Harbor Freight charges $1 extra for green extension cords instead of orange
slazer2au, If the die costs $0.03 per km of cable they have to mark it up at the factory, which means the disty needs to mark it up, so the retailer has to mark it up.
/S
bjoern_tantau, 
Well, green stuff usually is more expensive.
Rocketpoweredgorilla, 
I guess they have their use, but I dislike green extension cords. my daughter has a few of them, and she tends to leave them laying in the grass when I go over to mow her yard.
She now has a few shorter ones.
ZoopZeZoop, Not good for visibility, but great for blending. We use them for Christmas and Halloween so that you don’t see a ton of cords about. I have to move them or weed eat around them if it rains much during those months.
Rocketpoweredgorilla, Ah that makes sense. I live in Canada, our ground is white and covered with snowdrifts that time of year.
BornVolcano, Yeah, you could put a rainbow neon cord down there, you’re not seeing any of it in -20
Rocketpoweredgorilla, Hell, I’ve lost my car a few times under the snow. You know you’re a true Canadian when you have shovel dents on your hood.
CodyCannoli, My guess is people who care about whether the cables blend in with their lawn are willing to pay more for them.
JDubbleu, It’s also possible they sell fewer green ones, meaning they produce fewer and don’t get as much of a benefit from economies of scale.
ericisshort, You’re right. This is just evidence of a modern well-run supply chain.
Amazon does this better than anyone, and you’ll commonly find products available in different colors with each having a slightly different price. These prices change dynamically based on trends like historic and forecasted demand, current on hand quantities, and many other factors.
Edit to add: Some more advanced brick and mortar stores (see B&H Photo in NYC) use electronic price displays in the shelving to allow them to change prices more dynamically without incurring the labor costs of restickering and retagging product.
Lifecoach5000, Well the green one is only for the garden according to the label. Don’t even think about plugging it in indoors.
Tetsuo, I plugged it indoors.
I now have a garden in my bathroom.
MrJameGumb, 
I think you have to go to same prison as the people who cut the tags off their mattresses now
BloodSlut, That doesnt sound too bad tbh
railsdev, Using an extension cord of any kind in the bathroom sounds like a disaster waiting to happen
CmdrShepard, How else am I supposed to cook my pizza rolls while I’m taking a bath?
Micromot, 
You need to be able to toast your bread in the bathtub somehow, what am I supposed to do if I don’t have an outlet near my bathtub???
railsdev, I forgot we’re all busy these days so the need to multitask — especially in the bathroom — is prevalent.
Davel23, Oh man, I thought about it. What happens now?
chaogomu, Garden use might mean a different plastic that resists UV light better than the orange one.
tim-clark, 
My greens ones haven't faded. The orange ones are almost white after a year outside.
Potatos_are_not_friends,
Max17, 
Shame on you I’m colorblind
MxM111, 
So, light gray is cheaper than dark gray.
MrJameGumb, It’s a $1 toll for being the kind of dipshit who cares what color an extension cord is
MrJameGumb, I did not realize this would be such a divisive statement lol
AncientFutureNow, You called people dipshits simply for them having a purpose for a non-orange product.
AncientFutureNow, Green extension cords on stage are acceptable…it’s close to black.
Bright orange is not.
MrJameGumb, They are also a safety hazard. You need to put some gaffer tape over the cord so no one trips over it, and then it will be black anyway
AncientFutureNow, You put gaff tape up the side of tripods?
Starb3an, Theoretically it could be that the ingredient to make the coating green cost more, but most likely it’s just an attempt to get more money.
MxM111, It also could be that they want to clear the shelf space of the orange cords, and for some reason they have more of them than the green once.
But of course, the store is business and they exist to make money.
seathru, While it probably is the latter; I remember when I worked for sherwin williams, green was one of the most expensive colored pigments.
Semi-Hemi-Demigod, 
Green ones are only used for decorative reasons, so the suppliers may make fewer green cords thus driving up the price.
LazaroFilm, 
I use stingers used on film sets instead. It’s more that $1 markup.
JelloBrains, 
They aren't the same cord, the green one is a thinner wire size and is 14 gauge, and the orange one is thicker at 12 gauge.
EDIT: Nevermind, they are the same, I saw the 12 gauge wire, not the orange 14, that's on me.
esc27, Might be a nudge to get people to default to orange and only buy green if they really want it to make their stock needs more predictable.
RedEyeFlightControl, 
It actually might be related to the cost of the color of the jacketing itself. The different dyes used in plastic production have varying costs, in lots of cases.
Takumidesh, It’s likely lower volume too, so the cost in switching brings a higher opportunity/downtime cost on smaller runs.
RedEyeFlightControl, Good points! One might need an additional catalyst or flex additive, as well.
moosetwin, 
that’s a bit funny but I can’t think of why
thanevim, Something something, going green is expensive?
Jimmycakes, Green dye has been on shortage for a while
MisterD, In Canada, they charge 50-100% for black extension cords
phx, I’ve heard it’s 80% for one with just a female end
ThorAlex, In Europe red are usuallly the cheap PVC ones while black has higher quality insulation and last much longer, well worth the price difference.
youstolemyname, The ends are different also
Add comment