I hate to say ‘I told you so’ but as a Civil Engineer I work on the basis of design being ‘function over form’. i.e. it doesn’t particularly matter what it looks like as long as it does the job properly for an economically sustainable price. Rive boxes are designed by what I would call ‘Architects’, i.e. It doesn’t matter if it works or what it costs as long as it looks good. I’ve been asking on various websites for ages now how Rive can justify a £1000+ asking price for the lastest boxes that contain about £45 worth of materials. I’ve had sad answers involving things like ‘design costs’ but I’m pretty sure the Egyptians beat us to the concept of the ‘box’ and even Chippendale furniture has adjustable legs and concealed drawers that slide out. Strangely enough I’ve never had a plausible answer on this question. It’s like the current 4×4 so called ‘off-roader’ car syndrome, They are mostly crap because they are based on normal car chassis / suspension geometry that isn’t designed for the raised floorpan, but.. ‘I must have a 4×4 even though I will never leave the city centre, never put more than 1 point 2 kids in it, never be able to park it properly because it’s so big on the outside, but they look good and everyone else is buying them so they must be good so I must have one. And I must drive it with fog lights on at all times!!!
The unfortunate economic truth is that as long as we are stupid enough to pay stupid prices for poor design and quality then the manufacturers will continue to be able to sell it to us.
Rant over.
TF_minimeat.
