Products Made By People Who Clearly Never Use Them
"Reddit user DongLaiCha asked: 'What products are clearly made by people or companies who never actually use them?'"
Do you ever use a product and wonder... "Who in the world thought this would work?"
That seems to be an issue with a lot of items in life.
Like, who designed all these extra dinner forks?
It's all too confusing when you just want to eat a salad and a steak.
Let me keep my fork.
You're wasting water on all the cleaning.
Think before you create.
Redditor DongLaiCha wanted to discuss some products that may need more in-field research, so they asked:
"What products are clearly made by people or companies who never actually use them?"
Remember CDs?
It was easier to break into the Pentagon than open that plastic wrapping.
Who thought that idea up?
Too Dry
Hair Bathing GIFGiphy"I swear that people who design some shampoo and conditioner bottles have never tried to use them while wet."
danarexasaurus
Assessments
"Elementary state assessments. They are the most obtuse, poorly written, unrealistic questions on earth. They enrage me. They are clearly written by people who either have zero experience in elementary education or haven’t had any in a decade or so."
meadow_chef
"I have a BA in English and couldn't figure out one of the answers to my child's third-grade ELA state test practice. I spoke to the teacher about it and she sounded so defeated about the testing. There's no way to prepare children for a test when the questions and answers are so poorly written that the students, their teacher, and the parents can't pick the correct answer."
DistractedHouseWitch
Cheap and Expensive
"A few years ago we wanted a coffee maker with a slightly larger carafe. The only 14-cup one we could find at a reasonable price was branded with Drew Barrymore's name. Whatever, we bought it. It was the worst kitchen device I've ever owned. The interface to set the clock, program it, etc. was absolutely baffling to use, never seemed to do the same thing twice."
"The instructions were apparently written by whatever guy at the factory had a cousin who'd seen an American TV show once. And when it actually did somehow make coffee, it came out shriekingly hot, to where I would put a couple of ice cubes into my travel mug when I left for work just to get it down to drinkable temperature."
Fabulous-Quality-282
Flip It
"Those who make the 'pull this flip to open' on plastic packaging of cold cuts."
MissNatdah
"Similarly, the people who make 'resealable' packages of food products where you have to cut it open in a certain place, but cutting there either results in: A) the package still being sealed closed, or B) ruining the internal sealing zipper. I have this issue with the frozen dumplings I buy and no matter what I do, I have NEVER been able to reseal the package as advertised and have to resort to a chip clip."
pls_send_caffeine
Punch a Hole
Mac And Cheese Eating GIF by Megan BatoonGiphy"The 'push here to open' spot on Kraft Mac and Cheese."
coop_doop
"Whenever I get a different brand I just punch a hole in the same spot out of habit. It’s about exactly as hard to do as with the Kraft ones. So they might as well take out the perforating step and save .001¢/box in the production process."
Reaper_Messiah
Why do they want to keep our Mac and Cheese from us?
Give me my meal!!
Tearing Sheets
office paper GIFGiphy"Those toilet paper holders in public toilets that cut off at two sheets."
theshortlady
"Same area: those paper towel dispensers that require a two-handed pull, commonly leaving you with two little torn-off triangles of paper in your hands."
repowers
Useless
"Zebra printers. I swear Zebra customer service is useless. I've had to call the help desks for the specific companies I've worked for because the Zebra CS is just like 'Huh!?'"
monotoonz
"We wrote our own internal manuals for how to setup, manage, and troubleshoot Zebra printers. It includes helpful information like 'Do not call Zebra about this issue, instead, see Appendix A' (which is screenshots of conversations about how it is is a known issue and the resolution should be coming shortly (dated 2016))."
001235
City Life
"Maybe a bit off-topic, but in a meeting with a former colleague of mine, the person in charge of the metro for a nearby city admitted that he had never used the metro. Not that he didn’t use the metro, but that he had never used it in his life, even once. I suspect that this kind of thing isn’t uncommon for government services."
KireGoTI
"Similar story. A lifelong friend of didn’t even know we had a Metro until a recent expansion meant she had to drive a different way into her office. She works for the city council."
TheKingMonkey
Warn You
"Hospital beds. From the standpoint of the person who has to push it around and mess with rails that get caught in the mattress and plug it in with a long dirty cord that gets mixed up with another random cord that no one knows its purpose. No retractable cords so they constantly drag on the ground and try to trip you when pushing the bed."
"Brakes that are in the most awkward position that you have to invert your knee to reach with your foot. And worst, the screeching, ear-piercing alarm that they emit to 'warn you' that the bed is not locked. Hospital beds are obnoxious."
Agitated-Effort3423
Help Please
Customer Service Waiting GIF by Juno CalypsoGiphy"Customer-facing software. Developers should be required to hire grandmas under the explicit condition that if grandma can't look at a menu option and decide what to click without giving up and calling the help desk your functionality has failed."
Puzzleheaded-Bat8657
I can't even begin to get into software options.
It brings back too much PTSD.
Products That Failed Because They Were Way Ahead Of Their Time
Reddit user kingpin000 asked: 'What failed when it was initially released, but turned out to be ahead of its time years later?'
It is not uncommon in this world for people to be underappreciated or even ridiculed for their work because they were ahead of their time. Nicolaus Copernicus was mocked for his theory that the universe was heliocentric. Jackson Polluck's art was only revered posthumously.
This is true for many things, including inventions, movies, video games, and even restaurants.
Redditors know this all too well. They have identified what things failed when they were initially released but turned out to be ahead of its time, and are eager to share.
It all started when Redditor kingpin000 asked:
"What failed when it was initially released, but turned out to be ahead of its time years later?"
Dual Uses
"Viagra. Fascinating history. It was developed as a blood pressure medicine in the 80s. The bonerific side effect was “embarrassing” and “unwanted” in the 80s, but desired a decade or so later when sex became less taboo."
"So, it failed as a mainstream blood pressure pill, but succeeded as a boner pill."
– Myzyri
"It's actually used as a blood pressure medication still, but it's for the more rare Pulmonary Hypertension."
– Blueshark25
That's Why They're Called Sticky Notes
"The glue that became part of Post-Its. The guy who invented them was trying to create a stronger glue for the aerospace industry, but the adhesive he created was a weak adhesive. Years later one of his colleagues used that adhesive to create a bookmark that didn't fall out of the book he was reading. Eventually, that idea became Post-Its."
– mom_with_an_attitude
"If I recall the story correctly, it was a hymn book which had delicate pages."
"The Post-Its adhesive worked great on it by not ripping or ruining the pages."
– teems
Pre-Spotify
"I always feel like the Zune and their music model was ahead of its time. 10 dollars month for unlimited downloads while at the time you were paying 1 dollar per single. Now everyone just uses Spotify for the same thing."
– sausagepizza
"You also got to keep 10 of the songs you downloaded at the end of each month. It was essentially paying for 10 songs with as free streaming on top."
– evanzknigh39
If Only They Waited
"Touch screens."
"Yes they are everywhere now but the Buicks 1986 model had one, and most cars today have it."
"Hell, the concept was developed in 1965!!!"
– BotherDesperate7169
"Microsoft pushed a tablet computer about 5 years or so before the iPad got released. It failed miserably and they quickly gave up on the idea."
– saugoof
Almost, But Not Quite
"Vine. They were almost TikTok, but weren’t."
– Gauzey
"I don’t understand why Vine died and Tik Tok lives?"
– kapt_so_krunchy
"Because Vine was ahead of its time."
– MrBoomf
The Big Screen
"The movie Blade Runner."
– Agreeable_Pizza93
"Shawshank flopped in the theaters. It's a classic because TNT began airing it because it was cheap. Boys grew up watching Shawshank. Now it's one of IMDb ten greatest films."
"We can also look at It's a Wonderful Life."
– Econoj
"I've said it on here before somewhere. But The Thing went from being an absolute critical bomb at the time... to being one of the most lauded (and rightfully so) horror sci films ever created now. Specific tastes aside, anyone who enjoys horror probably has The Thing in their top 10."
– 10019245
Can't Believe This Flopped
"Bluetooth was released with a huge fanfare and then fizzled for a few years before it really took off."
– FearlessTomatillo911
"This should be a huge one! It flopped on the market for a long time before someone figured out how to use it correctly and now it’s a staple for electronics."
– ballnout
Just When He Got Rid Of It...
"Debit cards. My dad got one in the 70’s when they were a new idea and nobody seemed to understand them and didn’t take them. He finally got rid of his. Now……"
– sas5814
My Favorite Childhood Toy
"Slime (silly putty). originally, it was an attempt to replace rubber during WW2."
– pupunhaLover
Vroom, Vroom
"Electric car."
"German engineer Andreas Flocken built the first real electric car in 1888. The first electric car in the United States was developed in 1890–91 by William Morrison of Des Moines, Iowa; the vehicle was a six-passenger wagon capable of reaching a speed of 23 km/h (14 mph)."
– george_sg
What Might've Been
"Google Glass the biggest argument against it was ppl being so angry about the wearers filming them. Here we are 10+ years later and everyone films everything everywhere they go. And we have ppl wearing GoPros and other klunky cameras all the time."
"The Google Glass offered AR, filming, assistant functionally, map and web access all in an easy to wear and use piece of tech that was also super cool and futuristic. I think if it had taken off we would have even more advanced models now. It was just WAY too ahead of it's time for widespread adoption. I think it would be wildly popular now."
– JubalHarshawII
For Man's Best Friend
"Pets.com. Everyone laughed at the idea after the tech bubble burst. Chewy.com is worth $10B today."
– Bishop_Pickerling
"If there’s anything I’ve learned, it’s that animal lovers will drop some serious cash."
– FunAdministration334
Shut Up And Drive
"The Sinclair C5 electric vehicle. Complete flop in 1985, but now a thriving hobby as many people are upgrading them with modern batteries, motors, disc brakes, etc. So much fun to drive."
– TheKingOfDub
"Sinclair C5."
"Can't help but feel had it been succesful, the following iterations would be superior to the e-bikes we have now."
– SmeeegHeead
Eye Of The Beholder
"Van Gogh's paintings. Amy Pond from Doctor Who knew how good he was, but none of Vincent's contemporaries did, and he eventually died by his own hand."
– tunghoy
Poor Van Gogh. He's my favorite artist!
I'm glad he's appreciated now, even if he wasn't in his own time.
(And this is exactly why Doctor Who's Amy Pond was my favorite companion!)
With the continuing advancements made in engineering and technology, it's generally believed that a better and brighter future is being paved.
However, new doesn't always guarantee better.
After all, if that were the case, we would never hear the saying "they don't make them like they used to".
Indeed, some people prefer the actual keyboard of a blackberry to the touch screen one on an iPhone or Android, which all but guarantees a frequent embarrassing typo.
Nor should one even mention when Shake Shack replaced their flawless crinkle cut fries with the "fresh cut" fries to any New Yorker who isn't prepared for a tirade.
"What's the perfect example of 'they don't make them like they used to?'"
From Riches To Rags...
"Levis."
"I had a pair for years as a teenager."
'Bought a pair in 2020 and within 6 months they had fraying and then holes in the seams."
"Clothes in general seem like they're getting sh*tter no matter how much you pay for them."- LordyIHopeThereIsPie·
Oh, Honey...
"Honeycomb cereal."
"The pieces were big, puffy and delicious, with the occasional flat, overly crunchy, sad piece."
"Now every piece is the sad piece."- Bumpass
Can The Even Still Call It Pinesol?
"Pinesol changed its formula in 2014, knocking out the key ingredient, pine oil."
"Sigh."- Greg_Strine
camping bart simpson GIFGiphyStill Better Than Today's Happy Meals...
"McDonald's hot apple pies."- MartyFreeze
You Wonder How They Can Keep Their Name...
"I can swear when i was young Magnum ice cream were twice the size of today."- Ancient_Patient_6105
No Fat, No Sugar... NO GOOD!
"Planters Cheeze Balls."
"I was so excited when I saw them at the store a few years ago, but they are not even close to the same."
"I was told that the difference is trans-fat-elimination."- mkicon
bath nbd GIF by Guava JuiceGiphyBetter Check That Warranty
"Pretty much every single consumer good is now built to break instead of last."- Dizzy-Elk4110
Blame It On The Music?
"Band t-shirts, and I mean they don't make them like they did 4 years ago."- Groovyrick
You Name It...
"Probably everything."
"The consumer landscape completely changed over a short period, due to aim towards maximum profit over functionality/quality, as well as the lowest possible costs."
"We can't even buy a software anymore."
"It's all services and subscriptions or passes."
"We can't have anything simple anymore."- Shimamon
"Everything."
"Planned obsolescence."
"If you can imagine a way a company is f*cking you, it's likely happening."- Dat_Harass
There's A Reason Some Toys Are Classics...
"Children's toys."
"When my daughter was little, I was floored by the flimsy cheap plastic parts, compared to my solid and sturdy toys (many still in great condition) from the late 80's/early 90's."- YourMothersButtox
Sometimes, It's A Good Thing
"I guess to be more optimistic, at least gasoline doesn't have lead in it anymore."- colonelsmoothie
Who Wants To Share A Candy Bar?!?!
"Candy bars, the king size was actually a big hunk of chocolate, now it's a share size and smaller than it used to be and costs twice as much."- teethalarm
Chocolate Choco GIF by Ritter SportGiphyAnd Why Do Freezer's Continue To Get Smaller?
"Up to 1981, my great-grandmother had a refrigerator that they had gotten when home fridges were new."
"It had that big round compressor on top, and it worked for god knows how long."
"I just had to replace mine in a home that was built for us 7 years ago."- Leftstrat
The Advertising Gets Better, The Games On The Other Hand...
"Mobile games."
“'99.99% WILL FAIL!! CAN YOU SOLVE THIS QUIZ??!!??'"- RechehSec
The sign of a good product isn't its sleek appearance or technological abilities, but rather durability.
Making one rather appreciate the fact that we almost never had to replace our landline phones, yet have to replace our cell phones almost every two years.
Not to mention the fact that one of the least frequent things people ever do on their phones anymore is make calls.
Is that progress?
We've all succumbed to the hype surrounding something, be it a phone, show, or even a new-fangled drink.
Product rollout is so over the top these days.
The "next big thing" is usually promised to change EVERYTHING.
Then the release happens, and... the hype fizzles.
It happens to the best of everything.
From video games to weight loss products, nothing is a guaranteed hit.
Redditor Reeceqld wanted to discuss some of life's biggest flops, so they asked:
"What was supposed to be 'The Next Big Thing,' but totally flopped and tanked?"
Farewell
iphone GIF by Product HuntGiphy"Microsoft held a literal funeral procession for the iPhone when they introduced the Windows Phone."
KaityKat117
"As someone who's worked as a software engineer since the mid-1980s, an industry where rapid change is the norm, one thing has remained the same: Apple is doomed. Any minute now."
UlrichZauber
Movie Fail
"Universal Picture's 'Dark Universe.'"
"The Mummy with Tom Cruise was supposed to start a whole line of movies, but when that one died it took the rest with it."
doowgad1
"The real tragedy is that a Dark Universe is not a bad idea. Various Universal monsters exist in the same universe? Sign me up! However, it played more like an action film than horror, because Tom Cruise cannot be in anything other than an action movie. We might have gotten Javier Bardem Frankenstein’s Monster, that is a perfect casting right there."
ChiefsHat
Negative
"Google+ was supposed to topple Facebook."
Regnes
"This was one of the worst product launches of all time. They had like one week where everyone was super excited about it and wanted to try it and they limited it to invite-only. Very few people could get in. By the time they opened it up to everyone, nobody cared anymore."
PMMeUrHopesNDreams
Never taken off...
"3D TV. I remember those being sold somewhere when we had to buy a couch, and accidentally renting the 3D version of a movie, but it never took off."
Stupid-ForYou
"This isn't anything new. The major issue seems to be that it gives a certain amount of people a headache or they find it otherwise uncomfortable. Add to that the need for the glasses even in the current iteration and you can start to see where there's an accessibility issue too."
NativeMasshole
Get Turkey
"About 25 years ago, they thought ostrich meat would be as popular as chicken."
momobeth
Not sure anyone wanted that kind of chicken nuggets!
Scooped Away
ice cream GIFGiphy"Are Dippin' Dots still the ice cream of the future?"
The4StringSamurai
"Well, they're definitely not the ice cream of the present."
teh_maxh
Hot Wheels
"Segway."
No_Firefighter9295
"They completely underestimated how much we design cities for cars (especially in America) and how unwilling anyone is to change this."
"Look at the 15-minute cities concept. All these people are claiming isn't about population control. Can't even get pedestrians, bicycles, and cars to play nice with each other, let alone something like a Segway. Which is a shame, because if we designed cities for bikes, and segways, we might end up with something quite interesting and useful."
cobarbob
Redundant
"Quibi. It’s like they forgot that we already all had YouTube…"
Dubz1781
"I got the 3-month trial, and it was really weak. I like the idea of 10-minute shows with a new episode a day, I often watch movies I've seen before that way. But it's impossible to deny nobody was asking for it. And the dramas didn't feel like serials, it felt like awkwardly short full episodes, complete with characters standing around reminding the audience of what happened last time, which I'd just watched."
"The reality shows felt like 2 minutes stretched painfully to 10. So yeah, weird concept, the shows didn't really meet the concept anyway, and oh yeah all of the ideas were really half-baked. Here's a horror show set in different states, with legends we just kind of made up. Idris Elba competes with a NASCAR driver to do stunts basically invented for NASCAR drivers. Anna Kendrick made friends with her ex-boyfriend's sentient sex doll."
Maninhartsford
Get a Honda
"The Tata Nano. The company set out to build the lowest price new car in the world, and it succeeded. Unfortunately, newly middle-class Indian families didn’t want the stigma of owning the world’s cheapest new car, so sales never came anywhere close to expectations."
JournalofFailure
"Not a complete failure. It failed because the new chairman of the Tata group didn't see its potential and cash revenue. This led to a boardroom coup with an earlier chairman which led to disclosure that the car was not doing that great. This led to people not wanting nano car and subsequently, it stopped manufacturing in a few years."
jeetendraprasad
Big Fail
New York Yankees Reaction GIF by MLBGiphy"Lytro. It was a light-field camera that allowed you to change a picture's point of focus after taking the image. It had a cool design and neat features capturing an Apple-like aesthetic of form and function. Huge failure but I was obsessed with them for a while."
SchnifTheseFingers
I can't remember half of these things.
So that should tell you everything.
Do you have any to add to the list? Let us know in the comments below.
The key to being a successful entrepreneur is having one brilliant idea.
A catalyst to spark inspiration and creativity, something you know that everyone in the world will want, that corporations will try to buy, and competitors will try to mimic.
Of course, the other key to being a successful entrepreneur is having that idea successfully executed.
No matter how brilliant your idea was, if it falls short on execution even the tiniest bit, then its chances of success are all but doomed to failure.
"What was a brilliant idea but poorly executed?"
$10 A Month For $4 Thousand Worth Of Movie Tickets... How Could It Go Wrong?
"Moviepass, i.e. a monthly subscription service to see as many movies as you want for a flat fee."
"The core concept is actually solid."
"The big risk with unlimited subscriptions is induced demand, where people consume more of your product because their unit price drops."
"Movie theaters are mostly fixed costs, however, they don't really care about induced demand outside of opening weekend for big blockbusters (which you can make special rules about)."
"As long as a movie isn't sold out, you'd basically take any amount of money for the empty seats."
"Even if someone sees ten movies in a month, you're still probably making money even if you only charged them two movie's worth, and that's before potential concession sales."
"That said, the theaters have to be on board, and Moviepass launched without first getting them to agree to such a system."
"Instead, Moviepass had to pay full price to the theaters for every single movie seen."
"Their prices were not fixed, and as a result the induced demand absolutely crushed them."- Notmiefault
Microsoft Clearly Didn't Read The Book Of Genesis...
"Microsoft Zune."- TheDadaMax
"Great product, poorly marketed."
"But it was (imo) vastly superior to the iPod."- EnigmaCA
technology rip GIF by gifnewsGiphySo, So, Sad...
"Recycling."
"I wish it was great everywhere."- Glitchykins8
Biking Without The Peddling
"The Segway."
"It was hailed as what the car was to the horse and buggy."
"Built by a famous inventor it never took off."
"One of the most hyped inventions of all time."- Swimming_Stop5723
Way Too Soon... (On So Many Levels)
"Selling tickets to dive in a sub to see the Titanic."- nullrecord
Titan Submarine GIF by GIPHY NewsGiphyNot The Right Prescription
"Google Glass."
"I remember when people were talking about how it was gonna be the next 'big thing' and it failed."- LouisTheFox
When You Can't Help But Miss Used Car Salesmen...
"Carvana."
"Loved the idea of putting more control of the car-buying experience back in the hands of the buyer but myself and my wife both had a harrowing experience buying through them and their 'hassle-free' return process was absolutely riddled with hassles."- Grand-wazoo
It Literally Had People Seeing Red...
"Nintendo's Virtual Boy."- TailsxCream4Eva
"Nintendo's Power Glove."- mezz7778
"RoB the Robot."- DiscussionLoose8390
One Of Many Failed Ideas In US Education
"I think No Child Left Behind was a good concept."
"But basing school funding on standardized tests just crushed anything good out of it— the rich schools with funding for equipment and higher-end teachers got more money, and the schools that needed financial help got probation and threats of funding withdrawal."
"As a former teacher, I loved the idea that a kid could move to another school mid-semester and be learning the same concept in each subject as the school they left, but instead any kid who wasn’t immediately grasping concepts was forced to fail upwards."
"Failing upwards hurts all of us."- bp_516
Ha!
"Fyre Festival."- Old_Army90
"I’ve always thought that it could have worked if it had been planned years in advance."
"I have to admit, the idea of a music festival on a Caribbean island still intrigues me."
"The problem is that the island location alone presents major logistical hurdles."
"By definition, everything on an island is harder to acquire, from food to land."
"Add to that the issues of promised catered meals and guaranteed luxury lodging and you have serious mountains to climb to pull off the festival."
"With enough lead time to construct the bungalows and hire enough food services to prepare the meals, it is feasible, but trying to pull it off in a few months time made it impossible."
"Sure, Woodstock ‘69 was planned in less than a year, but festival attendees weren’t promised lodging and food."
"They knew they’d be camping and would have to get their own provisions."
"Even then, there were logistical hurdles, such as the New York State Thruway succumbing to complete gridlock."
"Still, as far as festivals go, it was a relatively simple set-up."
"A better approach would have been for Fyre, the music booking app company behind the festival, to start small, such as on a beach somewhere with no inclusion of lodging or catering in the ticket packages."
"Concertgoers would know what to expect, and the festival would have been a lot more successful."
"If Fyre had done that for a few years, they would have built trust in their name brand, so when the time came for an actual festival on an island, Fyre Festival could have booked enough contractors to build lodging and hired enough vendors to make food for the whole weekend."
"Unfortunately, Billy McFarland’s hubris was enough that he wanted to skip ahead of the build up and go straight for the opulent."- Brunt-FCA-285
ja rule fyre festival GIFGiphyMore Like Great Leap Backwards...
"China's Great Leap Forward."
"The idea was to improve the country, but it ended with one of the worst man-made natural disasters in history."- Kartoffelkamm
While a good idea always requires imagination, we must also remember it's very easy for our imaginations to get the better of us.
Reality often has a way of bringing us back down to Earth and making us realize what looks good on paper doesn't always deliver.
(But seriously... who actually thought the Fyre Festival was going to work?)