Why did they design it like that?

[edwin_m]

Liquid soap dispensers in Public toilets, most either don’t work or give you so little that you are barely able to use it.

If you have worked in a shop you will know that whoever designed the Herbal Essences shampoo bottle has never tried to stack them on a shelf without them all falling over.

Self checkouts, the space you have for packing your bags at most of them, particularly in a supermarket is not adequate for the job.

If you are bagging as you go, and lift the bag up to shake things down a bit or to swap to the next bag, then the machine will often lock up until a staff member comes to release it.

Wine bottles. As someone who has worked in logistics all my life, they’re incredibly space inefficient. Should be square in section.

Also water and spirits bottles but to a lesser degree as they generally don’t travel as far and waste as much money

(Yes, I know some overseas produced wine is bottled in the UK)

If they were square then they would need more glass to hold the same amount of liquid, not only because the shape is less efficient but because the glass/plastic would need to be thicker to reinforce the corners. When transporting bottled liquids, it's likely the vehicle will reach its maximum weight before it reaches its maximum volume, so it's better to minimise weight by using the lightest container than to minimise volume by using the one that packs most efficiently.

 

[43096]

Public wash basins where you pull up the tap lever for water, jet of water rushes out, then soaks the front of your trousers making it look like you’ve ****** yourself…..

And similarly, modern "designer" wash basins that are the size of a small reservoir, but the tap barely goves over the back edge so you can't get your hands properly under the water and/or it splshes over the side. That's not proper design - things should be designed to be usable - and I bet proper designers (e.g. Sir Kenneth Grange) wouldn't be impressed.

 

[stuartl]

Wine bottles. As someone who has worked in logistics all my life, they’re incredibly space inefficient. Should be square in section.

Also water and spirits bottles but to a lesser degree as they generally don’t travel as far and waste as much money

(Yes, I know some overseas produced wine is bottled in the UK)

As far as sparkling wine goes, isn't a circular shape much less likely to crack due to stresses caused by the internal pressure. Same reason castings often have radiused corners rather than sharp angles.

 

[Mag_seven]

Hand washing facilities in any toilet where soap, water and drying are combined into one, in that order only, and you have much less control over how much of each you use.

Particularly when the soap function works but the water function doesn't!

 

[SuspectUsual]

When transporting bottled liquids, it's likely the vehicle will reach its maximum weight before it reaches its maximum volume, so it's better to minimise weight by using the lightest container than to minimise volume by using the one that packs most efficiently.

Not when it’s in a container on the sea. It’s not just about the last couple of hundred miles

 

[edwin_m]

Not when it’s in a container on the sea. It’s not just about the last couple of hundred miles

But the container will probably be lifted onto a truck when it gets to the port...

 

[Harpers Tate]

Dare I say it on a Railway forum?
Train seats and windows like this:

 

[507 001]

Thanks for the insight on other marques' DCT technology. I have a Hyundai i40, it's been like it from the point I bought it, at 11 months old (6.5k miles). The cynical part of me was not surprised the dealer could not find a fault, throughout the car's 5-year warranty....

Unfortunately it sounds like it’s probably just poorly programmed then.

I know when I was looking at my current Audi A4, I asked one of my colleagues who used to own one what he thought, and he told me of a software update for the gearbox that his received. He said it transformed how it drove.

 

[75A]

Public wash basins where you pull up the tap lever for water, jet of water rushes out, then soaks the front of your trousers making it look like you’ve ****** yourself…..

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 15 Oct 2023 ==

Every time!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 15 Oct 2023 ==

Public wash basins where you pull up the tap lever for water, jet of water rushes out, then soaks the front of your trousers making it look like you’ve ****** yourself…..

Sorry I've made a bog of this reply.

 

[gg1]

Thanks for the insight on other marques' DCT technology. I have a Hyundai i40, it's been like it from the point I bought it, at 11 months old (6.5k miles). The cynical part of me was not surprised the dealer could not find a fault, throughout the car's 5-year warranty....

How old is it? I drive a 2020 Kia Niro (Kia and Hyundai being part of the same company of course) and have no complaints at all about the gearbox, though not sure how big a different it would make being a hybrid rather than and ICE.

 

[75A]

Microwave ovens all have doors hinged on the left meaning of the only logical place in your kitchen for it is on the right hand end of the work surface it’s fiddly to use

Ours drops down at the front as does the Oven which is underneath it.

 

[Sun Chariot]

How old is it? I drive a 2020 Kia Niro (Kia and Hyundai being part of the same company of course) and have no complaints at all about the gearbox, though not sure how big a different it would make being a hybrid rather than and ICE.

It's a 2017. I think the DCT transmission was new-ish tech to Hyundai/Kia at that point.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 15 Oct 2023 ==

Unfortunately it sounds like it’s probably just poorly programmed then.

I know when I was looking at my current Audi A4, I asked one of my colleagues who used to own one what he thought, and he told me of a software update for the gearbox that his received. He said it transformed how it drove.

Thanks. I was surprised that Hyundai's own dealership didn't do a software update on it, at each warranty-period visit.

 

[Islineclear3_1]

Wine bottles. As someone who has worked in logistics all my life, they’re incredibly space inefficient. Should be square in section.

Doesn't bother me... wine doesn't last long in my household

 

[westv]

Hand washing facilities in any toilet where soap, water and drying are combined into one, in that order only, and you have much less control over how much of each you use.

And why do all public toilet doors push to go in and pull to exit? When I do leave I try to do it by holding on to the door handle with the smallest part possible of my little finger.

 

[gg1]

And why do all public toilet doors push to go in and pull to exit? When I do leave I try to do it by holding on to the door handle with the smallest part possible of my little finger.

The big advantage of them opening that way is if the lock's broken you can push against it with your foot or hand to stop people opening it when you're on the throne.

 

[edwin_m]

Also if the door opens outwards it could hit someone else. You have to use the handle inside the cubicle anyway to operate the lock, and you will be washing your hands right afterwards.

 

[dangie]

Wine bottles. As someone who has worked in logistics all my life, they’re incredibly space inefficient. Should be square in section.

Round bottles I think are much easier to hold, especially if you have smaller hands.

 

[westv]

The big advantage of them opening that way is if the lock's broken you can push against it with your foot or hand to stop people opening it when you're on the throne.

I'm talking about the main exit/entry door to public toilets.

 

[alxndr]

I'm talking about the main exit/entry door to public toilets.

It stops a crowd gathering outside the door and trapping people in the toilets. Most doors opening out onto corridors open into the room.

In facilities where there's no dog leg into the toilets it also helps a bit with privacy.

 

[edwin_m]

Some toilets on planes have an outward-opening door and I'm always worried about hitting someone when opening it, or being victim of same. Others, often on the same plane, have an inward bi-folding door instead.

 

[Purple Train]

Dual Clutch Transmission, DCT, in normal cars. A gearbox designed for ultra quick changes. Great for track racing.

I presume this is the infamous "Doppelkupplungsgetriebe"...?

Cathedral City's new side-open packets, that not only are very fiddly but also have an utterly useless strip to tear when you first open the packet, that always ends up tearing off a huge enough chunk that you also tear of the "resealable" tramline and the pack is open forevermore. And another vote for toasters that can't take a teacake!

Nutcrackers that are too small for any self-respecting walnut. Children's plastic scissors. Children's glue spreaders that require the PVA to be effectively decanted into a thimble... nothing to go wrong there, when you have a table full of clumsy toddlers and underfloor heating!

My IKEA work chair that gives you an electric shock if you touch a specific place underneath the chair, which is very easy as it's the logical place to rest your hands. The sign in the passageway at South Kensington tube station that has Imperial College London signed in both directions at an intersection and the way out in only one. Numerous hymnbooks that are so thick that the spine can't keep them open, forcing you to either photocopy or play from them on something that has little metal straps to hold the book in place, which provide a space too narrow to stick the book in without mutilating it.

Swindon town centre.

 

[philthetube]

If you are bagging as you go, and lift the bag up to shake things down a bit or to swap to the next bag, then the machine will often lock up until a staff member comes to release it.

If they were square then they would need more glass to hold the same amount of liquid, not only because the shape is less efficient but because the glass/plastic would need to be thicker to reinforce the corners. When transporting bottled liquids, it's likely the vehicle will reach its maximum weight before it reaches its maximum volume, so it's better to minimise weight by using the lightest container than to minimise volume by using the one that packs most efficiently.

actual square bottles would use less glass, tall thin ones use more

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 17 Oct 2023 ==

Most toasters are too small to evenly toast a slice from a standard loaf, and many are also too narrow to comfortably take a teacake* or bagel.

Cookworks sell a toaster which comfortably holds a slice of toast on its side fully.

 

[edwin_m]

actual square bottles would use less glass, tall thin ones use more

Indeed. The closer a solid is to spherical, the lower its ratio of surface area to volume. However cube-shaped bottles would be rather difficult to pour (and spherical ones not much better).

 

[birchesgreen]

I find the best bottles to pour are the hexagonal ones Lambs rum use.

 

[52290]

Public wash basins where you pull up the tap lever for water, jet of water rushes out, then soaks the front of your trousers making it look like you’ve ****** yourself…..

On the other hand if you are an elderly gentleman with a certain problem, like private Godfrey for instance, you can always blame it on the tap.

 

[DerekC]

Parcel tape which sticks much better to itself than anything else, the cut end becomes invisibly attached the rest of the reel as soon as you let go of it, and when you do find it, the tape tears rather then let go.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

To what extent are some (overseas) 'wines' shipped around in big, bulky, cylindrical containers, and then individually bottled when it's arrived here in the U.K.?

 

[AM9]

To what extent are some (overseas) 'wines' shipped around in big, bulky, cylindrical containers, and then individually bottled when it's arrived here in the U.K.?

I can't speak for normal wine, but in the late '80s I knew somebody who worked at West Bay, (the UK operation for Martini) where the ships docked at Southampton. The base vermouth was shipped in large tanks and pumped ashore where various aromatic additives (spices etc.) were added* and then pure alcohol added to take it up to the 'local taxation convenient strength'. In 1987 (I think), there was a strong suspicion in the industry that the duty was going to be increased in the budget. Martini at the time was at 17% but it was lowered to 14.7 to enable the price to stay the same. (shrinkflation if you like). In the event, the budget didn't alter the duty levels but the reduction hit the market and AFAIK, it is still 14.7%. At the time the existing 17% stock was sold off (very) cheaply to staff, I had a few bottles.

* the belnd was different in some countries to satisfy differing tastes.

 

[75A]

In the 80's we used to take bogie wagons of wine into Newhaven yard, can't remember if they were full or empty.

 

[dangie]

Batteries……

Need to replace a watch battery. The exhausted battery has 371 stamped on it. I have spare strips of batteries but on inspection non have 371 on them. On Googling it appears that there are many 371 equivalents from different manufacturers. These are:

SR920SW, SR69, SR921, SB-AN, 280-31, V371, D371, 605, S921E, GP371, AG6, AG-6, CX921, SR290SW, SR69, SG6, LR921, LR920SW, L921, 371A, 371X

I thought AA batteries were all called AA but it appears not. Even AA batteries go under different names depending on the maker. These are:

LR06, Duracell MN1500, R06P, SUM4, LR6, LR6A, HP7, Varta 4106, 824, Kodak KAA K6A, Toshiba LR6N, BA3058/U, NEDA 15A, 15AC, Varta 4006, Rayovac 815, AA, Panasonic AM3, Energizer E91.

Why do batteries need to be so complicated?