Dymo Labeler
Alternate Title? “How to design products, find hands on users and consult them”.
It was on sale! I’ve wanted one for years and years, but figured it would be another gadget with dead batteries when wanted to use it. But for $19.99 on sale, I had to give it a try.
All was going fine.. , I thought I had the Male’s version of this product after making a good number of labels… many on wiring, and what a help! No need to read the directions (an important thing).
So I was labeling my collection of new plastic coffee cans.. “MISC Springs”, “PEX Fittings”… and then… I got to that can of 5/16-18 Bolts.
Where’s the slash? Better yet… Where’s the Dash? This is bad news. Perhaps I go through the trash and see if I can find the directions?
Nope,…. there’s no shift button, but there is an insert button that will allow you to scroll through a long menu and even pick a picture of a person putting something into a trash can, my Grandson Zach would think that’s a must, but he’s four.
I do remember that first dymo labeler at work.. that rotary dial, and the must have slash! No guy can survive without a forward slash!
This unit likely made sense to those who designed it… Perhaps the labeler was made in a foreign country?, maybe a slash and a dash are marks of a bad omen there?
The first buttons… a>J are multi function they are marked 0-9 as well, and you need push a button marked 123 to select them, and then a button A-a to return to the alphabet.
Of course, the code warriors will push the K button after printing a numeral just to see what happens, because they would have designed it to print something even if it were undocumented. they’d have added three seconds of timing BEFORE it happened, no need to tell the boss, she’d likely read the design criteria instructions and nix the idea, it’s likely why we learned not to read directions, it really does limit one’s imagination.
What a waste! two buttons to select either A-Z or 0-9, and no shift button? I can’t FOLLOW THE LOGIC!
If you’re labeling jams and jellies, you may be happy as a cow in clover, but then I thought of the power in one of those inexpensive WIFI boxes, a full blown unix kernel alive and ready to take on your tasks in a multi tasking fashion! like the Cat in the Hat juggling your Grandchildren, the family dog, and all your good dishes! This thing is no better than a hog. If only Commodore had made this… Jeri Ellsworth would have already hacked it. I’d play music, games, and no doubt you’d find “pin ball wizard” by holding down a key for a count of seven, at least you could download her fix..
I paused for a moment… I looked at the DYMO name and the model.. “Letratag”… Hmmm, no doubt I could have given it a better name.. But here I am with the power in my hand (lame as it is) to rename ‘my labeler’…no one can stop me!
OK, I push the Aa button.. now PELO.. nope… it’s no qwerty keyboard, they couldn’t have made it so easy! Ohhh there’s what I need!
And here I reflect,….. I can’t figure out Obamacare either.. Perhaps this labeler was designed by a Politician? Looking for something to do in your retirement years, you’re likely a better engineer than anyone at Dymo..
But my cell phone just rang 281-386-2880 on the caller ID. I’ve just won a free trip to the Bahamas! A great way to start off my day, and time for a second cup of coffee.
Dymo-LePelosi
I’ve had a couple of these. One was paid for and one came with a laser printer as a gift.
The interface suck equally on both of them. On the first one despite being a brand-name like Dymo the tape type became obsolete and I couldn’t find them. And on both of them the tape was prohibitively expensive and I never bought a new real after using the ones that came with it. What finally worked was my wife has a hobby sock business making nice wool socks on 1970s machinery from textile mills. When we ship one we need to print labels with the shipping postage and address all on one label in order to make the shipping something we can accomplish cheaply. That has to happen in seconds or it’s not worth messing with. The label printers made by companies like brother using inexpensive two and three-quarter inch tape can cut little tiny half inch slices off if you want for shop labels. That interfaces with your PC or your smart phone wifi and you can buy like 100 feet for three dollars or four dollars on Amazon.
Bill,…. Beth Buck Naked could have designed it better! Just who is it they hired to design, and what title do they hold? We both know talent working as Walmart Greeters could have done a great job of providing the buyer a good value for the money. ‘LetraTag LT100-H’, that H on the end.. I think it might mean it was designed by Hippies with degrees in Philosophy… all of them in a narcotic stupor.