{"id":30143,"date":"2006-08-11T10:00:45","date_gmt":"2006-08-11T10:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.msdn.microsoft.com\/oldnewthing\/2006\/08\/11\/exploiting-the-inattentive-episode-2-the-unlabeled-line\/"},"modified":"2006-08-11T10:00:45","modified_gmt":"2006-08-11T10:00:45","slug":"exploiting-the-inattentive-episode-2-the-unlabeled-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/oldnewthing\/20060811-45\/?p=30143","title":{"rendered":"Exploiting the inattentive, episode 2: The unlabeled line"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Episode 1<\/a> we learned that “Snide” brand powdered laundry detergent comes with a scoop that holds 5\/8 cup detergent, even though the directions call for only 3\/8 cup. The intent here is to get people to use more detergent than necessary, thereby increasing sales. A box of detergent which should be sufficient for 30 loads ends up running out after only 18. Consider it “technically legal” mislabeling.\n I returned to Snide brand powdered laundry detergent this week and discovered that they have taken this little trick to a new level. The markings on the side of the scoop read like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
 <\/td>\n2<\/font> <\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
 <\/td>\n1<\/font> <\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
 <\/td>\n  <\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
 <\/td>\n  <\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

The accompanying instructions give these instructions for how much detergent to use:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Fill to bottom line <\/td>\n(3\/8 cup) <\/td>\nfor normal loads.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Fill to line 1 <\/td>\n(1\/2 cup) <\/td>\nfor large loads.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Fill to line 2 <\/td>\n(3\/4 cup) <\/td>\nfor extra-soiled loads.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

Notice that the amount of detergent you’re supposed to use on a regular basis is indicated by the bottom unmarked line<\/strong>, the one you will barely notice. Meanwhile, if you’re inattentive and use the entire scoop, you’ve used one cup of detergent, over twice as much as you were intending.<\/p>\n

My prediction: The next time I buy Snide brand powdered laundry detergent, the scoop will be 1½ cups, with an unlabeled line at 1\/2 cup, another line at 3\/4 cup labeled “1” and a third line at 1 cup labeled “2”. The instructions will go something like this: <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Fill halfway to line 1 <\/td>\n(3\/8 cup) <\/td>\nfor normal loads.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Fill to bottom line <\/td>\n(1\/2 cup) <\/td>\nfor large loads.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Fill to line 1 <\/td>\n(3\/4 cup) <\/td>\nfor extra-soiled loads.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Episode 1 we learned that “Snide” brand powdered laundry detergent comes with a scoop that holds 5\/8 cup detergent, even though the directions call for only 3\/8 cup. The intent here is to get people to use more detergent than necessary, thereby increasing sales. A box of detergent which should be sufficient for 30 loads ends up running […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1069,"featured_media":111744,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[132,103],"class_list":["post-30143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-oldnewthing","tag-exploiting-the-inattentive","tag-non-computer"],"acf":[],"blog_post_summary":"

In Episode 1 we learned that “Snide” brand powdered laundry detergent comes with a scoop that holds 5\/8 cup detergent, even though the directions call for only 3\/8 cup. The intent here is to get people to use more detergent than necessary, thereby increasing sales. A box of detergent which should be sufficient for 30 loads ends up running […]<\/p>\n","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/oldnewthing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/oldnewthing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/oldnewthing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/oldnewthing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1069"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/oldnewthing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/oldnewthing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/oldnewthing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/oldnewthing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/oldnewthing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/oldnewthing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}