Okay, so I was pretty exccited about the concept of Method’s O-mop. I’d never bought a product like this before as I didn’t wan’t to be throwing all those sheets in the trash. But compostable? Heck yeah! I was thrilled and went out and purchased one about three months ago.
The dry sheets work great and picked up every little spot of dust and cat hair off my floors. The wet cloths also do the job well and for the most part I was very pleased.
So what’s the trouble??
First, I was disappointed that the refillable sheets come in a plastic clamshell, which is not recyclable in Minneapolis. What’s wrong with consumer-waste cardboard, which can be recycled in most places? I could picture something much cuter than the plastic and more environmentally friendly. Something very Martha-ish, brown cardboard with a sweet little label.
Second, the microfiber wet cloth works great, but the one long velcro strip down the midle isn’t enough. The mop folds up when I scrub back and forth. Two horizontal strips would probably do the trick.
Finally, the worst problem? The plastic handle on top broke off!! This is the biggest disappointment. I expect a mop to last for YEARS, not months. This first two troubles I’ll deal with. But broken?? Nope. I think this is one of the biggest troubles in our consumer laden society. Stuff breaks, but it’s so cheap that we just toss it in the garbage rather than complain.
I’m complaining. I actually wrote to them about all of the above. I can’t remember the last time I wrote to a company about what happened. It will be interesting to see what happens.
Knittymama 
Oh, it is so cool that you are posting about this because I was just thinking that I wanted to tell the world about my enviro-friendly swifferness.
First, I bought a bunch of Ultimate Dusters (http://store.sepstore.org/onuldu.html) that are a tacky dusting cloth that can be washed. If you cut them in half they are the size of a Swiffer sheet. Then, I bought a Swiffer. Insert Ultimate Duster half into the Swiffer contraption and – VOILA! – you have the equivalent of cloth diapers for your floors. You could probably find a wet cloth that would work for washing the floors too, but don’t try the Ultimate Duster because they are not very absorbent.
I actually use a Sh-Mop (http://www.florstor.com/Sh-Mop.html) with a washable cover to wash my floors instead of the Swiffer because it doesn’t feel like it is going to break when I scrub with it. You can fill a spray bottle with a watered down Dr. Bronners or other cleaning solution and spray the floor, then run the mop over it. Works really well.
And for the record it isn’t that I am this brilliant (except for the Swiffer idea) I used to work for a chemical free house cleaning company.
Good for you – I firmly believe that you should complain to the company when a product doesn’t live up to thier hype. Only that way can they improve – and usually they compensate you by replacing the defective product. Win-win.
Interesting. I was thinking about getting one of these mops but didn’t since the one I have still works. I’d be interested in what their response is, will you post it here?
Thanks for the Omop review!!
If we all spoke up more often, maybe our products would be a little less disposable?
Good for you about writing to them. If we don’t tell them they might not know. (Kind of like, if we don’t ask we won’t get what we want.) I hope they listen. Sounds like it could be a decent product if they just fixed a couple things.
Yay, knittymama!!
You go! I shudder when I think of the stuff going to the landfill because it’s cheaper to replace than fix. Maybe it shouldn’t have broken to begin with.
Oh, that’s disappointing! You’ll have to let us know if you get a response.
I think your comments are reasonable and I do hope the company takes them into account for improvements. Thanks for the link, I hadn’t seen this before.
Good going! I hope you get the response you are looking for and that they will replace or mop or at least your money.
You have a great site here. I was just drooling over all that sock yarn you won! Wow! You are lucky!
I whole-heartedly agree with you on the writing of letters. Companies need to know when their products are good, bad, need improvement or break. Most people (myself included) become really really annoyed, but seldom take the time to actually contact the manufacturers, etc. Your trip to Toronto sounds like it was heavenly.
Way to go Knittymama! Glad I didn’t purchase one yet, actually, I couldn’t find one to buy, otherwise I would have. Guess I’ll still have daily, massive amounts of cat hair on the floor, but I do like Mama Grouch’s solution!!
Good for you for complaining!
FYI: There are several patterns out there of covers you can knit or crochet to use to clean the floor.