Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/06/19/towelette-app-stores.html
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6 Likes
I have, do to dire necessity, smashed the shit out the paper towel dispenser in our work Boys Room to just get one sheet of thin paper.
So it’s Papasan 1, paper towel dispenser 0
23 Likes
I’m contemning their business model right now
15 Likes
I’ve beat the system by circumventing it.
Don’t need a paper towel if you don’t wash your hands.
(Just kidding!)
24 Likes
I work for the Health Department, we’ll have to come and get you now.
12 Likes
Please let us know when he gets the photo of the non-approved brand of paper towel sitting on top of the empty tork dispenser. It’s just a matter of time.
18 Likes
This could use some large scale crowd sourced civil disobedience.
- Find as many of these dispensers as possible
- Fill 'em up with non-approved paper towels
- Call the company reporting those misloaded dispensers
5 Likes
Obligatory…
31 Likes
Chances are that the dispenser is owned by Tork and rented/leased to the property owner.
We have a similar arrangement at work, and it’s awful. They are responsible for all maintenance, and even though the one in the nearest bathroom has been broken for several months, they’re still getting paid and don’t care about actually fixing it. Our maintenance staff have had an issue raised with them for months and nothing. We’re contractually not allowed to fix/replace the broken one.Our staff just put out a pack of paper towels on the window sill next to the sink and we have to use that.
Hard to believe this is more cost effective than just buying a damn paper towel dispenser and a pallet or three of refills, but I’ve got no say in the matter so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
26 Likes
Yet another sign of the apocalypse.
eta: I’m starting to see more battery-operated dispensers, that spew out a premeasured dollop of towel when you wave your hand in front of the sensor. All it would take is installing a chip in the towel roll, and a chip reader in the dispenser, like printer toner. I’ve already said too much.
14 Likes
I would be surprised if they don’t already do that.
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It sounds like the dispenser is provided for “free,” with the stipulated it is “rented” and the rent is paid by purchasing approved consumables.
If the purchasing company can produce a purchase order and/or invoice showing a non-zero dollar purchase amount for said dispensers, then there are great grounds for claiming a violation of doctrine of first sale and patent exhaustion.
I have seen non-standard paper towel rolls using non-standard sizes and core cuts to attempt to attempt to make them proprietary, but nothing that can’t be solved/retrofitted by a determined maintenance guy.
17 Likes
You know they got rid of “You can only lease and never own,” with phones, why did we go back to it for paper towells? The general rule with this sort of thing is that if the deal is this awful, there is probably some sort of kickback involved.
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There is some interesting case law around the Lexmark lawsuits. IANAL, but it appears the short of it is you can’t use verifying copyright as a means of lockout. I think it even went so far as to say you can’t copyright the phrase used for lockout.
2 Likes
Sounds exactly like what was described to me. We’ve got thousands of the things on campus, though, so one not working in an employee-only area probably isn’t deemed important enough to fix until they need to send someone out for other fixes as well. In the mean time, we’ve got to make do with paper towels for months on end. The local maintenance guy seemed annoyed that he couldn’t just swap it out with a working one.
1 Like
Ever see a truck with a sticker that says “Stay Back 200 feet” or “not responsible for damage”? Maybe your parking garage claims on the stub they aren’t responsible for damage. Of course they are. Putting things in writing doesn’t change liability or infer responsibilities.
Software on the other hand…
7 Likes
I think they are making a misleading claim about the full weight of the law. That weight is Zero. So it isn’t against the law to use your own paper towels, and they will do everything allowed under law (nothing) about it.
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