[norm’s razor] the lack of logic in high street retailing

One of the many culprits

From Norman Geras: [This is] the story of my Gillette GII razor and me. I've had it for so long that I don't know how long I've had it. And it works - as well as anything can work for the purpose for which it's designed. But suddenly you can't get the replacement blade for it, and so I had to buy a newfangled thing, supposedly more efficient and groovy. But you just know at once that it's inferior. It's like the difference between … wearing shoes that really fit and wearing shoes that nearly fit but don't. The thing is, the head of my Gillette GII is fixed and easy to manoeuvre; the head of the new razor I had to buy instead isn't and isn't.

This raises the whole question of service and replacement parts, which is a major issue in the former USSR. They have a new product in promotional form, they sell it and that’s that. Need refills, some months later? You’re met with a polite shrug. Another problem, more so in Britain and the US, is that big clothing stores buy one bulk set of, shirts say; the usable sizes of the nice shirts disappear off the shelves quickly and if you try to buy a fortnight later, there are only sizes for either midgets or sumo wrestlers or else the right size in some hideous design. Why don’t major chains realize this? Or do they realize it and not care? Or is it all part of their Chinese job lots?