The Cheap-ass fudging Lighbulb Scam

S

stubhead

Master Member
Messages
4,669
I just had ANOTHER one of those super-saver "Five-Year" cheap-ass lightbulbs burn out, the third in less than four months! They don't last ANY longer, it's just a scam to sell $4 lightbulbs, and now the lovely govt. is going to FORCE them upon us:
http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110011070&mod=RSS_Opinion_Journal&ojrss=frontpage

In a few years you won't even be ABLE to buy a 50c lightbulb, even if you want to.... and only then will we find out it's a scam.... a friend of mine just pulled them all out of his commercial studio, cause of all the racket they generate in the recording gear. :icon_tongue: Maybe it's time to start filling up the spare closet with soon-to-be vintage bootleg lightbulbs, don't you wish you'd invested in five-gallon toilets before the govt. decided people would rather flush six times watching their turd swim around in the new miracle 1/3 gallon jobbies. But, It's All Good!*

*(My New, yet-Vintage Mantra.... :icon_tongue:)
 
I thought voting for more government means everyone gets FREE lightbulbs.  :laughing7:  Jokes on us....or some of us..... :-\
 
I'd rather pay $4 for a lightbulb than a gallon of gas and how long did we have to suffer with that as a reality.  Same gas, just $3 more than it is worth.  I don't know about what you drive, but I expected my vehicles to run better with the gas getting so expensive, better mileage and more power, but alas no, they all ran the same with $4/gallon gas as they did with $1/gallon gas.

Personally I buy the absolute cheapest light bulbs I can find and I am glad if they last longer than a week.  What really sucks about lightbulbs is when one burns out and you don't have any spares. 

My dad has a fetish with those screw in flourescent bulbs, I don't really care for them I kind of think they are a waste of money, but he claims he only buys light bulbs once a year.

Maybe stop buying them at Wal-Mart.  In fact stop buying everything at Wal-Mart, they are part of the reason our economy has went down the toilet.  If everybody in our country boycotted Wallyworld for one day, they would notice.

I am 13 months into my Wal-Mart boycott,  I refuse to send my money to China via Bettonville.  I wish it was like it used to be with mom and pop shops.  Not to mention how terrible Walmart as a whole treats it's employees.  Just don't shop there, it isn't that hard to do once you break the habit.  You will find that you won't spend any more money elsewhere, and even if you might spend a little more, did you ever notice how many companies make things low cost just for walmart..... Schwinn bicycles used to be top quality, until walmart started carrying them, now they are junk.  Fender sells guitars at sams club, I just got done posting something about that in another thread, and as another member pointed out they are junk too.  So all of these good old american companies are selling out and outsourcing their work to other countries to sell us junk at walmart and when walmart comes into town and they force all of their competition out of business.  Well it is a viscious circle, with us americans stuck in the middle.  Walmart moves in, you lose your job, but they sell stuff cheap, so you are ok.  Then you go work for walmart and they treat you like shitee, basically if you are an average working class hero living in america these days you are gonna get fukked by big business or by big government one way or another, so go get some lube and tell yourself that it feels good and after a while you will believe that it does feel good.  Sorry I am a victim of the Wal-mart economy, I used to contract for them, and now I am on a mission to tell everyone I know not to shop there.  I do believe that old man Walton would be spinning in his grave at 5000 RPM if he knew what his namesake has turned into

Someone told me a while ago that there is one state that has no walmarts.  Vermont supposedly has no walmarts.  I don't know if it is true or not, but if it is kudos to each and every resident of the Green Mountain state for keeping those bastards out of their beautiful state.  I try to go skiing in VT or NH every couple of winters, usually southern VT, and I have never seen a Wallyworld in Vermont, so I hope what I heard is correct.
 
The compact fluroescents are a scam.  They are marketed as "green," supposedly because they use a 1/4 of the energy, but contain mercury.  However, my water heater, my oven, the vacuum cleaner, the AC, the heater, the refrigerator, the dishwasher, the wife's hairdryer all use more energy than my lights.  So, I've decreased the energy use of the item in my house that uses the least energy anyway.  Makey no sense.  It's like when Larry David's wife told us to buy compact fluroescents and hybrids because they save energy, but negated it by flying a private jet around the country to tell us about it.

With those compact fluroescents that last forever, keep the receipt.  I've had a few duds, but for the most part the majority have lasted like they said.  I've got two on the porch I haven't turned off in 3 years.  I calculated my kilowatt hour price with the watts they use and how long they've been on, $8 a year.
 
theklanch said:
Maybe stop buying them at Wal-Mart.  In fact stop buying everything at Wal-Mart, they are part of the reason our economy has went down the toilet.  If everybody in our country boycotted Wallyworld for one day, they would notice.

I am 13 months into my Wal-Mart boycott,   I refuse to send my money to China via Bettonville.  I wish it was like it used to be with mom and pop shops.  Not to mention how terrible Walmart as a whole treats it's employees.  Just don't shop there, it isn't that hard to do once you break the habit.  You will find that you won't spend any more money elsewhere, and even if you might spend a little more, did you ever notice how many companies make things low cost just for walmart..... Schwinn bicycles used to be top quality, until walmart started carrying them, now they are junk.  Fender sells guitars at sams club, I just got done posting something about that in another thread, and as another member pointed out they are junk too.  So all of these good old american companies are selling out and outsourcing their work to other countries to sell us junk at walmart and when walmart comes into town and they force all of their competition out of business.  Well it is a viscious circle, with us americans stuck in the middle.  Walmart moves in, you lose your job, but they sell stuff cheap, so you are ok.  Then you go work for walmart and they treat you like shiteee, basically if you are an average working class hero living in america these days you are gonna get fukked by big business or by big government one way or another, so go get some lube and tell yourself that it feels good and after a while you will believe that it does feel good.  Sorry I am a victim of the Wal-mart economy, I used to contract for them, and now I am on a mission to tell everyone I know not to shop there.  I do believe that old man Walton would be spinning in his grave at 5000 RPM if he knew what his namesake has turned into

Someone told me a while ago that there is one state that has no walmarts.  Vermont supposedly has no walmarts.  I don't know if it is true or not, but if it is kudos to each and every resident of the Green Mountain state for keeping those bastards out of their beautiful state.  I try to go skiing in VT or NH every couple of winters, usually southern VT, and I have never seen a Wallyworld in Vermont, so I hope what I heard is correct.
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I too am an unemployed victim of Wal Mart economics.  I used to manage a vendor company that sold to 300 Wal Mart stores throughout the Northeast.  I watched them cut and cut till there was nothing left to cut,  Well, I guess the next thing left was my job, and I was the guy who made sure everyone was happy.  Now I'm out of a job and no one is happy; not me, not my former company, and not even Wal Mart who has lost a lot of the service they used to get from my old company.

Boo hoo, sniff sniff.  I realize now that I'm better off without working with that stupid company.

My real reason to post though was not to cry in my beer (which I can still afford, thank you) but to let you know that unfortunately there are in fact Wal Mart stores in Vermont.  That state is the most resistant to Wal Mart, but there are a few. They try to blend them in.

I totally agree with the Wal Mart boycott though.  Please support your local retailers, and whenever possible, your Made in the USA manufacturers (like Warmoth!)  In this way I will work again, in a meaningful way this time around.

 
Speaking of Wal-Mart... I rarely shop there.  Last month I was in a pinch and had to get some vacuum cleaner filters and Wal-Mart was the only store still opened so I went there.  As I was leaving the store, I noticed a gentleman in front of me heading for the exit with a large box in his cart.  As he approached the exit he asked the Wal-Mart door person if he needed to check his receipt.  The door man never looked at the customer and exclaimed in a condescending tone "We are required to check all large boxes or we will get fired!"  You could tell the door man was not serious so the customer continued to exit the store.  Before the customer had completely exited the store the door man said in a loud voice "What a dork!"

Having been through hours and hours of customer support training, I could not believe the employees would insult the customers.  The customer did hesitate when he heard the insult but then continued on.  I think Wal-Mart needs to instruct their employees to 1) not speak loudly when they insult the customers  2) not insult customers in front of other customers and 3) don't let the customer hear you insult them.  I thinks it's fine for the employees to insult the customers as long as they follow the above rules.  They need to amend their insult section of their employee policy handbook.

And on the light bulbs, I bought my house about eight years ago and I'm still using the same c-f bulbs.

--
Andy
 
That makes me laugh.  The guy working the door at Wal Mart is the arbitrator of who is a dork?  Especially since the alleged customer dork was wheeling out a large screen tv or something, while the true dork was working the door at Wal Mart.  Reminds me of riding the junior high school bus all over again.

And yes, as a former Wal Mart vendor, I know first hand that all Wal Mart employees are in fact required to check all packages that are leaving the store--through the front or back doors.  We have had delivery guys banned from stores simply becuase no Wal Mart employee was available to check their tool box when leaving a store. 

Once again, I'd rather starve than work there.  There is less shame in visiting a food bank than doing the W-A-L M-A-R-T chant every morning.

 
The CF light will go very fast if the wrong current/voltage goes through them.  If you put it on a rheostat it will die fast, or in one of those three click different level lights.  They have to have the ballast in the bottom of the bulb and it needs the correct energy levels to leak the correct current into the bulb.  If it goes no light.  Or the energy levels could be wrong and the ends of the tube will turn black.  This means no more mercury vapor to make UV for the fluorescent material to get go power from, mercury liquid at that point.  In a standard fixture, all things being normal, they should last a long time.  I have not changed mine in a very long time.
Patrick

 
They have to have the ballast in the bottom of the bulb
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Doe this mean that ones mounted sideways are going to blow? That's the mounting for my kitchen light, the one that keeps eating them. If so, what do we do with side-mounted lamps once regular bulbs are illegal? Gooseneck lamps, ceiling fixtures....
 
I am not familiar with the design you are talking about.  If there is not enough room for a ballast on the bulb, then it is in the fixture somewhere.  A ballast is just a choke, or a coil.  They look like a black box that is bolted to the fixture with two wires to them.  They sell them separately at home depot for the 4 foot long fluorescent fixtures, and probably have them for the smaller lights as well, I have never had to look.  But, if the ballast is toast, that will kill the light bulbs really quick by putting too much current through them.  Good luck.
Patrick

 
Patrick from Davis said:
I am not familiar with the design you are talking about. 
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They are the compact fluroscents.  The whole unit is self contained and a direct replacement for a screw in lamp, or lightbulb.

And for voltages being different, I've had a few dud compact fluroescents, only to replace them with a new one and have it last, which leads me to believe it's the bulb and not the voltage quality.
 
Super Turbo Deluxe Custom said:
Patrick from Davis said:
I am not familiar with the design you are talking about. 
Click to expand...

They are the compact fluroscents.  The whole unit is self contained and a direct replacement for a screw in lamp, or lightbulb.

And for voltages being different, I've had a few dud compact fluroescents, only to replace them with a new one and have it last, which leads me to believe it's the bulb and not the voltage quality.
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I have a dud one one just above me. It blew out the other night and started to flicker on and off non stop incredibly fast. I was afriad of a seizure. :-\

But they ARE better (if you get good ones) Most of the ones we got last longer and I assume because of the lesser voltages (if thats what you call it), it costs less.
 
Wana's_makin'_a_guitar said:
lesser voltages (if thats what you call it), it costs less.
Click to expand...

Lower wattage. 

Doesn't matter though.  If incandescents are the equivalent of 8-tracks, CFs would be cassettes.  LEDs will be the CDs.
 
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