You know, normally I’m all for a good Meijer brand product. I like their baked chips as much as baked Doritos. They make yogurt that tastes just like Dannon. And really how much difference is there between Meijer paper towel and Bounty? So I few weeks back I was in the market for a new pair of running shoes given the havoc that twice-a-week basketball games have wreaked on my old New Balances and while wandering through Meijer I happened to notice a pair of MTA Pro running shoes for like $16. So I was like, “What the heck, the Meijer chips are good, so I’m sure these beauties will hold up just fine.”

A day later the air pocket on the heel had collapsed and some stitching had already worked loose. I don’t know where Meijer outsourced their shoe manufacturing division, but I imagine it’s not a shiny new factory in Germany operating under the latest advances in efficiency.

Anyway, a couple days ago the dogs finished off the work that poor product design couldn’t. Lesson learned.