Why don't manufactures make medium size products?

Question

I can't find any trash bags between 13 gallon and 35 gallon. Neither fit most kitchen trash cans. I can't find a towell between a hand towell and a bath towell to wrap around my hair after a shower. Can any one help?

Answer 1

I agree with you about the trash bags.My solution about what I call 'hair towels" is to buy cheap "bath towels". They are usually smaller than the regular priced ones and since they are also thinner (ie:cheap) they generally stay on your head/hair better.

Answer 2

Because of mechanization and automation in manufacturing, in order to keep the prices to a (low) level which you are willing to pay, product variations need to be kept to a minimum. Every change in size costs money for either a different machine, tool, and/or loss in time (and hence production) to change-over the machines to a make a different size. Add to that, there is increased engineering effort, warehousing, catalogues, etc., etc...
The decision which product variations to make lies with the Marketing and/or Product Management departments, and they (say they) base their decision on market demand research. They choose the products with the (relatively) highest demand, and those few percentages of customers who want something else "will come around eventually".
Quite too often though, that "demand research" is nothing but looking at what the most successful guy (market leader) is doing, and just do the same, because "they must be doing something right...(and I don't know better....)"