I'm trying to find an indoor light switch cover that protects the switch from accidental shut off. I've seen them before, but can't find them in stores or on the web. I assume that's because I don't know what they are called.
What I'm looking for has a curved part that covers the switch itself, but you can stick your finger in on one side if you want to turn the switch off. It's designed for those wall switches that people don't normally want turned off, but do not want removed.
I made a rather crude drawing of what I'm looking for:
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If anybody knows what they are called or where I can get them, I'd appreciate it.
Ask at a real electrical supply outlet about safety locks or guards for switches. With a description of what you're trying to do, I'm sure they could help you.
In a pinch, I suspect you could get a heavy duty cable/conduit/plumbing mounting bracket to simulate your drawing.
Basically, a metal U, with two holes in the end legs spaced properly to fit over the cover plate mounting screws. You can get them in PVC too.
Electrical suppliers will have those in with the electrical conduit.
If it is what I am thinking of, it is a Mulberry Switch Guard #40460. It looks like a stainless steel pipe strap and mounts on an existing wall plate. You'll probably have to get it from an electrical supply house.
I just have a thing about pulling up a one ounce item on a website for $2.99 and being told that shipping will be between $10 and $70 depending on the method. I don't expect free shipping, but I buy a lot of things on line and that just strikes me as high. I found another place that will ship a dozen for $7.99, but I only need three at the most. When a single package is the same cost as half a dozen, and I don't need it immediately, I'm tempted to wait for a better answer.
If it were essential, I might have just ordered them anyway, but I figured that somebody else might post something. And now I saw a couple of posts that said I can try Home Depot, so I might as well do that instead.
| > > Thanks. A search on "Switch guard" found a few items, and the closest | one | > > was the Hemco switch guard. | > >
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. The trick will be | > > finding one. | >
| > Not to ask the obvious, but why not order it from the web site where you | > found it? | >
| | I just have a thing about pulling up a one ounce item on a website for $2.99 | and being told that shipping will be between $10 and $70 depending on the | method. I don't expect free shipping, but I buy a lot of things on line and | that just strikes me as high. I found another place that will ship a dozen | for $7.99, but I only need three at the most. When a single package is the | same cost as half a dozen, and I don't need it immediately, I'm tempted to | wait for a better answer. | | If it were essential, I might have just ordered them anyway, but I figured | that somebody else might post something. And now I saw a couple of posts | that said I can try Home Depot, so I might as well do that instead. | I realize we're not talking cigars here but the site
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I buy mine from charges $2 for basic shipping (3 days to my front door). Depending on the company's shipping volume some are able to ship quite cheaply.
All companies are able to ship quite cheaply. Putting a switch plate cover in a padded envelope shouldn't need more than two or three stamps. That's
37 cents for the first ounce and 23 cents for each additional ounce. They can get a box or envelope from the post office and send it to me by priority mail for about $3.
The problem is that companies charge for "shipping and handling." Handling is a phony concept. It's a way of splitting the price for any item into two pieces and disclosing only one of them to make the price look low. Yes, there are legitimate costs for handling. If I buy it at Home Depot, they have to pay somebody to stock it. My neighborhood hardware store would have to pay somebody to put it on a peg on a shelf. Both would have to pay a cashier to ring it up, put it in a bag, and process my credit card. Handling costs are typically lower for mail order companies, which do not need a showroom or to go through the process of putting things on display. They and retailers both need warehouses. Regular stores have the extra step of stocking the merchandise instead of getting it to the shipping clerk. But the latter can be automated and the former cannot.
Could you image the reaction if you checked out at a supermarket and somebody tacked on an extra five dollars and said it's for handling? Of course they have handling costs. All companies have operational costs and they factor that into their selling price. Sometimes they even lose money on the deal. If I show up at a cash register with a 39 cent item with a missing bar code, they will probably lose money on my purchase. But companies have to figure all that out when they set prices, and that's why a switch plate cover might sell for $3 in the first place when it costs pennies to manufacture.
Companies should just come up with the real price of the item and tell us what it is. They should charge for actual shipping. If we want to save money by getting multiple items shipped at the same time, that's legitimate. If they want to give volume discounts because it's almost as cheap to send me a dozen as it is to send me one, they can do that too. But when they tell me that something is $3 when they are really going to charge me $10 plus actual shipping, I don't consider that honest.
if you think the grocery store or the hardware store doesnt charge you a handling charge because its not seperated out, well, you're wrong. the item price already has all that overhead built into it and then some. the issue here is awareness. you're more aware when the charges are seperated out.
come up with a TOTAL price and buy it or dont. you'll just outsmart yourself if you get too hung up on what costs go where and take pointless moral high ground.
But that was exactly my point from the beginning. I'd like to know the cost up front. As I said, it's not that the grocery store does not factor handling into its price, it's that they don't try to sneak it in at the end after offering me a lower price.
Many Internet merchants do exactly the opposite of that. They tempt people with a price that is not the complete price and don't tell you the whole price until after you give them your credit card number. With a grocery store or hardware store, you know what you are going to pay when you read the price tag.
But that's exactly what I did. Had they sold a $30 for $10, but charged $15 to ship it when $6 is more reasonable, I'd still think they are not being up front about the true cost, but I'd still buy it since it would still a bargain. It only becomes an issue if I need to return it, in which case they would keep half the money I paid for the actual merchandise, and try to hide that from consumers. In this case, the price was reasonable before I knew the shipping charges, but was not reasonable, or even in line with other Internet merchants when I went to check out. And of course, merchants who do this will never list their shipping prices in their FAQ.
When people take the Infomercial route of telling you that you pay "only" a certain price, and the fine print says +S&H, I have a problem. If somebody says that they have a 15% restocking fee, I can live with that. But when they try to get it out of me by bundling it in as a handling charge, I'd rather not see it done that way. Commercials constantly promise things to people for "only" a certain price, and these days it's more common for them to not even bother advertising the S&H charge. If people weren't fooled by it, I wouldn't mind. But people will tell you that they paid the price that was advertised, not their total cost.
this i will not put up with. i want the price before you get my card number. couple times ive had people change it and i cancelled my order.
if its grossly overinflated i understand your point, but from my experience, you usually save enough buying online to pay the 'handling' charge 4 or 5 times over and it would still be cheaper. over time you still save money even with a return or two. but thats just my opinion. whats more important to me is the reseller rating. id rather pay handling at a company i can trust than take the low road with an unknown.
well, i guess this is kind of the crux of it. commercials are designed to fool people whether directly or indirectly. i dont see any fundamental difference between putting '10$ shipping and handling' in small letters on the screen for .5 seconds (or not even listing the price just +S&H which you find out later) and trying to convince men that buying budweiser will get them the hot chicks. its all trickery. i make a concious effort not to watch commercials.
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