#Being Screwed

I hate deception. It seems wherever you go you are being deceived. I'm talking mostly about stores. It is not only how they try to make you buy something with false promises, it is also how certain merchandise is described on the package or more precisely what they omit to say, either knowingly or unknowingly. Mostly knowingly.

We bought 6 LED light bulbs at Costco yesterday, mainly because the Hydro have a program where you get up to 50% off the high price of these bulbs, and they are expensive. They are supposed to last 22 1/2 years, but in small print it says: based on 3 hours a day of use. So that estimate is already not quite correct, because most lights are on longer than that, especially in those long and dark winter evenings.

On the package it says that they can be used with dimmers; then in small print somewhere else it says that they may not be compatible with all dimmers and they suggest to go to their website to get a list. Well, how can you go to the website when you are in a store looking at the lights deciding if you should buy or not? Not everyone carries an Iphone or a tablet to connect to the internet.

We decided to buy them and paid nine bucks for three after the rebate. At home I discovered that LED lights cannot be used with 'Touch-dimmers' and motion detectors. They stay on at all times. They can only be used when you switch off the dimmer and cut the power completely.

Most of the bulbs in our house inside and outside are those spiral ones. Now we are told they are not safe and may cause fires. I've had them for years and I am happy with them. Okay, they cannot be dimmed at all, but they save me a ton of money on power consumption, especially the ones over my aquariums which are on for many hours. We use the old regular incandescent light-bulbs in the lights we dim. I only hope that they never stop making and selling those 'old-fashioned useless power-hungry bulbs'. I also hope that the government in its forever overzealous goal of protecting the citizens from harm doesn't make them illegal. If they do I still have plenty of them stashed away and they'll last until somebody comes up with a bulb that is just as good but uses less power and doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

I have in mind to return the LED bulbs to Costco, but I destroyed the packaging. Those bulbs are packaged in such a way that they cannot be removed without cutting up the cardboard and the plastic wrap. Another way to make sure you keep them. Most stores will take back merchandise only in its original and undamaged package. I barely managed to remove the bulbs without stabbing myself with the point of the knife.

Arrrrggg...We are being screwed without realizing it sometimes and it isn't much fun. And when we do realize it we may say "Ah, screw it. It isn't worth my time to take this garbage back." And that, my friends, is what the manufactures and sellers count on.

Screw it!!