Well, the time had to come for the first post here.  It’ll be either insightful or inane…  here we go!

Recently I’ve been noticing little innovations (or lack thereof) in typical consumer products.  It amazes me that only in recent years have some of the most basic problems been solved.  Worse yet, it amazes me how poorly some of them have been addressed.

hershey's syrup

hershey's syrup. yum.

Take for example every child’s favorite after school mixed drink: Chocolate milk made with Hershey’s syrup.  Who doesn’t remember pulling the little cap out, squirting far too much chocolate out, then closing it — only to have a gooey mess on top of the cap?  Some of us just let it be, building up and making a gross chocolate crust under the outer cap.  Others would wipe a finger across and lick it off.  The absurdly prim and proper would wipe it with a towel.

Only in the last year or two have I actually seen this age old issue addressed.  A new spout magically stops the flow.  There’s no more bizarre cap that you lift, which, incidentally, was the new “no mess” bottle at the time!

Another example is an even more common bottle – that of laundry detergent.  These have had a pretty ingenius cap system for some time that allows excess liquid from the cap to roll right back in and be reused when you put it back on.  However, anyone who has lived in an apartment or a condo with stacked laundry units can attest to the fact that there’s really no good place to store a huge bottle of detergent in a tiny, form-fitting laundry closet.   Tide to the rescue!

tide with tap dispenser

tide with tap dispenser

Not too long ago, they released this strange beast – a bottle with a tap dispenser.  It’s not exactly obvious from the picture, but this bottle is laid on its side, and that gadget at the top left is a tap with a button on it, just like a cooler you’d bring to a party.   You take off the plastic cap, hit the button, and presto.  Since it’s laying on its side, it fits perfectly on top of your stacked laundry unit.  Whoever the genius is who invented this little contraption deserves a Nobel prize.

Or does he?  Turns out, the aforementioned bottle design that brings excess liquid from the upside down cap right into the bottle exists for a reason – thick detergent sticks to things … like… I dunno… LAUNDRY CAPS?  Suddenly this genius tap idea doesn’t seem so genius.  In fact, it’s a gigantic bag of fail, as you now end up having to take your cap over to the sink and wash it out every time you use it so you don’t end up with a horrible crusty mess of dried up laundry detergent.   Believe me, I know from experience.

Back to positive solutions – one of my all time favorites is the Kapoosh Knife Block, which really must be seen to be believed.  Anyone who likes to cook probably has a nice knife or three – maybe even a set.  However, if the block and the set didn’t come together, you’re generally screwed.  Enter the Kapoosh – the most absurdly simple solution I’ve ever seen to this problem.  It’s basically a block of thin plastic rods that all face the same direction, with only one face exposed.  Stick a knife in and it goes between the tightly packed plastic rods, held perfectly in place no matter where you put it in.   Simple and useful as all hell.

This leads me to all sorts of questions.  How is it that the following common annoyances haven’t yet been solved:

  • Sauce bottles that seal themselves shut so tight you rip your own hand apart trying to open them after the sauce in the cap has dried up a bit
  • Aluminum foil dispensers that aren’t clumsy and/or downright dangerous
  • Automatic litter boxes that actually work without breaking (really, how hard is it to manufacture a simple motor in 2009 that doesn’t break after 6 months?)
  • Paint cans that have at least some modicum of protection from dripping all over the damn place
  • Plastic packaging that doesn’t require a hacksaw or a special “As seen on TV!” product to open without shredding your hands into oblivion

Mostly, I’m amused at the fact that I was so taken by this “ingenius” Tide dispenser that I was actually excited to take laundry detergent home from the store.  I’m either easily amused / entertained, getting old, or all of the above.

I do, however, have a real affinity for elegant, beautiful problem solving.  Seeing something as simple as a tiny piece of plastic added to a product and taking away a minor or even major hassle for thousands of people is, to me, a thing of beauty.  Anyone else out there have examples of problems or annoyances addressed with simple solutions?  I’m always interested in hearing about them…