A recent Bed Bath & Beyond ad circular had a gift suggestion that
caught my eye for weirdness: Battery Storage System. My curiosity
nudged me to look online. Surprisingly, battery storage containers seem to be mainstream.
BB&Y's web page calls it "Battery Daddy",
displaying double-sided storage. It even comes with a built-in battery
tester. Surprising is almost 700 reviews, 4.8 rating. Maybe the optimal
molded design for maximum storage space and built-in tester makes the
product a reasonable purchase. But as a gift, hmmm.
The BB & B circular got me to thinking about my "Hammacher Schlemmer Mmy Oh Mmy" blog article I wrote in December 2016. The company Hammacher Schlemmer
provided me plenty of offerings to, yeah, snicker at. It even inspired
me to come up with a kidding article title. A few eyebrow-raising items:
Battery-operated spinning fork, Stanley Cup-shaped air popcorn popper,
Flameless marshmallow roaster
BB & B sells interesting household items, but sometimes I think
the offerings are messages to spend, spend, spend. The beckoning seems
especially prominent during back-to-school and Christmas time frames.
Anyway, onward to some eye-catchers in the circular, which I found
online!
Drinkware
"New Sports Drinkware", $24.99 to $39.99 image showed a few drink
containers. The price range for such items struck me as pricey. I poked
around the
web page
and found a lot more variety. And sorting for price resulted in a
goodly number of items well below the price minimum of $24.99.
Coalish Soap Bar
The BB & B pic showed "Bad Ass Lump of Coal" in big letters. How
intriguing! The title showed "Duke Cannon 10oz Lump of Coal" for $7.99.
OMG! Eight dollars for a lump of coal! Would this be the 21st century
version of Pet Rock? No! The BB & B web page, and closer look at the ad shows the product to be "Duke Cannon® 10 oz. Big Ass Lump of Coal Activated Charcoal Soap".
Surprisingly, 202 reviews w/4.9 rating. Sigh! Eight bucks for a
gimmicky bar of soap! Also, the circular categorized it as an under-$25
stocking stuffer. Sure, it's under $25, but "stocking stuffer" scope and cost seem to have expanded over time.
Hot Chocolate, 1 1/2-Ounce Spoonful</p>
"Hammond's 1.5oz Milk Chocolate Dunkin Spoon" caught my eye for specific function and cost. BB & B's website ("Hammond's® Milk Hot Chocolate Dunking Spoon") didn't show much detail. Googling "hammond's hot chocolate dunking spoon"
yielded enough info that I inferred that stirring one of the $2.99
items and one cup of hot milk together would make a cup of hot
chocolate. Sorry, seems pricey and overwrought. You want hot chocolate?
Buy a multi pack of hot chocolate powder (Carnation, Nestle, Swiss Miss,
...) at your grocery store, dump an envelopeful into a cup, and pour
boiled water, stirring the stuff. Mmm, remember to buy marshmallows!
Celeb Wrestler Trio Pez Pack
The circular showed a Christmas-themed Pez kit, but I couldn't find
that particular item on BB & B's site. For that matter, as much as
the search field suggested Pez terms, the results showed precious few.
Plain "pez" works ok. An amusing offering—"Pez WWE Gift Set"
for $11.99. Yikes! Only 1.74 ounces of candy! Further digging yields
info about the dispenser heads—Dwayne Johnson (The Rock), John Cena, and
The Undertaker. I'd not heard of The Undertaker till just now. Anyway, WalMart shows a wacky current price of $57.17, and out-of-stock blurb. A little more description and better price is at "WWE Boxed Pez Set - John Cena, The Rock and Undertaker" for $10. Apparently, the Undertaker took over Hulk Hogan's spot.
Popcorn Poppin'
The circular showed a stovetop popcorn popper for $26.99. I searched for "popcorn poppers"
at BB & B's site, and was amazed at so many varieties of devices!
Several of them use microwaving, one is an air popper, and several look
to be stovetop. Something about Whirley Pop seems fussy with needing oil
and watchful eye. Google displayed good results and q/a for "how do you use a whirley pop popcorn maker".
I still use my Wearever air popper from late 70s, nearly identical to "Popcorn Pumper Commercial From The 70's",
adding melted butter and salt afterward. That machine was built to
last! However, if I were to switch to a microwave popper, I'd poke
around Google search results for "best microwave popcorn popper".
Product Hesitancy this Season
Do I sound like a bah humbugger in this article? Hope not by much.
The fast approach of Omicron has discouraged me from casual shopping and
crowds. News of supply-chain problems makes me think all sorts of items
would be in short supply. Lastly, maybe firstly, I consider a lot of
Bed Bath & Beyond's proffered products to be frivolous, expensive,
or both, intended to encourage impulse buying, the novelty to wear off
quickly. Nope, not going there!
I didn't intend on picking on Bed Bath & Beyond, except that
particular circular was a rare arrival this holiday season. In the more
distant past, loads of catalogs and other advertisements used to come in
the mail. However you shop this season, good luck to you!
