Missed Invention Opportunities: HandEase
Years ago, while carrying home tons of groceries in the cheap, thin bags
that Key Foods gives you, I was struck by an invention idea. The thin
bag handles were cutting into the joints of my fingers and no matter how
I shifted, it hurt like hell. All it would take to alleviate that pain
would be some sort of stiff layer that distributed the weight from a
fishing-line thin razor of pain to a more manageable handle.
Rubber tubing seemed ideal, and I envisioned cutting a garden hose into 6 inch sections and then slitting it down the side so that you could easily pop the bags in, grab them, and go.
Having spent the first few years of my employable life working front end at Price Chopper, I figured that front end staff (such as register workers and cashiers) could churn these things out from cheap garden hose and then sell them for a dollar a piece at checkout. All you'd need would be a good pair of shears to cut the hose and you've got brand new revenue stream built upon your existing stock and labor.
There's a hook in the sale too - you can sell these little hand protectors as reusable items and invite shoppers to bring them next time, but you know they'll forget. For a dollar a pop, how many people will just throw them in again with the order when they forget?
Yesterday, I realized that I'd been beaten to the punch. Whole Foods offers these same devices (but mass produced in cardboard) for free as you walk out of the store. They're called Hand-Ease, and there's only an email address (handease AT cox DOT net) and the store logo printed on them, but I was able to find the website through google.
Designed as a circle that folds easily into your hand with two creases running down the middle, and made of 100% post consumer cardboard, they're much more environmentally friendly than my idea, and stores can simply order big boxes of them as an added incentive for customers to shop there. Brilliant work.
