Home Depot, Menards Sued for "False" Lumber Size

[K Frame]

How about another one...

My .30-30 Winchester does NOT contain 30 grains of powder! There was only 26.8 grains of powder in each shell!

I demand millions of dollars of compensation for the missing 3.2 grains!

[RocketMan]

Standards exist for (usually) good reasons.  And they are descriptive enough if one takes the time to read them.
IMNSHO, describing lumber by its finished size would be stupid, not to mention monumentally inefficient.  I sure as hell don't want to tell the guy at HD I need a pallet of 2 1/2 x 3 1/2s.
This is ambulance chasing lawyers wanting a big payout, nothing more.

[bedlamite]

What's a two by four?

Going Oompah Oompah.

[RoadKingLarry]

The lawyer that is defending, you mean. 

Industry standards can be wrong and misleading. Often are. They can and should be updated if they contain inaccurate information. Which they do.

I'm reminded of an incident that took place at a previous job.
I had used a common term associated with electronic circuits and one of the lady office wanks overheard it and made a sexual harassment complaint to HR.
My bosses backed me up fully but HR still thought it would be a good idea for me to apologize to the offended individual.
I told her I was sorry that her poor education and low level of literacy caused her to be offended by an innocuous technical term.

[HeroHog]

Did you ask for a pair of Dikes?

[K Frame]

I'm reminded of an incident that took place at a previous job.
I had used a common term associated with electronic circuits and one of the lady office wanks overheard it and made a sexual harassment complaint to HR.
My bosses backed me up fully but HR still thought it would be a good idea for me to apologize to the offended individual.
I told her I was sorry that her poor education and low level of literacy caused her to be offended by an innocuous technical term.

Distressingly all too common.

I've also heard of the same people getting written up because the idiot was offended by the truth of the apology.

Probably the most famous incident like this was some years ago in DC in which a white bureaucrat used the term 'niggardly' in a written communication. He used it correctly, but a number of his coworkers went berserk. The memo writer was forced to resign his position.

http://articles.latimes.com/1999/jan/29/news/mn-2884

[Perd Hapley]

This really has nothing to do with any industry standard. If the aggrieved party were humans, or knew any humans, they would know that language is very often inexact, and fine print is often so fine that it's invisible.

I have every bit as much ground to sue Wal-Mart for failing to include the sales tax on every price label on the shelves.

[Perd Hapley]

Distressingly all too common.

I've also heard of the same people getting written up because the idiot was offended by the truth of the apology.

Probably the most famous incident like this was some years ago in DC in which a white bureaucrat used the term 'niggardly' in a written communication. He used it correctly, but a number of his coworkers went berserk. The memo writer was forced to resign his position.

http://articles.latimes.com/1999/jan/29/news/mn-2884

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oc1zGRUPztc

[K Frame]

Never underestimate the ease with which someone can be offended by non-offensive things.

[TechMan]

Or just a good old fashioned beat down

With a 2x4...sorry a 1.5x3.5.

[230RN]

....

[Hawkmoon]

With a 2x4...sorry a 1.5x3.5.

Soon to be a 38mm x 89mm

Seriously. I've asked why, if the lumber industry wants us to go metric, they don't round 2x4s off to even numbers like 40mm x 90mm. The answer I got was that the building trades couldn't manage the difference in size between a "real" 2x4 and a 40x90. But I'm old enough to remember that, when I was growing up, a 2x4 was 1-5/8 x 3-5/8. The carpenters somehow survived the downsizing to 1-1/2 x 3-1/2, so I think that would handle a difference of 2mm x 1mm.

The world is insane.

[never_retreat]

This really has nothing to do with any industry standard. If the aggrieved party were humans, or knew any humans, they would know that language is very often inexact, and fine print is often so fine that it's invisible.

I have every bit as much ground to sue Wal-Mart for failing to include the sales tax on every price label on the shelves.

Ah but the state department of theft taxation does not require that.

[p12]

This really is stupid. You're not buying a 2x4 board. Your buying a 2x4 chunk the the tree that has been made useful.


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[MillCreek]

http://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/2017/06/28/dunkin-donuts-sued-over-claims-that-steak-sandwich-doesnt-contain-steak.html

First they came for the 2x4, then they came for the fast-food steak sandwich.

[griz]

I'm reminded of an incident that took place at a previous job.
I had used a common term associated with electronic circuits and one of the lady office wanks overheard it and made a sexual harassment complaint to HR.
My bosses backed me up fully but HR still thought it would be a good idea for me to apologize to the offended individual.
I told her I was sorry that her poor education and low level of literacy caused her to be offended by an innocuous technical term.

In a motorcycle shop I used to work at a long time ago, a customer called the parts department to ask if they had a petcock in stock.  The parts girl hung up on him.

[Mannlicher]

the worst of this story is that such a frivolous law suit even makes it onto a court docket.

[Sideways_8]

the worst of this story is that such a frivolous law suit even makes it onto a court docket.

The size of the wood is very important to some people.

[K Frame]

In a motorcycle shop I used to work at a long time ago, a customer called the parts department to ask if they had a petcock in stock.  The parts girl hung up on him.

During World War II a number of companies, and even the government, had to produce written material aimed at women entering the work force to initiate them into terminology that might sound as if the men were behaving badly.

Petcock, nipple, stud, you name it.

[cordex]

It would be better for measurements to be accurate instead of merely descriptive, but to behave as if nominal measurements in this case are actually deceptive is dishonest on the part of the lawyers filing the suit.  As per usual, this is a class action lawsuit designed to enrich the law firms and will not improve things for anyone else.  Sure, you might end up with a check for $0.34 if you are lucky, but the cost to the businesses (which will be passed along to customers, I guarantee) will be much, much higher.

[Scout26]

My house was built in 1959.  Imagine my surprise and delight in discovering that it was built with actual, by-G_d, 2x4's, 2x6's, and 2x8's.   

[griz]

It would be better for measurements to be accurate instead of merely descriptive, but to behave as if nominal measurements in this case are actually deceptive is dishonest on the part of the lawyers filing the suit.  As per usual, this is a class action lawsuit designed to enrich the law firms and will not improve things for anyone else.  Sure, you might end up with a check for $0.34 if you are lucky, but the cost to the businesses (which will be passed along to customers, I guarantee) will be much, much higher.

Same as when Subway was sued because one of their footlong sandwiches was less than one foot long.  It was a class action suit, the lawyers got half a million, the nine or ten "victims" got I believe $500 apiece.  Legal extortion.

[KD5NRH]

This really is stupid. You're not buying a 2x4 board. Your buying a 2x4 chunk the the tree that has been made useful.

So why not call it a tree?

Maybe I could market some burgers as 25 pounders because the original package of beef was that size, or 1200 pounders because the cow had to be "made useful."

[cordex]

So why not call it a tree?

Maybe I could market some burgers as 25 pounders because the original package of beef was that size, or 1200 pounders because the cow had to be "made useful."

More like selling a burger by its pre-cooked weight. Oh, wait, they do that.

[KD5NRH]

More like selling a burger by its pre-cooked weight. Oh, wait, they do that.

Except that generally, burgers aren't cooked to a precise weight, so only the precooked weight can be an accurate measure.  Nor is anyone really planning anything based on the weight of a burger patty, whereas the size of lumber is critical to properly building with it.