Being new to the US, I am surprised by the lack of a switch for every wall socket. I am used to pluging things in, then using the switch to let current into the applicance and if the appliance has a switch too, then put that on.
This has another advantage. Whenever you plug any appliance into a “live” wall socket, there are usually some sparks that are seen. This causes the voltage to spike up and down due to the uneven nature of the contact while plugging in. I think that have a switch on the wall beside a wall socket would make everything safer.
