If someone had told me, that of all the members of my family, I’d be the one to be invited to the Consumer Reports headquarters in Yonkers, NY, I’d have called them crazy. So imagine my surprise when the email, ‘Consumer Reports Wants You’ landed in my inbox. Naturally, I did the thing that all professional people do… I Google searched the sender to make sure it wasn’t a hoax!
Seriously, once I realized this was for real I was completely beside myself. This was really happening. There are times throughout your career when you realize either a) this is working nicely, I should totally keep doing it or b) Wow. This really sucks. I should probably give up. I feel like most people feel like A & B at least some of the time. Being a blogger is, most days, one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done. Other days it just kind of feels like I’m talking to a wall. On this particular day, as I had a view of the Atlantic right outside of my window for most of the trip, it definitely felt like A!
I arrived the day before the Home & Garden Social and passed right by the Consumer Reports office during my $1 million dollar taxi ride from JFK to my hotel in Yonkers. {Yes. I am now keenly aware that one should never take a taxi from JFK to Yonkers but more on that in my next post, My First Trip to NYC}
It was at this moment that it all became very real. Consumer Reports is real. That email was real. This building in Yonkers is real. And I am really, really here.
To say that I was excited would be like saying Cheddar is cheesy. I could barely sleep the night before. Knowing that I’d wake up the next morning and actually be at Consumer Reports but also because NYC was out there somewhere and I’d never seen it.
The next morning found me at a board room table, two in fact, and I can honestly tell you it was a first. I’m clearly not a a corporate girl but sitting here at this table with my new swag bag I felt like the most important person on the planet. And also like they might have made a mistake and they were probably about to realize it.
So here I am, the day before Halloween, touring Consumer Reports.
Our first stop? The roof!
This is where they test paint. They angle and position it like this so that it gets the most brutal exposure.
That way they get results faster.
And here I am in the paint lab where for one very amazing, nerdy moment I was in Heaven.
We learned about how they test everything from fading, sticking, scrubbing and staining to gloss change. Have you ever even thought of gloss change? It happens.
This is a machine they use to scrub years worth of cleaning onto a paint sample to see how it holds up.
This test is done to see how well a paint will cover over even the darkest of paints and it is rated based on its coverage.
He even talked about the best method for painting, zigzag then up and down.
The thing I most noted about the folks who worked here is that they are all so passionate about their jobs. You can tell they really love what they do.
The second I entered this room, the Vacuum Lab, I immediately started to worry I was about to find out that all that money I spent on our new vacuum wasn’t worth it.
Thankfully that wasn’t exactly the case but I did find that I could have gone with a cheaper option and gotten the same results. Sigh.
We got to see how they tested the vacuums, too. Turns out they practically measure each grain of sand when determining how well a vacuum picks up. See. I told you these guys were passionate.
And they’re pretty smart, too. Not only do they come up with various ways to independently test these products but they also sometimes build the testing equipment, like this one pictured here. Because, really, who wants to stand there and push a vacuum back and forth all day? Not this girl.
I can remember the very first load of clothes I washed in our {then} new HE washer. It just happened to be a load of white clothes and I was astounded at how white they were when they came out. It made me realize that our old washer just wasn’t doing the trick.
Here we learned how they tested everything from stains to body oils. I saw the most gigantic washer while I was there. It would have laundered at least 2 comforters at once. I would totally have brought it back home with me but the Jet Blue guy who checked me in for my return trip, and gave me grief about my two plastic bags of souvenirs, would probably have taken issue with it.
As soon as I set foot in the Lighting Lab I thought I’ll bet these guys can help me figure out why I’m having to change my flood lights out every two to three weeks! And sure enough, they did. Because I have chickens we have dusk to dawn lighting on the outside of our home. This helps to keep them a little safer from predators during the night. What I couldn’t understand is why, if a bulb was supposed to last me x number of years, I was having to change mine out so often. As it turns out, those “years” they promise you on the box only apply if you use your bulbs no more than 3 hours per day!
Have you ever seen a prettier bulb!
Or the inside of an LED one for that matter?
What about a 3D printer at work?
These use a plastic like that of Legos and can “print” out most any shape you like.
Or an entire chess set. See those lines in each of the pieces? Those are the layers of plastic created as the pieces were printed. Not unlike that of tree rings.
I’m not sure if anyone there that day could appreciate the fact that I took a picture of this perfectly patina-ed and industrial stool but I thought you guys would!
Consumer Reports has been as this testing business a long time.
I remember my mom had one of these once.
What I couldn’t believe before, during and after, my trip there was the fact that I hadn’t thought to consult Consumer Reports before. How many times have I used trial and error to decide on paint coverage? The best appliance for the money? Or which dual flush toilet would actually…..flush?
And I had no idea their publications included Kitchen and Home buying guides not to mention the Shop Smart guide for the best deals. I grew up in a family of boys and Consumer Reports, to me, were car testers.
It was one of those times where it was a really fun time to find out that I was wrong. What about you? Do you consult Consumer Reports before making important buying decisions? And did you know they covered so many different things? I didn’t but I do now and you can bet I’m paying attention. After all, if I’d done so sooner I probably wouldn’t have wound up with not one, but two, unflushable toilets.
Oh! And I FINALLY got to make that trip to NYC. But that’s a different story for a different day.
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