Why European regulations are useful!

Since we’ve been living here in Virginia, we regularly get surprised by differences between what we were used to in France and how things go on in the United States. We realize more and more that our lives were standardized and regulated and that there are far fewer rules and laws here. Some may think that it is a good thing, that too much regulation restrains creativity, at the expense of the consumer. I even remember this recurring joke in France about the uselessness of the European Commission that would regulate the caliber of eggs instead of dealing with “real” problems.

 

The question is what “too much” regulation means. In any case what I am now sure about is that generally speaking regulation protects the consumer, who otherwise can only rely on his own experience (regarding what is normal and justified) or on his relationships (which could advise him for good products).

 

Here are two commonplace problems we lately dealt with:

 

As everyone knows, here in the United States grocery goods are bigger than in France / Europe. From shampoos to paper towels, to the size of bacon, everything is “overly” big (overly from a French point of view). And we usually think it is an example of why the US is a consumer society. But we have no clue about what it really means. We don’t realize that products are bigger to push people to consume more and the mechanisms behind this. How? Here is an example:

 

We lately noticed that toothpaste tubes as well as toothbrush heads are bigger in the US than in France. My husband joked, “does it mean in America people have bigger mouths than us?!” But I got some explanation by an American lady I told about my wonderings. I understood that the reason for this hugeness is commercial! In fact, she told me she learnt during a learning project at university that once toothpaste manufacturers decided to increase their sales by 5%. To achieve that goal they increased the exit hole of the toothpaste tubes by 5% (and probably the size of the whole tubes, just not to unbalance them). And they actually increased their sales by 5%! The big size of the toothpaste tubes is therefore commercially studied: the larger the tube (and the outlet hole of the product), the more the consumer buys their product, because usually people put the same pressure on the tube, whatever the size. As for the size of the head of toothbrushes, it follows the same logic: as most people put toothpaste on the entire head of the toothbrush, the bigger the head of toothbrush the more the consumer consumes! It’s brilliant or vicious, depending on where you stand.

 

The second example concerns home appliances. The original dishwasher in our house broke down and we had to buy a new one. We chose an appliance online (from the well-known brand Kitchen Aid) and when finalizing the sale, we were asked if we would like appliance installation in addition to the delivery. If so, we had to pay an additional 69 dollars fee. We decided that it wasn’t necessary, as we have already purchased appliances in the past in France and the connection was quite easy. We even thought it was probably an option mostly chosen by older people.

 

Our mistake! When the machine was delivered, here is what it looked like.

In fact to connect it we had to disassemble an electrical box UNDER the machine (particularly difficult to access) to connect the electrical wires, screw the copper water inlet pipe (again UNDER the machine), and connect two evacuation pipes under the sink. My husband even had to buy a connection that was not supplied. It all lasted around 3 hours! How come the appliances in France are delivered with just one plug to connect, a flexible water inlet pipe to screw and another to insert into the exhaust pipe, for a total of 3 minutes while here it takes 3 hours? I have never considered the mysteries of regulation (French or European ones). But I am convinced that it is the regulation that saves us the trouble of spending 3 hours on the connection of the appliance or the penalty to pay 69 dollars, pick your favorite! I’m sure American manufacturers are as intelligent as European ones. They just have fewer regulatory pressure and so compete to find new ways to make us spend our money.

 

I think we European consumers have become lazy and no longer realize how much regulation protects us. Americans are both more used to this unregulated system (and thus accumulate more experience during their life span) and they are more used to spend money for anything and everything.

 

Personally I prefer the French / European system and my American friend too. What about you?