At 10:15 PM 7/5/01 -0600, you wrote:
>On Wed, 4 Jul 2001 17:14:48 -0600, Michael C. Reid wrote:
>
>>Walmart has compact fluorescents for under $5.00 each!
>
>Does anyone ever question either the safety or quality of such
>devices at a price approaching the unit price overhead cost
>of stocking an empty box on the shelves and printing the coupons?

If Walmart sells them you can be sure they have been tested by UL
or the equivalent and have been given a clean bill of health safety-wise.

These huge retailers have tremendous power over the manufacturers (or
importers)- if they product was complete crap and the customers came
back for refunds or replacements, the manufacturer would pay for it,
and Walmart would probably ship the entire remaining stock from all their
stores back to the supplier. So, chances are, they are "good enough".

An expensive electronic ballast globe type one (11W about US$20) quit
in one of our outdoor fixtures and I dissected it. Fairly marginal parts,
I think I could make good money at $8/unit factory door price, but not
at $2.50. I wonder if anyone has considered combining a CF lamp and
an incandescent, using the latter as a ballast. You'd get a blended
light and save the cost of all the fancy electronic stuff (I know,
bite my tongue).

Best regards,


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