Memorial Day weekend always marred by cheaply made barbecue grills

One of the biggest problems with Memorial Day is the fact that most barbecue grills are made so cheaply, the burners under the grills rust out and you're forced to spend more money to buy a new one

By Ray Hanania

FREE/Slice of Life/Monday May 20, 2024

I'm a Veteran, so I do get to talk about the "other issues" that we face on Memorial Day, besides remembering those who served and who gave their lives to defend this country.

I am not knocking the public, of course, for remembering and memorializing. But I am knocking those who exploit Memorial Day for their own profits and greed.

The barbecue industry is on top of that list.

The one thing most people associate with Memorial Day, besides placing an American flag or flowers on Dad's grave at the cemetery, is celebrating with family and friends by hosting a barbecue.

In fact, when most people think of a barbecue special event, Memorial Day weekend is one of the first to pop up, followed by the 4th of July week holidays. Both have to do with Patriotism.

But businesses that exploit this cultural phenomena are not really very patriotic. They are, instead, driven by greed.

The problem is, barbecues are cheaply made, and for a reason driven by greed. The barbecue manufacturers want their grills to look great, but they don't want them to last long.

They want you to buy a new grill, often.

Every Spring you will see the grills lining up in front of big box stores like owes, Menards and Home Depot. And every Spring you will see barbecue grills lining up in front of suburban driveways on bulk garbage days, to be picked up and disposed of.

Oftentimes, the junk man will drive past before the garbage trucks and grab the old grills, because they always look great, on the outside anyway.

So, barbecue grill manufacturers use cheap burners located inside under the grill that end up easily rusting out after only a few years.

Oh, they will tell you to remove the burners at the "end of the barbecue season," to keep them from being damaged by the weather (rain and snow) but when is that?

Most people barbecue all year round, including during the Winter Months when there is snow on the ground. When do you store them?

Clean them, they insist. And then store the burners inside the house for the winter to prevent them from rusting. But that's a cop-out.

I like to barbecue not only during Memorial Day weekend and the 4th of July week, but also during the Winter when it snows.

Barbecuing is less greasy. The food tastes better. And, it's fun.

Men love to barbecue. I guess because men don't complain and spend money like crazy. The barbecue industry knows it can get away with selling cheap unreliable products at excessively high prices.

Men don't question the price of garbage -- they don't question their cars which rust out, too, and that don't last that long either. Why should men question crappy barbecue grills?

I guess I could buy a charcoal grill instead of the natural gas or propane tanks for the grill and use charcoal and the lighter fluid instead. That way I won't have metal burners that rust out quickly to deal with.

But I prefer the propane tank barbecue grills. They are cheap. It's amazing how cheap they are. While the prices on nearly everything has doubled over the past couple of years, the price of a large propane gas cannister remains stable at $21 for a large tank. You swap out the old, empty tank for the new one.

Of course, that low price will probably change sometime soon, too.

And, of course -- I hate starting a sentence with "and" -- burning charcoal harms the environment and the quality of our air. A lot of people don't like to use charcoal.

It's also messy. And most people who get burned are burned by the lighter fluid and charcoals. I've never heard of a propane tank grill exploding.

Still, the barbecue grills are made cheaply to force you to buy a new grill.

Father's Day follows Memorial Day by a few weeks and one of the top favorite gifts for Father's Day -- besides a new lawn mower, sex with your wife, or a new flat screen TV in that order -- is a new barbecue grill.

A new grill is the number one gift, in fact.

The burners are made to rust and to fall apart. The grease plate underneath the burners and grill is also cheaply made and it rusts out fast.

New burners costs $25 each at your local Menards, Home Depot or Lowes, which means to replace four of them costs more than $100, including with taxes.

A new gas grill only costs about $300. So, most people toss out the old grill and just buy a new one rather than replace the burners.

I tried repairing a rusted-out burner system on a grill once. You can't buy the exact same type of burner to match the manufacturer of the grill you own, so you have to buy those generic ones. They stretch to fit. It was garbage.

The push button igniter is made to be close to the original burners. Oftentimes, they are not close enough to the generic replacements, so you have to go out and buy a long nose BIC Lighter, which I think is more dangerous, especially if you leave the gas tank open too long when trying to light it and you start to smell the propane gas. That's not good. You might go up in flames.

I recently scrapped my gas grill and bought a new one. I had no choice. It put a damper on my Memorial Day feelings. It does bother me every year, because you can see the burners degrade as you cook.

I bought the new grill at Lowes because I get a veteran's discount at Lowes. I saved 10 percent. That's what they mean when they say, "Thank you for your service."

No, thank you, Lowes!

You can read more of my syndicated columns and more details on Memorial Day at my website at www.Hanania.com.

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RFK Jr may not be the best candidate. I go back and forth on him.

I also look in detail at the "Crime Fright Flight" of residents from Cook County and Illinois. We're losing population faster than a corrupt politician takes a bribe and we all know why.

Writing comes easy for me and I hope to makes you think. You don't have to agree with me, but I my thoughts provoke you to expand your thinking about the important issues and the not-so-important issues.

I love your feedback, too.

Anyway, Happy Memorial Day to everyone from this curmudgeon who isn't afraid to take a happy moment and tweak it pull off the scab.