Re:Home Depot is introducing power tools that won’t work if ...
by dahart on Monday August 02, 2021 @10:19AM
(#28036839)
> Why don’t they just take the batteries and/or motors out of the products on the shelves?
I don’t know, but two reasons I can imagine are:
- It may be much more expensive to have to install motors at checkout. That would mean needing all motorized tools to be designed with removable motors, which most are currently not. That would almost certainly mean a skilled staffing increase company-wide to find & fetch & install motors, a reduction in customer experience having to wait for it, running the risk of having the motor out of stock, etc. I’d speculate that a commodity chip inserted into the power circuit is a very cheap solution in comparison, and perhaps something Home Depot can do now without asking the manufacturers for anything.
- The cutoff circuitry can potentially be sold and marketed as a consumer feature. If the customer can also walk away with a tool they can disable, then the solution helps second-hand theft too. I’d bet that contractors would absolutely love the ability to disable and even track their tools using a smart-phone app.
I don’t know, but two reasons I can imagine are:
- It may be much more expensive to have to install motors at checkout. That would mean needing all motorized tools to be designed with removable motors, which most are currently not. That would almost certainly mean a skilled staffing increase company-wide to find & fetch & install motors, a reduction in customer experience having to wait for it, running the risk of having the motor out of stock, etc. I’d speculate that a commodity chip inserted into the power circuit is a very cheap solution in comparison, and perhaps something Home Depot can do now without asking the manufacturers for anything.
- The cutoff circuitry can potentially be sold and marketed as a consumer feature. If the customer can also walk away with a tool they can disable, then the solution helps second-hand theft too. I’d bet that contractors would absolutely love the ability to disable and even track their tools using a smart-phone app.