Her firm has a client who needs to send a chatchkie to mechanical engineer types in the injection molding/manufacturing industry.
Anyone have any recommendations for blingy/cool new tools that would appeal to engineer types?
Budget is in the $50 to $200 range per piece, would need around fifty total.
Need something with broad recognition or appeal, something specifically wood related probably wouldn't be broad enough.
Jim Crammond offered maybe a high end fancy engineers scale.
Rob Lee got anything high on the neato/bling scale?
I thought of Bridge City initially, but I see they don't offer the breadth they used to. The link below is to a combo square they currently offer, it is the sort of thing she's thinking of.
OH yah, would be needed in the next couple of months.
>How about gift certificates for dinner at a local restaurant, movie passes, trip for two to a spa, etc?
Even better, how about buying the engineer a Christmas gift for his wife (or her husband?). That would be a great gift - no shopping for me!
Engineer's lives are already filled with junk they don't need. I have a whole shelf full of "gifts" that I don't need or want (ie. the pipe carved out of a lump of coal into the shape of a fish, while perhaps being culturally and technically relevent to where we were working, is not something I really need or even want. It could come in handy some day if the natural gas supply fails and we are freezing to death, but otherwise?)
A $50 to $200 isn't a bad budget...I vote for $200.
I still remember a project we did back in 1999 - our group of eight people purchased $2 million dollars of equipment from a vendor and they sent us two bottles of wine in a small gift pack at Christmas; maybe worth $75. We had to send it back because it broke the company's stupid ethics rules. Bah humbug. That reminds me - make sure your wife checks with the company to ensure that the employees are allowed to accept small gifts.
Ideally - it should be a domestic product, and with a "neato" factor...you want to be remembered, after all! A gift certificate is always a good idea.... pick a company like "Extreme Geek" (bet that sends a bunch of people checking... :) )
Just as an aside - our company policy on gifts is to accept 'em all, as long as we can draw for them among all employees - after all, everyone contributes. It's funny how many withdraw the "gift" when they find that out.... and what kind of impression does that leave??? It really is the thought that counts....
>Hmm, tough call. Where I used to work, I had a lot of interaction with vendors and we were allowed to accept anything. We got a lot of food items (you're typical Christmas basket and a bottle of champagne kind of thing). One guy used to buy gifts like fancy sunglasses, flasks, etc. A really nice USB drive would be nice. A realy nice wooden or acrylic pen made by one of the folks over on the turning forum would be pretty cool. If the individual uses a PDA, some kind of accessory like a Bluetooth GPS accessory would be cool. Bluetooth headsets are great, bluetooth stereo headphones are great for listening to your favorite tunes while crunching data. If they use a laptop, wireless mice are nice. A nice MP3 player would be appreciated by some folks (the Sansa's are really nice and the new model has 16GB of flash). That's about all I can come up with. Bummer, I work for a very large corp. now and our limit is $25. We rarely get anything since each vendor deals with so many folks here. Oh well. And for us to give a gift - ha - that would take a signature from the CEO these days (times are tough - y'all please start shipping a lot of stuff, eh?!?).
>How about a good sized "jump drive" with "Happy Holidays from your friends at XYZ Company" silk screened on the side. I think there might by about 3 engineers left in the US without a USB port on their computer ... rj
When I hear about company policies like that, I don't wonder that your company offers such great products - workers who know management feels that way about them will out-produce anyone any time.
When do you plan to open a Sonoma County (California) store? Will you give (shows dedication) or deduct (means the person wastes a lot of time) points for frequent posting on WW forums? Should I be polishing my resume?
>The excellent Lee Valley 'Box Tool'... the REAL mans version of those wimpy 'Leatherman' thingies.
Described by Rob Lee as 'A tough, ugly tool that is perfect for the person whose usual solution to a problem is to use a larger hammer. Also ideal for the person who tends to leave tools out in the rain. This one can't get much uglier'.
Guaranteed to impress under even the most extreme circumstances (I have one under my desk at work). One word of warning... I sometimes get complaints when I take my Box Tool through airport security.
>I pondered this one for a couple of days, and really tried to rack my brain.
The problem as I see it with buying tools for people that use tools, is that it's a hit or miss affair. The possible outcomes are:
-They don't have one, they wanted one, and they're glad to get one.
-They already had one that they like, and your money and effort gets filed away
-They didn't have one, didn't need one, they appreciate the effort, but it gets filed away.
-They really wanted one... but not the one they got.
Here are some other observatons. Many people in the manufacturing field fall into one of a few broad categories:
-They got into it because they like it, they're happy doing it, it's rewarding, and they're really happy, and they get all the work they need doing exactly what they want to be doing.
-They got into it because they really thought they'd like it, but it's not as exciting or as rewarding as they thought it would be.
-They're employees, and while they like the work, they're happier drinking beer at the end of the day.
For the first category, it's hard to buy them a tool, because they probably already have what they need, and bought themselves the one they wanted.
For the second, the tool might serve to encourage, but could also remind them that the work isn't what tey thought it would be.
For the third, really, good beer would suffice.
The X-factor, as I see it, is that so may engineers, or woodworkers, or other manufacturing types, enjoy the work they do, but they're still slaves to the grind, because they lost the wide eyed wonder that people cna have when they come out of school. How to re-ignite the flame?
Make Magazine. It's basically a magazine or uber-geeky mech-E types, and it covers everythign from goofy home made toys, to water clocks, mechanical sculptures, etc. There are primers on basic circuits, carbon fiber, and other things. And they sell collected volumes of back issues. It's a real interest mag, unlike what Fine Woodworking has turned into. They're not hawking tools, or gizmos, or gadgets, they're selling themselves to thinking people who really like to make things. They're allied to Craft magazine, and a couple of other ones, too. It's a really amazing read. (No, I don't work for them.)
I think one of the best things in life to possess is a feeling of optimism, to be able to look forward to the next project, or to your next idea. To have ideas, and the drive to pursue them. But not everyone has the inspiration all the time.
I think it'd be really cool to be able to go to work again with a head full of ideas of things you'd LIKE to build.
Maybe it doesn't fall into the chatchkie realm, but it's an idea. I think if someone gave me one of their collected volumes, with a good combination square (I already have probably half a dozen starrett combo squares of varying sizes, but I can always use another one) IT would do more to feed my interest in manufacturing again, and re-ignite some of the optimism, than any attempt at getting them something that you hope will be just the tool that all of them needed.
