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trivet), only with two legs instead of three. ---
**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:** [February 28, 2024, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1152 "2024-02-28T20:48:35Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I assume a duvet is like a [trivet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trivet), only with two legs instead of three. Depends on whether you sleep alone. If not, it might have 4 legs (or more, if you’re feeling kinky). I know that in some countries (much of Europe?), people don’t even use top sheets. Instead, a duvet with a removable cover. That seems like a huge hassle in terms of wrestling the big thing into the fabric cover. A flat sheet is much easier. Then again, I’m sure someone used to that setup would find our use of a flat top sheet rather perplexing. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2024, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1153 "2024-02-28T21:31:45Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > I know that in some countries (much of Europe?), people don’t even use top sheets. Instead, a duvet with a removable cover. That seems like a huge hassle in terms of wrestling the big thing into the fabric cover. A flat sheet is much easier. It’s the same as with tying your shoes. Once you learned how to do it, it becomes easy and natural. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2024, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1154 "2024-02-28T22:15:29Z")
Without a top sheet, what do you do in warm weather when you want to be under _something_ but not something that makes you too hot? ---
**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:** [February 29, 2024, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1155 "2024-02-29T01:20:55Z")
I bought a comforter and a duvet cover from the same company, Lands End. The comforter has loops around the edges that correspond to the locations of, I think, buttons or snaps on the duvet cover, so I tried to put the cover on. Several exhausting hours later, I gave up trying to do so. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2024, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1156 "2024-03-04T15:21:14Z")
Duvets are kind of a PITA. The only reasons I use one is I’m able to change the colors in my room without having to buy another comforter and it’s so much easier to wash a duvet than it is a comforter. I watched a video that showed a hack for getting a comforter inside a duvet fairly easily. It works but I have to Google it every time because I can never remember how! I think the younger generations do not use a top sheet. They just roll up in the comforter. I cannot fathom that! I’d feel the need to wash my comforter or duvet every time I changed the sheets. - Or should I say sheet? ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2024, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1157 "2024-03-04T15:47:52Z")
> [@TRC4941](#): > > The only reasons I use one is I’m able to change the colors in my room without having to buy another comforter and it’s so much easier to wash a duvet than it is a comforter. Do you mean it’s easier to wash a duvet _cover_ than a comforter? That’s definitely true - I rarely wash the duvet insert but I have three duvet covers. I don’t change the cover every time I change the sheets, because I do use a top sheet but I also don’t find it that difficult to get the insert into the cover. It was the first few times, but now I have learned. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2024, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1158 "2024-03-04T15:56:44Z")
I have never been able to use a top sheet. I always wake up to find it in a bundle on the floor. I don’t know why (I am asleep when I do this), but I used to have to wash my bedspread every time I changed the sheets. So duvets are an improvement. ---
**Author:** ![Mikkel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikkel/32/13151_2.png) [@Mikkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikkel)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2024, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1159 "2024-03-04T17:07:38Z")
As a Scandinavian, I have grown up with eiderdowns. When changing the cover I pull it off so it is inside out. The clean cover is inside out so I put my arms into it, grab the corners of the duvet through the corners of the cover, shake it down and put the lower corners into the cover and zip it up. one minute max. I have never learned to manage a sheet. On hot days I take a clean cover and put that over me. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2024, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621/1160 "2024-03-04T18:45:26Z")
> [@Mikkel](#): > > As a Scandinavian, I have grown up with eiderdowns. When changing the cover I pull it off so it is inside out. The clean cover is inside out so I put my arms into it, grab the corners of the duvet through the corners of the cover, shake it down and put the lower corners into the cover and zip it up. one minute max. German here. I learned it and do it exactly the same. As for sheets, I use fitted sheets which I have no problem with when covering the mattress, but only with folding them. I’ve watched youtube videos with allegedly foolproof methods, but I never could follow, let alone reproduce the techniques. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621.md?page=57) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-product-design-you-ve-experienced/981621.md?page=59)