Products that are not suited to your location.

[Crosshair]

I am sure that you have all seen them. Products that, when you look at them, make you think, "Why the heck do we carry that here???"

Here are a few that I have seen.

Wireless thermometers with bad operating temperatures: Most of the remotes sensors on wireless thermometers only read down to -4 F. Being in North Dakota, this means these things are worthless to most people beause that is exactly what they use them for, finding how far below 0 F it is. We get LOTS of these returned in January and Febuary because, "They don't work." Yes I know people should read the specs on the back, but we should not carry products that will not work in the conditions they will commonly be used in here. We only carry ONE wireless thermometer that works down to -58 F. All the wired thermometers go down to -58 F. We joke that these thermometers where designed in Arizona.

GPS units what only have road maps for the Eastern US programed into them: I am in the midwest, if they are going to be sending us GPS units that have only part of the US map programed into them, would it not be logical to send us the ones that have the maps of the midwest in them. The extra map data does cost money so this is a serious selling point. Thanks goodness they stopped stocking those ones.

Sending us several endcaps worth of indoor timers and no outdoor timers: Again, I live in North Dakota. It gets gold here. 90% of people here use timers to: A] Plug in their cars block heater. B] Run their Christmas lights. Both of these require an outdoor timer. An indoor timer will fill with snow and ice then stop working. It never fails, we have NO outdoor timers and an abundance of indoor timers.

I am sure that you all have your stories.

[AirHostess]

Suntan lotion on the duty free trolley in the middle of winter when flying to Eastern Europe...

[powerboy]

Beanies and scarfs. We are an anime shop. The beanies and scarfs has no referance to anime, their is nothing anime on them. But nnnnnnooooooo, we have them because the owners wife, made them.

[NightAngel]

When I see things like ear muffs, long underwear, etc. on sale here I think, "Oh, novelty items..." Except the Floridians wear the super heavy coats, long underwear and ear muffs when it's 70 degrees.

[Cosmic Cat]

For Texas, where it is now 60 degrees outside:

Snow shovels
Wool coats
Car deicer
Very heavy non-wool coats
Snow tires/tire chains

I know there's a lot more, but I can't think of them right now.

Once a northerner came down here and opened a whole ski shop. That's right, a ski shop in TEXAS where snow doesn't exist.

[protege]

That's right, a ski shop in TEXAS where snow doesn't exist.

The same thing could be said about Pennsylvania right now. It's sunny and in the 60s (F) today.

[Dark Psion]

Back in the spring one of my managers ordered some Dwarf Lemon, Lime and Orange trees. These are "Hot House" plants, not garden, patio or house plants.

As you might guess, they are still here.

Funny thing, I moved them inside the store into one of the front windows and they are blooming like crazy and one lemon tree has 4 lemons on it. I guess I'll be having some fresh lemonade in winter.

[Ringtail Z28]

Snowboards and skis at the Target stores, in San Diego.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

At my store we have several "banzai falls" inflatable waterslides. They went for about $300 apiece during the summer.

They were one of those things people look at and get interested in before they see how much they cost.

At the end of summer, they went on clearance and still didn't sell. Then for some reason, corporate took them off clearance and now they're sitting back by the exercise equipment on the sales floor.

Just what I want for Christmas, a waterslide that I won't be able to use for at least 6 months. Corporate should've just marked them down even more to get rid of them.

[Primer]

For Texas, where it is now 60 degrees outside:

Wool coats

Are any of those 100% wool, and are there any in Confederate Gray, Union Blue, or Butternut? And if so....WHERE???

We do Civil War re-enactments, and whoever is working the front end of the cannon MUST wear a 100% wool coat, even in the middle of summer!

We used to have a guy that was a firefighter in real life, and they tested wool vs. thier fire fighting uniforms....wool's inability to burn was comperable to their uniforms!

At least once a year, the Artillery Association holds a school and one of the things they show is the flammability of various materials. Polyester and silk are some of the worst.

Back to your regulary scheduled thread.

[DarthRetard]

Well, slightly relevant to the topic anyways....is the fact that we get shipments in, of stuff that never sells, even if they mark it down 60%....or, they'll have us set up store displays, for items that we will never receive in store unless they get a certain order online for them.....

[Spiffy McMoron]

Back at Crappy Tire:

Rat Traps: The ones that look like mouse snap traps, except 10 times bigger. The problem is that Alberta doesn't have any rats. We haven't had rats since the 1970's. So why would we carry rat traps in the heart of the province, where there are no rats and no chance of the rats immigrating?

Giant Freaking Fishhooks: The ones I'm thinking of were spoon lures with a design painted on them that is best suited for perch or walleye fishing. The only problem is that the lure is 8 inches long-damn near as big as a perch, and far too big for a walley to eat. To use an analogy, a normal fishing lure would be a steak, and this lure would be half a cow.

At my current job:

Car Cleaning Supplies: It's not that the product is ill-suited to the location, it's just the fact that nobody goes to a dealership to buy dealer-brand, lower-quality, high-priced glass cleaner.

[protege]

At my current job:

Car Cleaning Supplies: It's not that the product is ill-suited to the location, it's just the fact that nobody goes to a dealership to buy dealer-brand, lower-quality, high-priced glass cleaner.

When I bought my last car, the dealer slipped a "Mazda Care Products" brochure into the sales agreement. Needless to say, I didn't bother ordering any of that stuff. Why pay well over 200% what a bottle of Windex costs at the supermarket? Sure, it doesn't have the "flying M" logo on it, but it works better

BTW, has anyone figured out why every gas station in SW PA stocks landscaping mulch and/or potting soil?

[Tufty]

There isnt really much like that where I live.

I'm in south-west England, so we tend to get every kind of weather and temperature imaginable.

Often during the same day...

[Dark Psion]

There isnt really much like that where I live.

I'm in south-west England, so we tend to get every kind of weather and temperature imaginable.

Often during the same day...

We have a word for that in the USA....Oklahoma

So how did London like its first Tornado in who knows when?