On my recent flight home I indulged in my favorite airplane pastime, flipping through a Skymall and laughing to myself about all the strange products I can’t imagine anyone would want, much less need.
The most entertaining discovery this trip was the Peugeot Elis Electric Salt & Pepper Combo. This set of ‘Stainless Look’ automated Pepper and Salt Mill runs on AAA batteries and eliminates the need to grind pepper or fresh rock salt by hand. Their value proposition:
“Treat your guests to the elegance of fresh-ground pepper and rock salt without the workout.”
Ha. Someone had to be joking to call grinding salt or pepper a workout, that’s just embarrassing! The best part of it all is the $199 price tag.
On the positive side, this product may have some emotional value because they are sleek and shiny and fit in with contemporary style. One customer review stated what a great conversational piece they are. Additionally, they have some interesting and useful features including a light that enables the user to more easily see the grind amount and several grind settings. They are also treated to resist corrosion and wear. While I can see the lure of having everything in one’s kitchen cutting edge and high tech, to me these seem impractical. Using electronics and batteries to accomplish such a simple task just opens the door to malfunction. Just imagine hosting a dinner for friends and having to leave the table mid-meal to go find batteries for the pepper mill! Automating the process also eliminates the feel of the kernels crushing, a satisfying element of using an “old fashioned” mill.
My original thought was that this design did not really solve a need and was merely someone trying to make a cool product, but based on the reviews this is a great innovation for older people or those lacking good hand function.
I agree with you that this is a great innovation for those lacking good hand function and for oder people. But do you really think that this was the goal and idea behind this product?... mmm, probably NOT
ReplyDeleteI think that humans have to be careful of turning into useless beings. Every day, new amazing technologies in which humans have less control, are developed. This is a clear example of that. When grinding salt or pepper is called a workout,it means that humans are turning into lazy beings who are misunderstanding the whole idea of making their lives easier. We cannot get used to products that we simply turn on and off and it does all the work. I believe that the human interaction with the products becomes very important to consumers when evaluating it. Think of the iPhone as an example of this: it is very simple and intuitive to use but it let's the user interact with it in order to add real value to his life (emails, apps, calls, etc). The users can think of the iPhone as a tool that makes their lives easier and not as a product that makes the consumers feel useless and unable to get the task done...
I think that people are buying this product not to eliminate the "workout" but instead as very pretty grinders that puts them in a high social status. (i.e. to show off)
Thanks Denise!
ReplyDeleteSo, as worried as I am to say this after the probably deservingly scathing post, I do have these salt and pepper grinders. Mine aren't a matching set like the ones pictured above, but they're the same basic idea. I received them as a hand me down from my parents who actually like them so much they've gotten a matching set.(we won't go into the wastefulness of that).
ReplyDeleteRegardless, I can propose a good use for them. My dad uses them for when he's grilling outside. It's often quite dark and he can't see where he's salting or peppering otherwise. That's why he has them. My mom likes them because they're stainless and a good conversation piece. For as useless as they may be, she really likes having them. Her father always used Peugeot pepper mills and she likes keeping up with that tradition in the modern form factor.
For my part I really like them because I can use them one handed when I'm cooking. Sure it wouldn't be hard for me to put the spoon down and grind my own pepper...but they were free for me, so I'm going to enjoy them.
In conclusion, they are completely unnecessary, and I love them.
I agree on the accessibility part of the product. For those with arthritis and other disabilities, this would help. At the same time, I think you hit on some interesting aspects of the "crushing" feel of the pepper. The tactile experience allows the user to feel in control as well as contributing to the artisinal quality of fresh pepper. Nice review and insight.
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