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It's part of the business model and as such is a cost that is factored in. The reason that companies have such an easy return policy is for customer satisfaction - to get and keep customers. Look at L.L. Bean for example, who've been in business for a long time.

http://www.llbean.com/customerService/aboutLLBean/guarantee.html

If you don't like a store's policy, don't buy there. I will never buy at a store that has such a restrictive policy.

Conventional "old-fashioned" wisdom was that the hand-cranked ice cream was always smoother. The motorized churn and dasher turned at a consistent speed throughout the process, while the hand-cranked churn turned more and more slowly as the ice cream thickened and it got more difficult to handle. The idea was that this made for smoother ice cream with fewer crystals. LL Bean has a very intriguing human-powered ice cream maker that looks a bit like a soccer ball with a canister inside. The ball gets filled with salt and ice, the canister holds the ice cream ingredients, and you "roll, pass, or shake" it around for twenty minutes or so until it's ice cream. My experience of handcrafted ice cream is that it's less solid than commercial products, and I prefer it that way.

Depending on your style and overall physical stamina (doubtful you have either, being a coder and all) The LL Bean http://llbean.com/ one strap back packs. Do us a favor and pick a subtle color PLEASE... I prefer the Leather Doctors Bag look with a hidden, cushioned, Velcro secured middle section for a full-on 'desktop-replacement' 9lbs (probably puts it at 20kilos or 4kilos, since I am math challenged) including all the legal-sized notepads and various supporting peripheral paraphernalia. I feel like I am in the 70's lugging my suitcase around before it was cool to have wheels on your luggage under the age of 90. But I look great in my Italian suit and a real man's briefcase made of fine Italian Leather. But getting the custom suits to accommodate my 6ft arm is getting expensive. How about a little luggage trolley that all the Metrosexuals are wheeling around town these days? No weight limit, holds everything even a vacuum cleaner to clean the crumbs from lunch

My first recommendation is to only carry small and where possibile, hybrid gear.

Secondly purge your bag weekly.

Thirdly, a small bag with a well padded single shoulder strap seems to put less pressure on joints, nerves, etc. The older you get the more you will appreciate this. It is counter-intuitive but backpacks easily cause me more discomfort, even with a good belt.

I am currently carrying an Eagle Creek Travel Gear shoulder bag. In it I carry:
Sony Clie UX40 in an aluminum case
crap Cell phone (if work didn't pay for this it would be a Treo 650)
Bandana (almost as good as a towel)
2 pens
business cards
Mini flash light
usb ROM stick
mini tape measure
Leatherman Squirt mini-multi-tool
spare stylus
A small Moleskin notebook
earplugs
Sony noise reducing earbuds(passive)
Motorola HS820 BT headset (crap)
2.5 lb convertible Fujitsu Lappy w/extended battery(I fuckin dig this thing!)
Caselogic neoprene DVD Player Case for the laptop.

On the laptop there is easily 500 ebooks including textbooks for school, reference books for work and fiction for downtime. The whole enchilada weighs only 5.5 lbs!

And as soon as I figure out how to get Outlook to wake my laptop out of standby I'll ebay the PDA.

My sister carries a "healthy back bag" from LL Bean that is even more comfortable. I'll try that next.

Take care of your body before it turns on you!

BillyBob

You could always go for an LL Bean backpack. They've extremely comfortable (to me at least), have lots of padding for your back, and have a good amount of room inside the 2 main pockets. As a bonus, you get lots of other pockets to stick 'stuff' in.
LL Bean Backpack

LLbean made a laptop backpack a while ago. I bought one, it was $49. If you've ever had an LLbean backpack, you know that they are rugged, and this bag was no exception. It shows no signs of wear 2 years after I got it. As for features, the padded laptop compartment is nothing terribly fancy, but it keeps your laptop safe using a minimum amount of space. The front compartments aren't specifically made for electronic accesories, but my spare battery fits perfectly in one of the pouches and the interior mesh compartments keep cords separated nicely. Its too bad they discontinuted it and don't offer a similar bag these days.

I'm considering getting one of these J-Pack's for my g/f, but was wondering how heavy/big it is? She's about 5'6" and if it looks gargantuan on her, or feels heavy, she won't use it. Debating between it, and the LL Bean "Little Easy" as recommended by another poster.

Two laptap backpacks that don't look like laptop bags are the Big and Little Easy Pack's from LL Bean.

They are inexpensive (around $49/$59 for little/big) and have the standard backpack straps, messenger bag (sling strap) and briefcase handle.

Two laptap backpacks that don't look like laptop bags are the Big and Little Easy Pack's from LL Bean.

They are inexpensive (around $49/$59 for little/big) and have the standard backpack straps, messenger bag (sling strap) and briefcase handle.

Well, might as well use LL Bean for my examples... HUGE Backpack... Wheeled luggage.. I personally carry something very similar to this.

Well, might as well use LL Bean for my examples... HUGE Backpack... Wheeled luggage.. I personally carry something very similar to this.

Well, might as well use LL Bean for my examples... HUGE Backpack... Wheeled luggage.. I personally carry something very similar to this.

And this bag of mine rocks. This is a camera bag. On the inside are four velcro rails that run vertically from top to bottom on the front and back walls. These are supposed to allow for the attachment (other side of the velcro) of foam-rubber coated with nylon cloth inserts that further compartmentalize it to store camera lenses, equipment etc. I ditched those and got a small laptop bag (that had it's own carrying strap which I stow for when I want to leave everything but the 12" iBook) that fits perfectly inside the camera bag. The velcro rails are the perfect place to attached velcro cable management ties. Two water resistant compartments house some emergency cash, a complete collection of toiletries, stamps, umbrella condoms, regular condoms, a small poncho in case it rains. Side pouches hold chargers for cell phones, iBook, and a multivoltage power adapter, small wind-up style earbud set, crypto cards. Under the flap on the front is space for an assortment of pens (chalk, anyone?) and keychain holder to which I've attached work keys, flashlight, and a usb jump drive. The flap can accomodate a couple blank DVDs and CDs.

The bag shielded well enough all the way around the bag to safely carry a second laptop in with the sleeved iBook, another compartment in the top under the handle houses firewire, usb, ethernet, rj-11, serial cables, etc.

Amazingly, there's still room for the 40 Gig iPod I've almost talked work into buying me for "data mobility purposes," and it still weighs under 15lbs with all the previously enumerated crap (and what I forgot to mention) and the 12" iBook.

This is similar to LL Bean's guarantee. Here's an article which comments on their guarantee.

This is the bag I use, and carry around what seems like 30000 pounds of cables, power supplies, cell phones, books, etc. I've had it for 2 years now and it still looks new. Laptop Bag

No problem. Here is a mirror.

If that mirror is down, try this one.

Here is a mirror.

Found one

Leatherman® Juice Tool
Fun new midsized multitool has a contoured grip to fit comfortably in your hand. Includes pliers, wire cutters and four screwdrivers, micro serrated scissors, a blade, and can and bottle openers. Handle is anodized aluminum so the color will last year after year. 31/4"L closed. USA.

The Sophmore gave me a big hug when I got her one for her birthday this winter.

Many high quality mail order companies have a 100% satisfaction policy. L.L. Bean and Land's End come to mind. They realize that consumers will be fiercely loyal to a company that treats them with respect and acts quickly to correct even perceived problems.

A friend of my mother was getting backpacks out of the closet for her son's start of school and found that the backpack she bought the previous year from L.L. Bean for her son was badly worn and had a broken zipper. She returned it to have the zipper fixed, explaining the situation. They sent a new backpack, no questions asked. She later found the backpack that she had in fact bought the previous year (the one she returned was 5 years old). Needless to say, she has been loyal to the company ever since.

People want to be honest, but they want respect and are willing to pay more to a company that they trust and that gives them the benefit of the doubt. While I hadn't thought of it in this context previously, much of the loyalty to Open Source comes from this kind of experience. Any user that has found a bug and gotten rapid response from developers will never want to go back to the dreaded tech support line to wait an hour to get to the person that knows enough to tell you that it is a known bug and _may_ be fixed in the next release. And the satisfied customer will likely tell his friend.

The flip side of this is that bad experiences are also spread by word of mouth. We must do our best to realize that we are all the company in the open source movement and the customer deserves 100% satisfaction.

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