With the complete meltdown of the free market system as we speak, it seems odd timing that the Neiman Marcus Christmas Book would come out this week. Not to be outdone with previous gifts like a personal submarine or 18 karat gold cell phone, the high end retailer released their annual holiday catalogue which included such fine gifts as a his & hers full size LEGO sculpture, training session with the Harlem Globe Trotters (eat that, Chris Carmichael,) and $10 million thoroughbred racing stable package. (If you’re going to get a thoroughbred racing stable, you HAVE to go with the package. Otherwise, you’re getting ripped off!)
At a time when large companies are having trouble making payroll and the State of California can’t issue short term debt because no one wants to buy it, this throwback to excesses of the marketplace seems out of step with the times. Still, it’s fun for a few (very few) yucks and helped me find this week’s nominee for Dumbest Product of the Week.
Most cyclists I know are coffee fanatics, so it is only fitting that our winner this week is Neiman Marcus’ Portable Espresso Maker. Retailing at $130, this small coffee maker promises to make a single cup of coffee or expresso anywhere with hot water and a coffee pod. Now, I appreciate the creation of a product that does not require batteries or electricity, but the application I find a bit questionable.
With its small size, it seems the enterprising cyclist could put this in a jersey pocket for a caffeinated pick- me-up on a long ride, but how many of us besides Klean Kanteen users are carrying hot water on our bike? And do I really want to drink coffee from a piece of equipment and coffee pod rolling around in my sweaty jersey? This doesn’t seem as convenient or appetizing as it makes itself out to be.
I was also struck by how much this portable espresso maker looks like a mini pump, which would greatly extend its usefulness in my book. Maybe we could shoot coffee into our tires to warm things up a bit and provide some puncture protection. We’d just need to add a presta/schrader switch in addition to regular/decaff. Now that’s something I could get behind.
Enjoy your weekend, and get out and ride your bike.
on Oct 10th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Thank you. Someone *finally* saw through the French PR firm’s onslaught on this expensive hunk o’ plastic.
And it uses only coffee pods, for crying out loud: pre-ground beans left oxidizing for weeks before they’re even sold (let alone consumed) placed in about the most environmentally wasteful packaging possible.
I mean — seriously??
on Oct 21st, 2008 at 12:04 am
LOOKS LIKE
-old school hand pump chemical spayer
-a “tobacco”pipe
-Futuristic weapon
on Dec 19th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
[...] Austin Bike Blog’s Dumbest Product of the Week. I had looked at things Japanese and from Neiman’s but was baffled, what ho’ I found just the thing from posh cycling cloths maker [...]