r/mildlyinfuriating • u/BorisOtter • Jun 13 '26

Infuriatig All of my plastic pegs explode when used.

56.9k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

2.2k comments sorted by

11.2k

u/indomitus1 Jun 13 '26

Wooden ones have stood the test of time..plastic is rubbish

1.1k

u/CityRulesFootball Jun 13 '26 edited Jun 13 '26

Brand or making was just shit. I live in the Middle East and my plastic pegs have withstood the absolute grilling heat of Sharjah for 10 years.

62

u/SnooAdvice6772 Jun 14 '26

They say that the English language is so complex and versatile that every day someone says a sentence that’s never been said before. Today, you win.

8

u/CityRulesFootball Jun 14 '26

I'm sure you can do it in a cold rainy night in Stoke but could you do it in a hot,humid day in Sharjah

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1.8k

u/spaceforcerecruit Jun 13 '26

Very nearly every product which is now made with plastic would be better if it was made with the same materials it was made with 100 years ago and the environment would be better for it. But that doesn’t make line go up so… ¯_(ツ)_/¯

811

u/Zac3d Jun 13 '26

There's hundreds of types of plastics, the right ones used in the right places can make a tool stronger, lighter, more comfortable to use, cheaper, safer, etc.

458

u/donnysaysvacuum Jun 13 '26

Right. Plastic is good for durable goods. But often they cheap out or make things that intentionally break to sell more.

191

u/HesusAtDiscord Jun 13 '26

I noticed this when my grandparents needed a new handle for their 30 year old box freezer. It had snapped where the screws clamped it onto the lid and the plastic was super thin, at most 3mm most places and hollow all the way through. Seriously super bad design.

Replicated the handle in CAD and 3D-printed it with twice the wall thickness and a infill at 30% or so (infill is the internal structure that connects everything, basically how beehives interconnect with the honeycomb pattern for instance). They gave it to me in the afternoon and by next morning it was done printing and held probably around 10 times as much bending force for the same amount of deflection.

I could have snapped the old one with just my fingertips when the new one had me clamping my hands around and trying to bend it.

Cost in filament? Less than 2$.

92

u/NatseePunksFeckOff Jun 13 '26

cant be that bad if it lasted for 30 years

36

u/HesusAtDiscord Jun 13 '26 edited Jun 13 '26

I don't know wether they had replaced it or not, and yes, it did hold up, but every time I've opened that freezer I had to lift and hold until enough air had seeped in to avoid breaking it. Now, if the freezer isn't completely full, they can lift the front of the freezer with it before the handle breaks.

Also, thin plastic handles that break can easily cut your skin. That is no longer a risk.

It's true that it's done a solid job, but there are many parts that don't.

My brother had a screw lid on his boat next to the engine mounts for access to the bolts. He stepped over it with shoes on, it's narrower than the front half of his shoe and everything but the outer ring with the threads fell right through. I printed a new lid for less than a dollar that held me, a ~110kg man, bouncing only on my heel on the middle portion with no support underneath without it flexing to any noticeable degree.

It was maybe 5 years old, would've cost 50$ most places.

I like to overengineer things so that it cannot break under normal use when the years have passed, and hopefully not under abnormal use either. The freezer handle would have broken within a year if it was my freezer because I wouldn't be bothered to wait 10-20 seconds every time I were to open the freezer and I'm alot stronger than a 75-80 year old couple.

8

u/Jacktheforkie Jun 13 '26

My fridge handle broke off 2 weeks from getting it, warranty replaced it 3 times, gave up when it only lasted 2 weeks and stuck a window lifter on the door, that sucker has lasted 12 years so far, periodically I’ll take it off to scrub it because it gets dirty just from being near the stove and things get spilled on it, it’s got suction cups so really easy to install

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u/gburgwardt Jun 13 '26

Or just because it makes it cheaper, and consumers generally prefer the cheapest option, not the best option

33

u/i_have_tiny_ants Jun 13 '26

Its hard to evaluate the longevity of plastic stuff when we buy it, they often look the same etc. At that point the cheapest option often becomes the natural choice.

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u/AdmiralPeriwinkle Jun 13 '26

For real. Plastics are used in such high performance applications as aerospace and medical devices. The problem isn’t plastic it’s cheap manufacturing practices and poor material selection.

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u/HedonisticFrog Jun 13 '26

That's why I use metal binder clips to chip bags, they'll last my lifetime.

20

u/Any-Tomatillo2801 Jun 13 '26

Perhaps if you used these plastic ones you could finish the bag of chips.

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u/JohnnyRedHot Jun 13 '26

Yeah, like plumbing, I wish we could just go back to metal pipes. Those never caused any troubles whatsoever.

7

u/Altruistic_Bell7884 Jun 13 '26

Yeah, let's do lead pipes for water again! /s

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32

u/SaltManagement42 Jun 13 '26

Actually most of the wooden ones have rotted away, they just give the illusion that they've stood the test of time because they made more to replace them.

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15.4k

u/MrPlato_ Jun 13 '26

The sun probably toasted them

5.2k

u/horned-creature Jun 13 '26 edited Jun 13 '26

pretty bad design flaw for something meant to be used to hang clothes to try in the sun....

2.6k

u/secretevilgenius Jun 13 '26

Great design feature, now you’ve got to buy more.

756

u/LeafBark Jun 13 '26

This is planned obsolescence in action. The concept has been draining money out of people pockets at least as long as manufacturing has existed. This is why some older appliances outlive newer ones because the concept has gotten more aggressively implemented.

358

u/Demonthief27 Jun 13 '26

The wooden pegs are great

129

u/PomegranateSea7066 Jun 13 '26

great, I bought the same brand and now both of my peg legs just exploded

84

u/Mythoclast Jun 13 '26

That's why traditional wooden pegs are better. As long as you treat them properly and resurface when needed you're golden.

yarr

50

u/TONER_SD Jun 13 '26

You want to use limb seed oil.

37

u/krennvonsalzburg Jun 13 '26

In case anyone's looking for it to buy some, it's actually "linseed oil".

9

u/Fickle_Ad_8653 Jun 13 '26

You make it by taking the arm of Lindsey and grinding it up.

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u/thanks_cum_again Jun 13 '26

I wood rather not be pegged please

41

u/Demonthief27 Jun 13 '26

Your username suggests otherwise

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u/eW4GJMqscYtbBkw9 Jun 13 '26

I doubt this is planned obsolescence - this is probably just plain ol' manufacturing with the cheapest possible materials.

38

u/fierbolt Jun 13 '26

If I had to guess the person who designed the part originally speced a material that would not break down in the sun then at some point some smart guy said why are we buying this expensive plastic and switched to the cheapest material they could find.

46

u/beanmosheen Jun 13 '26

I doubt it. It's probably cheap second-run plastic used to make a cheap product to sell on Amazon or Ali. It's only got two design specs: 1. Clothespin shaped enough to work. 2. Cheap as humanly possible. Most people will just toss them if they fail, so it's easy money.

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u/tropical_chancer Jun 13 '26

Reddit is obsessed with "planned obsolescence" and try to pigeonhole it into everything. This isn't planned obsolescence. It's simply cheap materials degrading over time.

18

u/Wobbelblob Jun 13 '26

Doesn't even have to be cheap material necessary, as far as I know every plastic starts to degrade and becomes brittle with enough time in the sun.

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u/Neoragex13 Jun 13 '26 edited Jun 13 '26

Yeah. Recently bought a bag that seemed ok. Returned home and when I opened the thing, all the red ones, specifically only the red ones, came broken one way or another.

As much as planned obsolescence exist, most time it really is just cheaply made shit lol

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u/ArtlessMammet Jun 13 '26

this isn't planned fucking obsolescence lmao

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u/ForwardChip Jun 13 '26

Buy wooden ones and problem is solved.

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u/Vissanna Jun 13 '26

Plastic clips are only good for one thing and thats keeping chip bags closed lol

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u/Ferro_Giconi OwO Jun 13 '26

Plastic clips suck at that too. They usually cost the same as or more per clip than metal binder clips, which also hold chips closed very well and will never break.

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u/Aeroknight_Z Jun 13 '26

I’d wager these particular examples are more for snack bags and the like.

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u/patrdesch Jun 13 '26

Now don't call me crazy, but that may be the reason clothes pins are made of wood. I have only ever seen these plastic clips used to close chip bags.

You can't blame the tool if you're the one using it wrong.

4

u/IgnisAltair Jun 13 '26

We use plastic pins on my house, these have lasted for years on harsh conditions... Definitively OPs pins are just awful designed.

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1.1k

u/BorisOtter Jun 13 '26 edited Jun 13 '26

Does UV really destroy all the structural integrity of plastic though?

Also, thank you everyone for all the positive comments. The superpower ones make me smile, and the ones reminding everyone to buy biodegradable wood gives me hope for the future. My friends, I'm glad this experience could make some of you laugh :))

(Oh jeez, I just saw the pegging ones)

2.4k

u/W126_300SE Jun 13 '26

Yes.

315

u/BrightWubs22 Jun 13 '26

Why isn't anybody answering if UV destroys the structural integrity of plastic!? DOES NOBODY HAVE THE ANSWER???

113

u/Wonderful-Medium7777 Jun 13 '26

Yes, ultraviolet (UV) radiation breaks down the chemical bonds in most plastics over time, a process known as photodegradation. When exposed to sunlight or UV lamps, the high-energy light severs the long-chain polymer molecules, causing the material to lose its strength, flexibility, and structural integrity…plastic loses its elasticity so it becomes brittle.

36

u/0kShr00mer Jun 13 '26

And that, boys and girls, is how I met your micro-plastic.

13

u/BladeOfKrota Jun 13 '26

I scrolled through all of this to get here and it was well worth it I love Reddit lol

6

u/Wonderful-Medium7777 Jun 13 '26

Thank you for the award that was a super surprise.

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u/Foiry Jun 13 '26

Somebody said “Yes.” 20 minutes ago. 😭

18

u/NetworkSingularity Jun 13 '26

…DOES LITERALLY NO ONE KNOW IF UV DESTROYS THE STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY OF PLASTIC?? NOT A SINGLE PERSON??? AND HOW MANY LICKS TO GET TO THE CENTER OF A TOOTSIE POP???

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u/MyBakpaksGyatJets Jun 13 '26

I guess the world will never know

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u/SkiDaderino Jun 13 '26 edited Jun 13 '26

Sadly, we may never know if UV rays destroy the structural integrity of plastics. If only there were some genius, some perfect mind who could unlock the truth and give us the answer.

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u/BrightWubs22 Jun 13 '26

No. Nobody has answered. Nobody at all.

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241

u/HaggisTheMad Jun 13 '26

Yes, UV makes plastic brittle.

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u/PerryTheH Jun 13 '26

Sí (yes but in spanish).

5

u/Capital-Strawberry i ain't agreen to nuffin Jun 13 '26

Oui

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u/kaoshitam Jun 13 '26

Yes. The only difference with higher quality plastic, it last a little longer, but will disintegrated eventually.

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u/Dixiehusker Jun 13 '26

In case no one's answered this, yes.

60

u/FilthyStatist1991 Jun 13 '26

Unfortunately yes

29

u/Time_Rip_9808 Jun 13 '26

Depends on what kind of plastic but the short answer is yes

20

u/halfxdeveloper Jun 13 '26

The long answer is yessssssssss

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u/Roidzilla55 Jun 13 '26 edited Jun 13 '26

Yes. If you leave something plastic sit out in the sun (in this case weeks/months) it will start fading and getting a gritty/chalky texture on the surface. It will shatter like an egg shell when you handle it. If you get something that is made of recycled plastic, its lifespan is automatically reduced by probably half, and that’s giving it a generous benefit of the doubt.
I saw a really cool video one time of this guy who went to some stadium with plastic bleacher seats that had been destroyed by the sun, and he restored them by hitting them with a blowtorch

Edit- I just read that the seat restoration is just a band aid fix, and that the plastic is still fucked underneath, meaning it’s just a temporary solution. This makes the cost of propane vs just buying a new chair debatable

67

u/ComesInAnOldBox Jun 13 '26

Absolutely.

63

u/Prestigious_Tiger_26 Jun 13 '26

Ja, aber auf Deutsch

24

u/Alaska-TheCountry Jun 13 '26

omg, the Wurst

20

u/That1_IT_Guy Jun 13 '26

The auto translate made this even funnier

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u/DarthAnusCavity Jun 13 '26

Judging by the replies, I think the answer might be yes.

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u/thecallor Jun 13 '26

Ja (even in the Netherlands)

18

u/Desperate_Camel8599 Jun 13 '26

When it comes to plastic, yes.

30

u/Br0boc0p Jun 13 '26

Si (yes but in Italian)

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u/deepcov3r Jun 13 '26

I just want to say yes too.

12

u/Beginning-Pop3127 Jun 13 '26

What doesn't UV destroy the structural integrity of?

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u/10mo3 Jun 13 '26

はい

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u/Belias9x1 Jun 13 '26

So you know how plastic doesn’t biodegrade? (which is why it’s such a huge problem).
Plastic does photo-degrade which means that exposure to light (particularly UV) will eventually break it down or weaken it to the point you see.

15

u/c_marten Jun 13 '26

These just look like a cheap plastic. I have a ton of the transparent ones that i use and keep in the cabin of my van and they're fine years in. Which isn't to say UV doesn't damage them over time, just not as much as it does some other plastics.

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u/yodas_sidekick Jun 13 '26

Yes don’t buy cheap garbage that will just be in a landfill.

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u/weedhuffer Jun 13 '26

For sure.

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u/-Morning_Coffee- Jun 13 '26

Yeah, my 10-year-old nylon backpack straps turned to dust after I left in in the back of my car. Age+sun will do the trick.

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u/ghost3972 ORANGE Jun 13 '26

예

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u/Little-Equinox Jun 13 '26

And not by a little bit.

Wood would be much better in the sun.

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u/squeakynickles Jun 13 '26

Absolutely does, yeah

4

u/lambent_ort Jun 13 '26

Most definitely yes.

5

u/Difficult_Band2177 Jun 13 '26

Yes. The sun can be very hard on plastic

6

u/kooziefloozy Jun 13 '26

No, anybody who says otherwise is just a shill for Big Plastic

5

u/Kayato601 Jun 13 '26

For gardening I found some UV resistant cable ties, from there I learned to always check if plastic objects are UV resistant

4

u/Overkillmario Jun 13 '26

Not just plastic also your skins dna so protect yourself.

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8.0k

u/Antique_Gur8891 Jun 13 '26

bad quality, buy wooden ones

2.3k

u/Xandaru__ Jun 13 '26

They are also way more fun to play with.

255

u/AkimoSempai Jun 13 '26

Play with?

234

u/Karli_Chirk Jun 13 '26

Yes, sempai.

179

u/szatrob Jun 13 '26

Sempai in the streets, hentai in the sheets.

70

u/KinkyNJThrowaway Jun 13 '26

Senpai*

It's pronounced Sempai natively, but spelled senpai.

48

u/Mortwight Jun 13 '26

its pronounced monga but spelled manga and i pronounce it manga

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u/Smarter-Not-harder1 Jun 13 '26

we used to put one on the end of each finger so we had "wolverine claws"

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u/AnnaCondoleezzaRice Jun 13 '26

fun game is basically sneak tag with those at a party where you try to pin them unknowingly on ppl

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u/Choice_Ad4972 Jun 13 '26

I once got hit with that in a science class at school. I think it was about 14 pegs on my back til I noticed.

The whole class got detention, including me.

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u/Day_Bow_Bow Jun 13 '26

I doubt this is what they meant, but clothespin guns were popular when I was a kid.

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u/SLywNy Jun 13 '26

I make little crossbow with those bit I suspect this is not what you mean

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u/MapleMaScoot Jun 13 '26

There's a kinky fuck in the room run.

6

u/I-am-fun-at-parties Jun 13 '26

What is a room run?

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u/MrPlato_ Jun 13 '26

Yeah, the wooden ones don't get frail over time by the sun

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u/dogsledonice Jun 13 '26

They do, but takes a longer time

32

u/superkickstart Jun 13 '26

I pretty sure some of mine are from the 90s.

11

u/HairySalmon Jun 13 '26

Yeah I have the same set that my mom bought in 1985.

Used almost every week since then.

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u/Broad_Front7788 Jun 13 '26

Mine will probably outlive me so there's that

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u/BorisOtter Jun 13 '26

Saw some bamboo ones, switching over immediately. I didn't realise plastic could be so brittle. 

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u/MaceWinnoob Jun 13 '26

Different colors and type of plastics have different brittleness and flexibility.

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u/wolftick Jun 13 '26

Also age and exposure to UV affects them.

36

u/BafflingHalfling Jun 13 '26

cries in brown Lego

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u/TheJzoli Jun 13 '26

At least they finally got around to fixing it.

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u/Cebuanolearner For your present, I have cancer. Jun 13 '26

Pretty sure brown/orange are super fragile compared to others 

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u/ricricucit Jun 13 '26

cheap plastic + sun = snappy useless plastic

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u/Mobius_Peverell Jun 13 '26

Or steel. Binder clips are the best bag clips.

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u/GeneralEi Jun 13 '26

All hail the wooden peg

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u/Creative_Resource_82 Jun 13 '26

Or metal ones are great. More expensive but last a lifetime.

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u/generally_unsuitable Jun 13 '26

Wooden ones hold water, rot, and leave stains on your clothes. Source: was poor.

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u/breeze5230 Jun 13 '26

Were you hanging your clothes out for weeks in a bog...?

15

u/nalaloveslumpy Jun 13 '26

Wood only rots if you let it hold water. Let them sit out in the sun and they'll fully dry out.

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u/Miquel_420 Jun 13 '26

I have had wooden ones my entire life, none of these things have happened to me.

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u/abrainaneurysm Jun 13 '26

As other people have stated, ditch the plastic and purchase a big package of these.

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u/Casual_hex_ Jun 13 '26 edited Jun 13 '26

Maybe your fingers are just too powerful for this world. Have you asked a doctor about your superhuman pinching abilities? Just remember, with great finger power comes great finger responsibility.

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u/fllr Jun 13 '26

This is it, OP. Forget about the sun, and be more careful about what you touch. You’re powerful beyond imagination.

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u/LaCrepe_ Jun 13 '26

It's the sun, if they are a bit whiter than when new, they are cooked

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u/tester_720 Jun 13 '26

Literally

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u/ikrnn Jun 13 '26

Ngl. When you said "explode", i didn't think you actually meant it. But by god, that bitch fucking EXPLODED

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u/Signal_This Jun 13 '26

I had a bunch do this after they got too cold. 

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u/Ohio-Knife-Lover Jun 13 '26

Too cold, really dry, old or the sun got to them. I'm assuming the sun got to these or they were dry

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u/Master_G_ Jun 13 '26

I’ve never known these to be referred to as pegs. Interesting.

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u/MrHyperion_ Jun 13 '26

In Finnish they are called laundry boys

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u/rombulow Jun 13 '26

Are you from the US? They’re “pegs” in “British” English, guessing it’s just one of those quirks between our two different flavours of English!

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u/Outrageous-Log9238 Jun 13 '26

Plastic, the lovely whose macrostructure is quickly destroyed by the sun, but remains as microplastic eternally.

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u/Rdizzy111 Jun 13 '26

No, the sun also degrades plastics into byproduct chemicals as well. Gradually, but it does and is happening.

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u/Krillgein Jun 13 '26

Im sorry but this is actually hilarious.

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u/smarmy1625 Jun 13 '26

not the pegs I was expecting

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u/icleanjaxfl Jun 13 '26

I was also mislead by title

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u/X__Anonomys_xX Jun 13 '26

This is called “cheap crap”

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u/Yannickjuhhh Jun 13 '26

keep the ones you have as flash grenades in close quarters situations

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u/user_deleted_or_dead Jun 13 '26

Google for best pegging pratices with real life examples

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u/HowAboutAThreesome Jun 13 '26

I worked at a Fortune 500 and HR bought thousands of logo emblazoned clips. They were meant to hand out of recruiting events, etc. They didn’t and just put them in the break room of our office. I put about half a dozen on my cubicle and most snapped under their own pressure. The ones that didn’t crack busted aftertaking off my wall. All of them were defective. Lesson is don’t buy cheap shit from China.

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u/Thick_Suggestion_ Jun 13 '26

I just got metal ones and they are much better.

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u/BernieTheDachshund Jun 13 '26

I buy the wooden ones. A box of 100 is less than $5.

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