Slashdot Mirror
Home Improvement Chains Accused of False Advertising Over Lumber Dimensions (consumerist.com)
per unit analyzer writes: According to Consumerist, an attorney has filed a class-action lawsuit charging Home Depot (PDF) and Menards (PDF) with deceptive advertising practices by selling "lumber products that were falsely advertised and labeled as having product dimensions that were not the actual dimensions of the products sold." Now granted, this may be news to the novice DIYer, but overall most folks who are purchasing lumber at home improvement stores know that the so-called trade sizes don't match the actual dimensions of the lumber. Do retailers need to educate naive consumers about every aspect of the items they sell? (Especially industry quirks such as this...) Furthermore, as the article notes, it's hard to see how the plaintiffs have been damaged when these building materials are compatible with the construction of the purchaser's existing buildings. i.e., An "actual" 2x4 would not fit in a wall previously built with standard 2x4s -- selling the something as advertised would actually cause the purchaser more trouble in many cases.
Every few years some ambulance chaser tries this bullshit in the US. All over the world timber is sold using the undressed dimensions, it's been that way since the dead sea caught the sniffles. IMO the court should declare the suit frivolous and force him to refund the money (with interest) to the people who have joined his class action con job.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
These dimensions have been industry standards for 60 years or more ...
If you are actually expecting a 2x4 to be 2" x 4", then that tells us, right off, you have no idea what you're doing.
I'm remodeling a house right now (today, not this very second.) It has 2x4s. TWO by FOURS. It has support beams placed every 4 feet. (Not 3.5', and not 8'.) It was built in 1895, so there's the other side of the redefinition bracket.
A few helpers have remarked, "This is an actual 2x4. Wow, you don't see that every day -- how about that!"
The timber industry (or home repair? Who??) decades ago redefined the size. They shouldn't have but they did, and nobody cared to call them on it. Too late now.
They should try something more productive, like fixing "Unimited Usage" advertised by ISPs and Wireless Carriers. I'm sure they'll have more success.
If the universe is someone's simulation -- does that mean the stars are just stuck pixels?
Not the same at all:
A 2x4 used to be a "raw" 2 inches by 4 inches to the center of the saw blade. However you could expect them to be 1/16-1/4 inch short on each dimension due to "curf", which is the width of material removed by the saw blade.
Those were building standards for 100 years. Today, lumber yards sell 2x4 being 3/4 of an inch short on all dimensions. This allows more boards cut from the raw logs but also cheats the customer out of the full width, breadth and length since they charge the same price. Boards don't match if your remodeling and don't have the strength. The bottom line is mills and yards changed dimensions to get more money for less lumber. When you're selling 10's of millions of board feet, a few inches per board adds up to real money
To equate to your hard drive example, this year you buy a 64Gb drive for $20, Next year you buy a drive packaged in a 64Gb container but it only has 50Gb raw storage in the same packaging and price as the previous 64Gb device. so, no, not the same.
Not at all true. The finished sizes of dimensional lumber sizes have been reduced four times in 1910, 1928, 1956, and 1961. Rough cut lumber hasn't been full size since the 1800's. Every time the lumber companies get together they cut the size.