The case against cases

One thing I will never understand is the fetish of manufacturers to think that it’s some kind of incredible value add to include a case with their product. If are talking about a gun, or a power saw, or even a computer, then, yes, a case is helpful. But I just bought a pair of earbuds for listening to music, and they came with a case. Am I seriously expected to remove the earbuds from the iPod every time I’m done listening and roll them up and put them in a case? There are innumerable other examples of things that come with cases but don’t need them — Kindles, wooden chopsticks etc.

It’s pretty obvious that at some point years ago some marketing guru decided that if they added a largely valueless cloth case to their product, they could then stamp something like “comes with a bonus carrying case for free!” to their product. I hope that guru is still alive so that someone can track him down and torture him to death in front of his family, and then feed his innards to the family dog, and watch the family contort in disgust as the dog actually eats parts of his former master.

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