October 31, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Oil company mug

Maite Montoya writes in:

PEMEX, Mexico's national oil company, gave a promotional mug to their employees and friends. It is one of those mugs that changes color when it gets hot. When cold, the mug displays a landscape with trees and a hill of some kind in all black, as if covered in black oil.

When you pour some hot liquid in the mug, the trees disappear and an oil rig and some tankers at sea appear with what looks like a black oil spill in the water. Also, the trees are still partially visible on the background, but now they look like heavy brown smog. Disturbing!

October 30, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Best Western e-mail unsubscribe

Joe Rybicki points out:

Attached is a photo of the beginning of the ridiculously long unsubscribe form/survey that Best Western directs you to when you click the unsubscribe link at the bottom of one of the e-mails they automatically send out to anyone who has ever booked a room with them online.

Which of these options for unsubscribing would you be most likely to first choose?

1. Select this option if you do not want Best Western, its affiliates and subsidiaries (the "BW Companies") to communicate with you via e-mail about the Bestwestern.com promotions and special offers.

2. Select this option if you do not want the BW Companies' related travel partners to communicate with you via email about promotions and offers related to the Gold Crown Club International newsletter. (Includes monthly statement).

3. Select this option if you do not want to receive any communications via e-mail from the BW Companies or its travel partners regarding all Best Western and Best Western related promotions and offers. [Checking this box will mean that you no longer receive Best Western surveys, Gold Crown Club International communications, Best Western Travel Card communications and/or any other Best Western offers]

Which one do you think will actually fully unsubscribe you? Careful -- remember to check your work.

October 28, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: (Fixed) GPS For Less terms and conditions page

Paul Isaac M. Sto. Domingo points out:

The terms and conditions page in the GPS For Less website now contains black text instead of white text on a white background.

This is the fix to the error posted on This is Broken on December 6, 2005.

October 27, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Fishing lure advertisement

A reader points out:

This Berkley Gulp fishing lure advertisement is from a Bass Pro catalog.

The fishing lure material is described as plastic, however there is a "Plastic-Free 100% biodegradable" indicator on the ad.

If the fishing lure is indeed not made of plastic, then they should provide the exact description of the material. Otherwise, if the fishing lure is made of plastic then they should eliminate the "Plastic-Free 100% biodegradable" icon from the ad.

October 26, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: (Just for Fun) Wristband

Kyle Rosenburg points out:

Funny that out of all of my brother's wristbands, this one is first to break.

October 25, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Harris Poll navigation

Jeff Chausse writes in:

I was invited by Harris Poll to fill out an online satisfaction survey, run by Harris Interactive. 

It's a typical multi-page survey, but the "Next" button is on the lower left corner of the screen and the "Back" button is on the lower right corner of the screen -  the survey would be easier to use if the locations of the navigation buttons were switched.

October 24, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: (Just for Fun) Photo opportunity

Paul Graham submits a picture taken in London, England:

Someone spraypainted "this is not a photo opportunity" on the base of a statue across the river from Big Ben and the parliament buildings in London.  It was a good photo opportunity.

October 23, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Cash machine sign

Kevin Micalizzi submits a picture taken in England:

I was recently on a trip to England and came across this sign on a trash bin at the South Mimms auto service area. 

Every trash bin has this sign that says "Cash machine here."

I personally wasn't willing to reach in the garbage can to find the cash machine.

It would have made more sense for the sign on the trash can to say "Cash Machine" and then have an arrow under the text pointing in the direction of the cash machine.

October 21, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Windows Explorer error

Nick Paton points out:

Windows Explorer stopped responding and this window came up. The window presents reasonable options until the last choice - "Wait for the program to respond."

If the program really wasn't responding, it wouldn't magically start responding again. To make matters worse, if you click the "Wait for the program to respond" link the window disappears and than two seconds later it comes up again!

October 20, 2006 12:23 AM

Broken: Hand soap dispenser location

Robert Hoekman points out:

This hand soap dispenser was foolishly placed on the back side of a restroom door.

So the workflow, for some unlucky winners, is something like:

1) Use restroom.

2) Dispense soap onto hands.

3) Get injured as someone walks in and flings the door into your head.

Of course, you never know when it will happen, so you just have to hope luck is on your side.

Broken: Tomato description

Erik Andersson writes in:

The picture above shows a rather odd looking sign at my local food store here in Huddinge, Sweden.

The sign says "Swedish tomatoes, (from Holland)."

How are the tomatoes Swedish when they where grown in Holland?

October 19, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Amtrak stairway

Alex Moseson submits a picture taken in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:

This “stairway to nowhere” is on a train platform in Amtrak’s 30th Street Station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It leads directly to… a solid cinderblock wall.

I noted its brokenness to some passersby, one of which happened to be retired from Amtrak. He told me that decades ago, it used to lead to another platform which is now closed. It remains as an odd sight now.

October 18, 2006 12:23 AM

Broken: Name abbreviation on logo

Chris Barr submits a picture taken in Panama City, Florida:

I saw this logo on an SUV in a parking lot in.  The company is called "Fluid Sealing Components" but the logo above contains "SSC." 

Shouldn't the logo be "FSC" to reflect the subtitle below it? 

With that in mind, I have no idea what SSC stands for since there was nothing else besides a phone number on the truck.

Broken: Drink vending machine

Michael Flarn Norton submits a picture taken in Niagara Falls, Canada:

The screen of the vending machine reads "COLA," but the vending machine features water as the only option.

Also, charging $2.50 is a very unreasonable price for a small bottle of water.

October 17, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Denver Library notice

A reader named Dusty Gilbert writes in:

I received an email from the Denver Public Library notifying me that a book was 10 days overdue.  At .25 cents a day, I now owe $2.50 in fines. 

Why is the notice sent so long after the fact?  Clearly the focus of the system is to extract fines and not the return of their material.  The Colorado Springs Library sends out an email notice the day *before* books are overdue. 

Can anyone add a similar experience with their local library so I can convince mine to improve their system?

In another example of the system's poor design, the system notifies you when a hold you placed has been filled but doesn't bother to tell you what it is that is available. 

I guess you are supposed to remember all the holds you placed and then guess which one was filled.

October 16, 2006 09:15 AM

Broken: Spurious "copyright area" sign

Commenting on a sign declaring a "copyright-protected area", Cory comments on BoingBoing today:

"One of the side-effects of the entertainment industry's war on copying is that it's created a kind of folk-mythology about copyright being a kind of magic word you can invoke to put a fence around anything that you want to police."

Link

Broken: USPS change of address notification

Paul Schreiber submits a picture from Esthr's Flickr photostream:

Please notify the United States Postal Service to notify the United States Postal Service that the recipient has a new address.

October 14, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Chevy Chase Bank e-statements

A reader named Kim points out:

Chevy Chase Bank just recently gave customers access to electronic statements online, but the list of statments is in order ascending by date. 

What are the chances that I want to see the oldest statment available to me? It is much more user-friendly to have the most recent statements at the top and the oldest statements at the bottom. I shouldn't have to scroll to see the most recent statment.

October 13, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Science Fiction Book club flyer

A reader named  C. D. Tavares writes in:

This flyer from the Science Fiction Book club promises:

All books in the enclosed catalog and flyers $9.99 each.
It's that simple.
No strings attached.
End of story.

But on the opposite side the flyer says:

- Please note: Harry Potter books and Eldest are not eligible for the $9.99 offer. Orders for these books will be priced at regular Club price

- Offer subject to change

The advertising line "End of Story" is inappropriate for this promotion.

October 12, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Cuyama town info sign

Ernie Glenesk submits a picture taken in Cuyama, California:

What is the total trying to describe exactly?

October 11, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Furnace switch

David Sauder points out:

It's hard to imagine anything simpler - or more familiar - than an ordinary light switch.  Which makes it a good choice for an emergency application: the user won't have to stop and figure out how the switch
works because it is something they use every day.   

For most switches "on" is up and "off" is down.  However, that isn't always the case, so adding on/off labels is a good idea. 

But in this case, the labels don't clarify matters, they confuse them.   If the switch is pointing to "Off", it's really "On", and vice versa.  Imagine how much clearer this would have been if they had reversed the position of the on/off labels and left the arrows off completely.

October 10, 2006 01:48 PM

Broken: Synopsis on PHC film website

I'm a fan of Prairie Home Companion - the show, the movie, and its host "GK" - but not of the film's website.

Just one example: the synopsis is shown in Flash text (ouch) in a scratchy typewriter font, in a tiny size, in light gray text, on a slightly lighter gray background,... and then faded, to look extra old.

I've seen poorly displayed text, but this is really a humdinger. The designers of this site really, really don't want anyone to read the synopsis!

Hey designers: online, the ink is free - how about some contrast, and size, on the text?

See also: Past posts on this topic - 1, 2, 3.

Broken: Two taps

Sean Cohen writes in:

There are quite a few public bathrooms where you'll see on the sink two taps - "hot" and "cold."

Under what circumstances would a person want to wash their hands under *either* scalding hot or freezing cold water, but not some combination of the two?

October 9, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Surgery sign

Dan Thornton submits a picture taken in Dublin, Ireland:

This surgery sign was taken on a main street in the center of Dublin.

If they can't keep their sign in good condition I fear how I would actually be treated in surgery!

October 7, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Mobile Marketing Association search term limit

Roland Reinhart writes in:

I visited the Mobile Marketing Association Web site www.mmaglobal.com and found the site search function to be very odd.

The site search explicitly states "Keywords shorter than 5 characters will be ignored"

Well, typical keywords for mobile marketing include: SMS, MMS, WAP, PSMS, TXT, text - all of which are 3-4 characters long.

This just struck me as not very user friendly.

October 6, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Dryer rack

Jem Stone submits a picture taken in Brighton, UK:

I spotted this clothes dryer rack at the UK branch of Habitat.

The label for this clothes dryer rack reads:

"Do not put wet clothes on this airer. It is suitable for the airing of dry clothes only- not the drying of wet clothes.

Some colour may transfer from the wood if wet items are placed on it"

Who uses an a clothes dryer rack for clothes that aren't damp or wet? Why would you want to air out clothes that are already dry?

October 5, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Auto Zone job application

A reader named Brett writes in:

This is a picture of a part of a paper employment application for AutoZone.

In the "Reason for leaving your previous job" section of the application, they ask you to be specific but there is only text space big enough to write 3 words, which definitely doesn't allow enough space for a specific explanation!

October 4, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: GE remote control packaging

Damon Van Vessem writes in:

This GE universal remote control came in one of those nuclear-blast-proof plastic packages, which are impossible to open without some scissors and cursing.

The remote's instructions were hidden in the packaging between two layers of cardboard. Even though I tried to cut the packaging as cleanly as possible, when the remote was finally liberated, the instructions came out in pieces!

There has to be a better way to package the remote so you don't struggle with opening it and end up cutting up the instructions even when you try to open it up as carefully as possible.

October 3, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Warning sign

Deric Bundy writes in:

Here is a picture of a sign I saw in Texas.

If people aren't going to pay attention to the warning signs in the first place, is putting out another sign telling them to obey the signs that they're already ignoring really going to help?

October 2, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Oktoberfest date

Salem Whalen submits a picture taken in Sierra Vista, Arizona.