Cheap luggage bites
 

While departing a train in Bamberg, I followed an American couple
with a 30" (so it looked) rectangular wheeled bag. The bag looked
cheap, like a bag bought at Walmart. It must have been their first
trip to Europe as they were unfamiliar with trains. The guy attempted
to take the bag out of the train by extending the handle and dragging
it across the gap. I thought this was risky, as the bag could catch in
the gap, and besides it is easier to use the handle (not the extended
one, the one for carrying) to carry the bag from the train. However,
by looking at the woman, I'll bet the bag weighed a lot. As the guy
dragged the bag out of the train, the handle (the top part) shattered,
leaving him with two sharp sticks. I thought I'd mention this story to
show the people who buy cheap bags that quality has a value beyond
money. These people were going to have a difficult time moving their
bag on their vacation, and judging from their comments, this was the
start of their vacation.


Pete

Re: Cheap luggage bites
 

I went thru three back packs in 10 months while in Europe. I also met a
girl who had her bag (not the content) stolen! She had to go around
with a garbage bag like on the Amazing race.

I also met a couple of girls who went around with their empty back
packs all day because they were afraid that they would be stolen at
their hotel!

Dublin is paradise for back pack shopping . I'm sure conventional
luggage isn't that hard to find in Germany.

You can buy cheap luggage for Can$20 (10Euro) at the local Walmart. For
that price, you can buy a lot of luggage and still be ahead.

Sam

Re: Cheap luggage bites
 

spamfree wrote:
    > While departing a train in Bamberg, I followed an American couple
    > with a 30" (so it looked) rectangular wheeled bag. The bag looked
    > cheap, like a bag bought at Walmart. It must have been their first
    > trip to Europe as they were unfamiliar with trains. The guy attempted
    > to take the bag out of the train by extending the handle and dragging
    > it across the gap. I thought this was risky, as the bag could catch in
    > the gap, and besides it is easier to use the handle (not the extended
    > one, the one for carrying) to carry the bag from the train. However,
    > by looking at the woman, I'll bet the bag weighed a lot. As the guy
    > dragged the bag out of the train, the handle (the top part) shattered,
    > leaving him with two sharp sticks. I thought I'd mention this story to
    > show the people who buy cheap bags that quality has a value beyond
    > money. These people were going to have a difficult time moving their
    > bag on their vacation, and judging from their comments, this was the
    > start of their vacation.


So they wouldn't have a difficult time moving their stuff for the
remainder of the trip, I assume they simply bought a new bag in Hamburg
or elsewhere.

Re: Cheap luggage bites
 

spamfree wrote:
    > While departing a train in Bamberg, I followed an American couple
    > with a 30" (so it looked) rectangular wheeled bag. The bag looked
    > cheap, like a bag bought at Walmart. It must have been their first
    > trip to Europe as they were unfamiliar with trains. The guy attempted
    > to take the bag out of the train by extending the handle and dragging
    > it across the gap. I thought this was risky, as the bag could catch in
    > the gap, and besides it is easier to use the handle (not the extended
    > one, the one for carrying) to carry the bag from the train. However,
    > by looking at the woman, I'll bet the bag weighed a lot. As the guy
    > dragged the bag out of the train, the handle (the top part) shattered,
    > leaving him with two sharp sticks. I thought I'd mention this story to
    > show the people who buy cheap bags that quality has a value beyond
    > money. These people were going to have a difficult time moving their
    > bag on their vacation, and judging from their comments, this was the
    > start of their vacation.


So they wouldn't have a difficult time moving their stuff for the
remainder of the trip, I assume they simply bought a new bag in Hamburg
or elsewhere.

Re: Cheap luggage bites
 

"spamfree" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected] nk.net...
    > While departing a train in Bamberg, I followed an American couple
    > with a 30" (so it looked) rectangular wheeled bag. The bag looked
    > cheap, like a bag bought at Walmart. It must have been their first
    > trip to Europe as they were unfamiliar with trains. The guy attempted
    > to take the bag out of the train by extending the handle and dragging
    > it across the gap. I thought this was risky, as the bag could catch in
    > the gap, and besides it is easier to use the handle (not the extended
    > one, the one for carrying) to carry the bag from the train. However,
    > by looking at the woman, I'll bet the bag weighed a lot. As the guy
    > dragged the bag out of the train, the handle (the top part) shattered,
    > leaving him with two sharp sticks. I thought I'd mention this story to
    > show the people who buy cheap bags that quality has a value beyond
    > money.

Experienced travellers know that cheap luggage is far less likely to be
broken, particularly into when passing through airport baggage handling. A
far more important lesson from this story is to pack light.

Colin Bignell

Re: Cheap luggage bites
 

"spamfree" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected] nk.net...
    > I thought I'd mention this story to
    > show the people who buy cheap bags that quality has a value beyond
    > money. These people were going to have a difficult time moving their
    > bag on their vacation, and judging from their comments, this was the
    > start of their vacation.

Once upon a time, a friend recommended rolling luggage from a company that
sells clothing by mail order adds in the back of magazines. We decided to
give it a try and bought two for $60/pr with a "satisfaction or your money
back" guarantee. Well, we dragged these bags all over Spain and Portugal. By
the time we got home the cloth was ripped, wheels broken, zippers
mistracked, etc. I mean these things were cheap. In essense they were made
of cloth over cardboard. Anyway, we got home, the boxes they came in were
still in the den. We packed them up and sent them back to the place we
bought them asking for our money back. In a few weeks we got a check and
that was the end of that. Lesson learned. Those were "one trippers".

--
Donald Newcomb
DRNewcomb (at) attglobal (dot) net

Re: Cheap luggage bites
 

"nightjar .uk.com>" <nightjar@<insert my surname here> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > "spamfree" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    > news:[email protected] nk.net...
    > Experienced travellers know that cheap luggage is far less likely to be
    > broken, particularly into when passing through airport baggage handling. A
    > far more important lesson from this story is to pack light.
    > Colin Bignell
I'd also suggest that it's far less likely to be broken into. An anecdote
was given by an Australian travel writer some time ago before we got
paranoid about unattended luggage. A battered "cardboard" suitcase, with a
nametag such as A Singh, Bombay could be confidently left anywhere in a
railway station or airport terminal without any thief showing the slightest
interest in it.

There's obviously a happy medium in how much you pay for luggage of
acceptable quality. And packing light will be both a lot easier on yourself
and your cases, backpacks or whatever.

Regards

David Bennetts

Re: Cheap luggage bites
 

    > Experienced travellers know that cheap luggage is far less likely to
    > be broken, particularly into when passing through airport baggage
    > handling. A far more important lesson from this story is to pack light.

Did you transpose the "into" in your post, meaning to say that cheap
luggage is less likely to be broken into by airport baggage handlers?
I might agree with you on that. However, I have seen plenty of
cheap soft bags come out of airport conveyors with their seams
ripped open and the contents spilled on the conveyor, ruining some
of the clothes in the process. Those "experienced travelers" lost
quite a bit due to their cheap bags.


Pete

Re: Cheap luggage bites
 

Donald Newcomb wrote:
    > "spamfree" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    > news:[email protected] nk.net...
    >
    >>I thought I'd mention this story to
    >>show the people who buy cheap bags that quality has a value beyond
    >>money. These people were going to have a difficult time moving their
    >>bag on their vacation, and judging from their comments, this was the
    >>start of their vacation.
    >
    >
    > Once upon a time, a friend recommended rolling luggage from a company that
    > sells clothing by mail order adds in the back of magazines. We decided to
    > give it a try and bought two for $60/pr with a "satisfaction or your money
    > back" guarantee. Well, we dragged these bags all over Spain and Portugal. By
    > the time we got home the cloth was ripped, wheels broken, zippers
    > mistracked, etc. I mean these things were cheap. In essense they were made
    > of cloth over cardboard. Anyway, we got home, the boxes they came in were
    > still in the den. We packed them up and sent them back to the place we
    > bought them asking for our money back. In a few weeks we got a check and
    > that was the end of that. Lesson learned. Those were "one trippers".
    >


As far as I have been able to tell the quality of luggage has little
relation to the price. A few years ago I bought one of those patch
leather sets. It turned out to be quite durable and well made which is
unusual for sets. I have seen some expensive "designer" sets which
appeared to have a mostly cardboard construction. You simply have to
look at details like wheels and handles and skin to see what you are
buying. Cheap can come with a high price tag for the name.

Re: Cheap luggage bites
 

Too right.
It's the quality not the price tag. Same with clothes - a lot of 'designer' clothes are made of nasty fabric....

Re: Cheap luggage bites
 

"Frank F. Matthews" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:%[email protected]...
    > Cheap can come with a high price tag for the name.

Some people who like to pay too much also like to say "You get what you pay
for." I turn that around and say, "You sledom get more than you've paid for.
You can easily get a whole lot less."

--
Donald Newcomb
DRNewcomb (at) attglobal (dot) net

Re: Cheap luggage bites
 

Good on you!

You buy cheap luggage, use it, then decide it's not your flavour. Fantastic,
now I know how that retrn policy is made............


"Donald Newcomb" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > "spamfree" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    > news:[email protected] nk.net...
    >> I thought I'd mention this story to
    >> show the people who buy cheap bags that quality has a value beyond
    >> money. These people were going to have a difficult time moving their
    >> bag on their vacation, and judging from their comments, this was the
    >> start of their vacation.
    > Once upon a time, a friend recommended rolling luggage from a company that
    > sells clothing by mail order adds in the back of magazines. We decided to
    > give it a try and bought two for $60/pr with a "satisfaction or your money
    > back" guarantee. Well, we dragged these bags all over Spain and Portugal.
    > By
    > the time we got home the cloth was ripped, wheels broken, zippers
    > mistracked, etc. I mean these things were cheap. In essense they were made
    > of cloth over cardboard. Anyway, we got home, the boxes they came in were
    > still in the den. We packed them up and sent them back to the place we
    > bought them asking for our money back. In a few weeks we got a check and
    > that was the end of that. Lesson learned. Those were "one trippers".
    > --
    > Donald Newcomb
    > DRNewcomb (at) attglobal (dot) net
    >

Re: Cheap luggage bites
 

    > Good on you!
    > You buy cheap luggage, use it, then decide it's not your flavour.
    > Fantastic, now I know how that retrn policy is made............
    > "Donald Newcomb" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    > news:[email protected]...
    >> "spamfree" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    >> news:[email protected] nk.net...
    >>> I thought I'd mention this story to
    >>> show the people who buy cheap bags that quality has a value beyond
    >>> money. These people were going to have a difficult time moving their
    >>> bag on their vacation, and judging from their comments, this was the
    >>> start of their vacation.
    >> Once upon a time, a friend recommended rolling luggage from a company
    >> that
    >> sells clothing by mail order adds in the back of magazines. We decided to
    >> give it a try and bought two for $60/pr with a "satisfaction or your
    >> money
    >> back" guarantee. Well, we dragged these bags all over Spain and Portugal.
    >> By
    >> the time we got home the cloth was ripped, wheels broken, zippers
    >> mistracked, etc. I mean these things were cheap. In essense they were
    >> made
    >> of cloth over cardboard. Anyway, we got home, the boxes they came in were
    >> still in the den. We packed them up and sent them back to the place we
    >> bought them asking for our money back. In a few weeks we got a check and
    >> that was the end of that. Lesson learned. Those were "one trippers".

I bought a Wheelie for GBP 25 from the UK discount store 'Woolworths'. Very
high quality build, and over 20 trips later, not a single problem.

Re: Cheap luggage bites
 

Thomas wrote:

    >
    > I bought a Wheelie for GBP 25 from the UK discount store 'Woolworths'. Very
    > high quality build, and over 20 trips later, not a single problem.

Speaking of luggage, before our last trip we bought a couple luggage
straps, and they worked out wonderfully well. Not, I hasten to add, to
keep the luggage intact, since the bags are quite sturdy, but just to
make them easy to spot on the baggage carrousel.
The straps are a bright lime-green and white, easily identifiable
from 100 feet away. They happened to carry the Air Canada brand and were
about $7.95, as I recall.
On the other hand, if everybody adopts this tactic, we'll lose our
advantage.
Forget I mentioned it . . .

-- Ron

Re: Cheap luggage bites
 

"Thomas" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
    > I bought a Wheelie for GBP 25 from the UK discount store 'Woolworths'.
Very
    > high quality build, and over 20 trips later, not a single problem.
You never know when you might hit a good bargain. My current favorite bag is
a TravelPro roll-onboard that I bought (new) at a salvage shop for something
like $50-$60. It has served me very well for many trips and when I lost a
strap, I just called TravelPro for a replacement.

In the case of the two cheap bags we took to Spain & Portugal; well, they
were recommended by a friend and they did have a money-back guarantee. We
thought we'd give them a try to see how they would work out. It turned out
that we were not satisfied and returned them. I guess the company just
assumes that 95% of their customers won't really give their bags a real test
and of the 5% who do, only a few will ask for a refund. But they did follow
through, so all's well that ends well.

--
Donald Newcomb
DRNewcomb (at) attglobal (dot) net