Way too many home appliances these days come with way too short a power cable. The shortest ones so short that they in practice leave the device unusable, unless you have an extension cord.
The reason, naturally, is cost. I am sure that many initial product plans specify a longer cable, but the finance departments are literally cutting the cost and leaving us with stumps. And this will go on as long as the paying customers are going to take it.
Which is why I decided to give a special mention this week for the designer at Philips who managed to get this three-meter-long power cord uncut through the product planning process.
The Philips steam iron is such a delightful exception that I have already bought two and will very likely buy a similar one if I ever need a third (provided of course that it still comes with the designer’s cut). See? Thinking about the user makes sense also from the financial point of view.