[davidfor]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Agreed. A cable should be included. But don't be like Apple and include a mostly worthless cable. The cable that came with my wife's iPhone 12 was useless. It's USB-C to lightning and at the time, we had no USB-C chargers. Since then we have one USB-C charger and a USB-C port on my laptop.

Originally Posted by rcentros

My assumption is that the necessary cable will be included with the device. And, so far, it always have been. I'm not sure why you're taking the position that this shouldn't be the case.

Why is that you assumption? Just because that is what was done before? And that is partly because at one time all the cables were different and had to be supplied. When USB cables were standardised, this should have stopped.

If the cables that come the devices are unwanted, donate them to a thrift shop. I keep them in reserve in case I lose one, or the dog chews one or one wears out. And I give them away to other people who lose their cables.


That doesn't mean everyone has the same experience. I, personally, have never worn out a USB cable or a USB port. Nor have I lost a cable. But I have given away several USB cables to others who have lost theirs.

And, based on that statement, my experience is less important than yours, and is not typical (before replying, reread it and think what your reaction would be if I had said that to you). But, your experience, never wearing a cable out or losing them, should actually make you more annoyed that the companies keep shoving unneeded cables at you as you clearly will never need new ones. But, you seem to be happy to distribute them as them at presents to all an sundry.

I'm guessing that 99.999% of customers would not be "ticked off" by getting a cable included with their device. I think most, like me, would expect the cable to be included in the box with a new device.


Any cable is better than no cable if you need one. If you find the one included unsuitable (for whatever reason) nothing keeps you from buying a suitable one. Honestly I'm having a hard time understanding your position on this.

And Jon's post demonstrates you are wrong. He was ticked off because a cable was supplied. It also demonstrate "any cable" is not better than no cable. The supplied cable was useless, so it was a waste and annoyed him. He would have been better off if no cable was supplied and he knew he had to get an appropriate one.

Again, any excess cables or chargers can be donated to thrift shops. There are always people looking for them.

There are also people looking for all sorts of things. Should I be making sure I have a surplus of every item so I can give it to them? (And don't bother responding to that as it is just me being snarky.) As to donating them to a thrift shop, are they actually grateful for them? The only one I have been in recently would not have been.

Okay. I can see this is an important issue to you. I just don't understand why.

Honestly, I don't really care. You are the one who took the time to comment on my original simple statement. You made statements that I think are wrong or bad justifications, so I replied. And the thing is that there have been several discussions here about cables. Most of them include complaints about the supplied cables, such as Jon's above or because they thought the cable was cheap, or it was just not needed. When I examine the arguments made and my experiences, my conclusion is that including cables is a practice that can be stopped.

The device won't work without a cable. Most people expect that "proper planning" is buying the new device and that the necessary cable is included in the package. And, again, excess cables can be donated to thrift shops because these cables do get lost, do get destroyed and do wear out. And many people do like to have multiple cables at various locations, office, home, car, etc.

You are correct that the device won't work without a cable. But, I am willing to bet that the percentage of people who buy these devices that do not have a suitable cable is fairly small. And proper planning is to never assume something. Proper planning is to make sure you have everything that you need. Which means that when buying something, you check if something else is needed and buy it.

And one last thing, removing the cable won't just mean I don't have a surplus of these things around the house. It will also reduce and simplify the packaging of the thing I actually want to buy. That will save costs for the manufacturer, reduce transport costs, reduces warehousing needs and reduce waste.