Why Can't I Buy a Broom that Lasts Forever?

My mom has a broom in her closet that is almost as old as me. I find this amazing. More amazing is the little hand broom I have in my house that is almost a hundred years old. And guess what? It still serves a purpose.

So why is it so difficult to buy a mop or broom these days that lasts more than a month or two?

I was sweeping my bathroom the other day when my broom handle literally broke into two pieces. I wasn't using it as a crutch or whacking the cats with it either.

I have four 'headless' sponge mop handles. I cannot buy the replacement sponges for them anywhere. I got smart one year and when I bought my twentieth new mop, I bought all the replacement heads they had on display thinking I would never, ever run out. Guess what, the mop handle broke and they redesigned it so the old replacement heads don't work on the new handle. Imagine that.

I believe this is an ingenious marketing ploy on the part of the mop and broom manufacturers. Much like the modules in cars I complained about in a previous post, I believe the mop and broom manufacturers have no incentive to make the mop or broom that lasts forever. If they did that, then you would simply buy your preferred cleaning device and that would be it. All the mop and broom manufacturers would be out of business overnight.

Oh, and I love the Swiffer! Seriously, I have one of these, but come on, is this really a step forward? Every time I clean, I go through a box of those little tissue-thingy's that are supposed to pick up every piece of lint, crumb and dust. Two square feet and this lint magnet is done. Do the whole room and you can toss the empty box and add Swiffer refil to the shopping list. If you are seriously into cleaning (which I am not), you could buy twenty brooms in a year for what you would spend on Swiffer replacement tissues.

And the Swiffer handles are a joke. There's no substance, it feels like a toy. Give it to your toddler and have them dust the floors! At least it will keep them occupied so you can get on to more important things, like ranting on your blog about inadequate cleaning implements.

Out of curiosity, I Googled 'the last mop you'll ever buy' and the first item that appeared was the Smart Mop. Supposedly this mop will clean up anything, including sand. A mop that cleans up sand? The website claims you will never have to sweep or vacuum again, just do it all with this mop. If anyone has any experience with this, I'd love to hear about it. I am thinking about ordering one just to see if it really works.

The thing I hate about these 'amazing' offers, however, is that they always want to throw in the 'free bonus'. Well, like most things in life, if it appears to good to be true, it is. They always get you with the 'just pay separate shipping and handling'. So the amazing price of $20 ends up costing more like $40 by the time you get all the 'free' bonuses.

Okay, enough ranting for today. Time to get back to work.

By the way, I've found the very best way to get the floor really clean is the same way Cinderella did--on hands and knees with a very good rag and a bucket of hot water with your favorite cleaning solution. Besides, if your family sees you on your hands and knees scrubbing the floors, perhaps they'll take pity on you and buy you a new mop!