What a waste-why are the fridges on in stores? (Sponsor Home Depot's stores included)

This really pi$$es me off - why are they wasting so much energy by leaving these fridges on? We all know the fridges and freezers get cold so really it serves us no purpose. This isn't isolated to 1 or 2 stores either, every Home Depot I've gone to that has appliances seems to be doing this and I've seen this at other places like Sears as well. I complained about it at HD and was told "some of the employees keep their lunches in them" - Yeah right!! If it were true, then would they need 3 or 4 fridges to be left on?? Shameful ... I think this warrants a letter to Head Office.

@ the irony of Home Depot sponsoring this subforum.

Same reason there are 50+ TVs running at futureshop/bestbuy. People want to see the product running, they want to see a light come on when they open the door.

Originally Posted by bionicbadger

Same reason there are 50+ TVs running at futureshop/bestbuy. People want to see the product running, they want to see a light come on when they open the door.

I agree with the FS/BB situation however it is a little different, as I can understand someone wanting to see the quality of the image but for a fridge there really isn't much to judge between two fridges when it comes to temperature!! "Oooooh this one's -5C! And this one's -5C too! no wait -4.5 maybe? Oh and the light really does come on for every fridge here - who knew?!!!

Not to mention that temperature is adjustable, so there is no real benifit.

People want to see the light come on and brighten the insides. I bet one that doesn't light up won't sell as well... you can always turn the temparature high enough to make it work less I guess.

LOL unplug them!

Originally Posted by mangoman

I agree with the FS/BB situation however it is a little different, as I can understand someone wanting to see the quality of the image but for a fridge there really isn't much to judge between two fridges when it comes to temperature!! "Oooooh this one's -5C! And this one's -5C too! no wait -4.5 maybe? Oh and the light really does come on for every fridge here - who knew?!!!

I am not saying they should leave it on. However, certain fridge needs to be on to see the feature inside clearly (and may even outside such as a TV). Not everyone has good eyes. They should be have an on/off switch outside so that customers can turn it on/off themselves. Or, they can somehow unplug the air compressor and leave the lighting available when the door is open.

Originally Posted by gman

I am not saying they should leave it on. However, certain fridge needs to be on to see the feature inside clearly (and may even outside such as a TV). Not everyone has good eyes. They should be have an on/off switch outside so that customers can turn it on/off themselves. Or, they can somehow unplug the air compressor and leave the lighting available when the door is open.

Hmmm I humbly disagree - my fridge's bulb just burnt out 2 wks ago and I haven't replaced it yet mainly because when I'm in the kitchen getting something there's actually more than enough light to see what's in the fridge!

I still haven't seen any of the TV-fridges in my HD's or Sears (and I would think they would have at most 1 on the floor if they did) and I would say at most 5% of total sales would be affected by someone needing to see what the inside of the fridge looks like lit up? What feature would you need to have the fridge powered up to get a better understanding of (other than the light actually lighting up?). I do realize as well that some of the water/ice-dispensing models now have leds that light up but really they don't bother doing that for the other appliances (dishwasher/washer/dryer). Still a complete waste and sad to see in this day and age.

Originally Posted by mangoman

Hmmm I humbly disagree - my fridge's bulb just burnt out 2 wks ago and I haven't replaced it yet mainly because when I'm in the kitchen getting something there's actually more than enough light to see what's in the fridge!

I still haven't seen any of the TV-fridges in my HD's or Sears (and I would think they would have at most 1 on the floor if they did) and I would say at most 5% of total sales would be affected by someone needing to see what the inside of the fridge looks like lit up? What feature would you need to have the fridge powered up to get a better understanding of (other than the light actually lighting up?). I do realize as well that some of the water/ice-dispensing models now have leds that light up but really they don't bother doing that for the other appliances (dishwasher/washer/dryer). Still a complete waste and sad to see in this day and age.

Your kitchen is low ceiling. Hence, you can see easily. Store has high ceiling and the lighting is not bright enough. You are young and your eyes are good. I am old and I have problem to see if there is not enough light.

There are buttons and stickers inside the fridge sometime and I want to know what it is. It can be dark enough for me to read it. You know your own fridge. Hence, you don't need to read anything inside after you bought it.

I am not buying fridge every other years. If I need to buy a fridge, my knowledge about the new "fridge technology" would be at least 10 years out of date. Hence, I would like to check all these tiny details. No, not just the temperature thing or just the light. I would like to check the material. Is it glass? Is it plastic? What kind of colour that button is? What grade of white? Is it dull white or gross white? What is that button for? What is that cabinet for? What is that funny hole for?

Originally Posted by gman

I am not saying they should leave it on. However, certain fridge needs to be on to see the feature inside clearly (and may even outside such as a TV). Not everyone has good eyes. They should be have an on/off switch outside so that customers can turn it on/off themselves. Or, they can somehow unplug the air compressor and leave the lighting available when the door is open.

This is a stupid argument because you could take any 40w lamp and put it in fridge and leave it on 24/7 and it would use a TINY PERCENTAGE of what even the most efficient fridge uses... never even mind the fact you could use a CFL and make it even more efficient.

This is just HD laziness.

Originally Posted by gman

Your kitchen is low ceiling. Hence, you can see easily. Store has high ceiling and the lighting is not bright enough. You are young and your eyes are good. I am old and I have problem to see if there is not enough light.

There are buttons and stickers inside the fridge sometime and I want to know what it is. It can be dark enough for me to read it. You know your own fridge. Hence, you don't need to read anything inside after you bought it.

I am not buying fridge every other years. If I need to buy a fridge, my knowledge about the new "fridge technology" would be at least 10 years out of date. Hence, I would like to check all these tiny details. No, not just the temperature thing or just the light. I would like to check the material. Is it glass? Is it plastic? What kind of colour that button is? What grade of white? Is it dull white or gross white? What is that button for? What is that cabinet for? What is that funny hole for?

I wouldn't say I'm that young but my eyes are pretty good - that said are you sure you've been in a HD or Sears? The lighting there is brighter than my kitchen or anywhere else in my house.

Glass or plastic? Most people can tell by touching/feeling/knocking it. What kind of colour is a particular button? Are you serious?

Respectfully, I would have to say you fall into the category of <1% of shoppers and I'd say having 1% of shoppers bring in a flashlight so they can check if an inside button is "dull white vs. gross white" over leaving energy hogs on day and night would be far better for everyone (even if they are energuide/energysaver models). In fact with the energy savings, perhaps they could even reduce the prices by $40-50 on that floor model and you wouldn't even care about the interior colour!

Originally Posted by mangoman

I wouldn't say I'm that young but my eyes are pretty good - that said are you sure you've been in a HD or Sears? The lighting there is brighter than my kitchen or anywhere else in my house.

Glass or plastic? Most people can tell by touching/feeling/knocking it. What kind of colour is a particular button? Are you serious?

Respectfully, I would have to say you fall into the category of <1% of shoppers and I'd say having 1% of shoppers bring in a flashlight so they can check if an inside button is "dull white vs. gross white" over leaving energy hogs on day and night would be far better for everyone (even if they are energuide/energysaver models). In fact with the energy savings, perhaps they could even reduce the prices by $40-50 on that floor model and you wouldn't even care about the interior colour!

I think gman's point is it's big 10+ year investment of one of the most important appliances of a home costing between $1000-$5000. He wants to be able to make a solid choice and be happy with that choice for the next decade. I think it's quite understandable. They really should just disconnect the compressor as he also suggested in an earlier post.

Originally Posted by brunes

This is a stupid argument because you could take any 40w lamp and put it in fridge and leave it on 24/7 and it would use a TINY PERCENTAGE of what even the most efficient fridge uses... never even mind the fact you could use a CFL and make it even more efficient.

This is just HD laziness.

I think I did better than that. I suggested to disconnect the compressor and the light turn on only if the door is open instead of a lamp to be on 24/7.

Originally Posted by gman

I think I did better than that. I suggested to disconnect the compressor and the light turn on only if the door is open instead of a lamp to be on 24/7.

But this would require a $50-100 design change across the board for something that is an issue only because of these particular retailers thereby increasing the costs for 100% of the buyers because of 1% of potential buyers?

Fridges were never designed/intended to be run with only their lights enabled (even 10 or 20 years ago). Heck even my Futureshop knows better than to power the fridges. Your solution is quite convoluted for something as minor as this - I would expect this level of "investigative research" for a purchase like a car (but at least in that case car dealers only power up the product when you need to test drive it, otherwise they leave the product sitting unpowered in the showroom/on the lot).