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What Is 'Approximate' for Adv Purposes?

I stopped by a 99 cent store to grab some wire ties, and I also grabbed a box of "BOLTS & NUTS 300 PCS APPROX" also for 99 cents, mainly because I wanted the compartmented box itself, not the hardware.

I got home and popped open the lid, and said, No way! That sure doesn't look like 300 pieces! I counted 126 pieces in all, which is considerably less than 300!

So what does approxzimate mean, for advertising purposes? Should one consider the tolerance + or - 10 percent? 20 percent? 50 percent? In this case, even at 50 percent, 126 pieces fails the test, since it's less than half of 300. Where does one draw the line and determine that it's a flagrant violation of advertising?

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You'll be glad you did! Just when you thought you had all this figured out, the gov't changed it:
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Reply to
Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun, th
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No way 126 is about 300 pieces, unless they were very large or something.

Bill

Reply to
Bill

I'd say anything between roughly 250 and 350 would be "approximately

300". Maybe that's why they were in the 99-cent store- they were incorrectly marked back in China, hence became a liquidation lot.

I paid about $7 US for a nicely organized 25-drawer box of hardware with 1,100 pieces (claimed, no I didn't bother counting them) and thought that was an okay deal, which works out to 156 pieces for 99 cents.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

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Reply to
Spehro Pefhany

If the description was written by a politician, ANY number in the box would be deemed acceptable. Remember "It all depends upon your meaning of the word ALONE?" Sorry, I just had to throw that out there.:)

Reply to
user

wrote

grabbed

because

doesn't

one

In

that

something.

W-w-w-hat?? What's size got to do with it???

(Contrary to the claims of those neverending spams for v!agra, and now later, c!alis..)

Reply to
Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun, th

I wouldn't feel comfortable giving you a box with LESS than 300 pieces, if I was offering it like that..

They obviously intend for you to think that you're getting 300 pieces, maybe more.

Reply to
Dave VanHorn

You need to go back and buy another 100 boxes. The variation should be (based on the current sample) between 126 and 474 with a reasonable gaussian? distribution for it to be correct I suppose.

Reply to
Mjolinor

I'm pretty sure no court would consider 126 to be "approximately 300." The Federal Trade Commission probably has rules, and there is also the tradition of common law and precedent.

If I were you, I'd go back to the store, see if the problem is reproducible, and if so, advise the store manager to mark out "300 pcs approx" on every label.

Reply to
Michael A. Covington

That is a distinct possibility.

Reply to
Michael A. Covington

No, you're thinking of "average." The label said "approx." which implies that *every* value is close to 300, not just the average of the values.

Whether this is a big legal liability depends mainly on whether the customers in the store could see that the label is incorrect.

Reply to
Michael A. Covington

Well, there were about a hundred more boxes sitting on the shelf, leading to the conclusion that they're obviously not the most popular item. So anyone want to contribute a buck to find out?? I go into the store every so often, I'll have to mention this to the owner.

Reply to
Watson A.Name "Watt Sun - the

I am trying to decide if their definition of "approx" is within the range specified. If so then my first post is true. I'll concede half a point though :)

Reply to
Mjolinor

Or it works out to $7 for a nice cabinet.

Reply to
Tom Del Rosso

Since you wanted mainly the box, what does it matter? Will you put another LED-array into it? Or do you just want to store all those cheap LEDs you got at EBay? Then the less parts the better, you could buy 2 boxes and put all the screws in one and have the other free for the led storage.

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Reply to
Ban

"Watson A.Name - \"Watt Sun, the Dark Remover\""

No it's not, 126 base 10 is 330 base 6, so you got 30 base 6 (18 base

10) more parts than you paid for. Please take the extra parts back and complain. 8*)

Did you count the top and bottom of the box separately, and any dividers, stickers, wrapping, etc?

8*) 
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William Smith
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Reply to
William P.N. Smith

Not to mention what "is" is :P

Tim

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Reply to
Tim Williams

He just wants to be an asshole. :-p Er, I mean, uh, curmudgeon.

Tim

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Reply to
Tim Williams

Do I detect a just a taste of sarcasm here? I saw an intertesting travel documentary on Italy last night, talked about how the citizens of Venice built their city out on the water to get away from the barbarians. Hmmm..

Seems like the cheap LEDs are getting used u[p rather quickly because of their premature death rate. I probably won't need to store many of those.

The Polyethylene plastic is difficult to glue things to, so it's a poor prospect for a battery case. I recently took a piece of solid oak and hollowed it out, and I'm proceeding to install a simple blocking osc inverter in it, two LEDs, and one AA cell. It's just one of those weekend projects that I've managed to get into and possibly never out of. ;-)

Actually there's enough room in one box to consolidate five or six more into it. Hmmm... I need some more boxes for small parts storage. Also, these damn nuts & bolts are metric, and you just know how much we Americans hate those metric screws. ;-)

Reply to
Watson A.Name "Watt Sun - the

Take a scale and weigh a bunch of 'em. The difference between 126 and

300 should be readily apparent. 99cent stores are fun. Read the labels. On those items that actually meet labeling requirements, you'll find the concentrations of active ingredients is way less than you'd expect from a "normal" brand... for those that actually have active ingredients. What's normally a 16 oz bottle is only 13oz. mike 
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Reply to
mike

I's like when you go to Walgreens and need a small spray bottle. Empty, it costs $1.99, but full of some crap you don't need, it's 99 cents.

John

Reply to
John Larkin

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