Bad Designs - Where is a soup spoon?

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Where is a soup spoon?

Boxes of teaspoons, soup spoons, knives and forks

At the cafeteria are 4 boxes, each containing plastic teaspoons, soup spoons, knives or forks. Teaspoon, soup spoon, knife and fork

Typically I get a soup spoon and fork, but one has to guess which boxes contain them since only the handles of the utensils are visible and the handles look the same. Sometimes the boxes are labeled but usually the labels are either missing or not visible and therefore cannot be relied on. The boxes seem to be in different positions each day, so one can't rely on learning where each kind of utensil is by its location.

Design Suggestion

Teaspoon, soup spoon, knife and fork with small image of itself molded onto the handle

One possible solution is for the manufacturer to mold a small image of the utensil into the handle. This would make it possible to identify each utensil by its handle without having to touch it or pull it out. This solution wouldn't seem to increase the cost of the utensils or impact the aesthetics adversely.

Readers' comments

I can't see your suggestion working as the utensils are black; presumably the icons would be black also, and I can imagine people bending down to peer at the icons trying to decipher them, and spending as long making a decision as to which utensil was the one they wanted as they probably do currently. -DW

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