Rant: Blew $45 on a cheap wine opener that broke after 3 uses

I thought I was being smart by grabbing a $4.99 corkscrew from the discount bin at Grocery Outlet. First two bottles went fine, but the third one snapped the screw part clean off inside the cork and ruined the whole bottle of red. Has anyone else had luck with one of those basic waiter's corkscrews under $15?

3 comments

3 Comments

victor_jones996d ago

That $45 one you blew money on probably wasn't even a real waiter's corkscrew in the first place. I bought a basic one from Target for like $12 called the "Waiters Friend" or something generic like that, and it's been working fine for two years now. But like, you gotta be careful with those cheap ones because sometimes the screw is actually a straight rod that's been bent into a curve, not a true spiral, and that's what makes it snap. Your $4.99 one from Grocery Outlet sounds like it was a similar knockoff, not a real discount on a good brand. Stick with a simple waiter's corkscrew that has a real worm screw, not one of those weird twisty things, and you'll be good for under $15 easy.

jake6385d ago

Yeah but what if I LIKE the thrill of wondering whether my corkscrew is gonna snap off in the cork halfway through opening a bottle? Adds a little spice to life, you know? I swear my $4.99 special from Grocery Outlet had a screw that looked more like a bent paperclip than an actual spiral. First time I used it, I ended up wrestling with the cork for a solid ten minutes and then just pushed it INTO the bottle with a chopstick. At that point I was just drinking wine with cork chunks floating in it. So yeah, maybe Victor has a point about paying a little more for something that actually works, but where's the FUN in that?

kim.zara4d ago

The exact same thing happened to me with a cheap corkscrew from a dollar store. The screw part just twisted right off in the cork and I had to dig it out with a pair of tweezers, which took forever and left little metal shavings in the wine. I finally caved and bought a $15 waiter's corkscrew from a kitchen supply store and it's been solid for over a year now. The spiral on mine is actually a real worm screw, not that bent wire junk, so it grips the cork without twisting itself apart.