Backpacks shouldn’t be crippling

By Mir
February 3, 2009

Okay, I know I just posted a free shipping code for Lands’ End a few days ago (code MENS and PIN 6724), but I thought I’d take this opportunity to point out a great deal there.

If you’ve been reading me for any length of time at all, you know that I’m a big believer in buying a quality backpack from a manufacturer that offers a lifetime guarantee. My kids have LL Bean rolling packs that I bought on clearance, and Bean has already replaced them once, no questions asked (defective handles).

Of course, now my kids have these awesome rolling packs that I thought were such a good idea because they, you know, roll, but at their school they are not allowed to roll their bags. And that means they have to carry them. And it turns out that the rolling bags—what with the wheels and the handles—are kind of heavy. And my kids are kind of small.

So now I’m shopping for new backpacks. (We’ll still use these for trips—there’s nothing better than a rolling backpack when you take a kid on a plane!) Lo and behold, Lands’ End has some awesome ones marked way down. Go to Lands’ End and search for ergo to find their ergonomic backpacks in a variety of colors. Originally nearly $40, they’re now just $11.99! (There’s a junior version, too, for smaller kids, for $14.99.) They’re ergonomically designed, with plenty of padding, and curved straps.

With the free shipping code, I can get them new school-ready packs with a lifetime guarantee for less than an uncomfortable, no-name bag at Target would’ve cost me.

Today is a good day.

27 Comments

  1. Nice. Thanks, Mir!

  2. Awesome.

  3. Ditto on the awesome! I looooove backpacks. I just can’t resist a good deal!

  4. They’re not ALLOWED to roll their bags? Given how heavy kids’ backpacks are these days, how is that a good idea?

    I’ve pretty much decided your school system is on something and not sharing.

  5. Cool bag…do they have any in grown-up sizes? 🙂 (For cheap I mean)

  6. Our kids aren’t allowed the rolling backpacks because they don’t fit in the lockers. Love this deal.

  7. I have cheap ones that I picked up at Target in Sept. in their closets for next year, but then they have nice ones to use for the rest of their school careers. They don’t like that? They can buy different ones themselves!

    Thanks for the heads up!

  8. I’ve heard of some schools not allowing rolling backpacks and I think that’s just crazy! My 8-year-old was using a regular backpack and started complaining of shoulder pain. I weighed her backpack and it weighed almost 40 lbs! That’s over 1/2 her weight! We bought a rolling backpack the next day and I dare her school to tell me she can’t use it.

  9. Can someone explain to me why the junior size is $3 more than the regular size?

  10. Shelly: The smaller size may be more popular, and therefore doesn’t need to be discounted as much. 🙂

  11. I bought another backpack today…a month or so ago I purchased one from the 6pm.com sale. Thanks for keeping up otherwise I wouldn’t have saved so much money!!!

  12. I give in, Mir. You would have to post this just a few days after I found a hole in the boy’s purchased-new-for-this-school-year Nike backpack. Admittedly the Nike backpack had been clearanced at Ross, so it cost a bit less than this one, but I am really looking forward to having a backpack that won’t crap out midyear.

    Then again, backpacks might not crap out so quickly if they weren’t thrown out of moving school buses by Mean Big Boys… but it looks like the guarantee covers damage caused by Mean Big Boys throwing the backpack out the bus window, so we should be good.

    (The automatic spell check is trying to tell me that “clearanced” is not a word. IT SO IS. At the very least, it should be a real word here at Want Not!)

  13. Thank you! I just ordered a lovely backpack for my elder daughter to take to kindergarten next year. *sniff*

    Don’t mind me. I am just feeling a bit verklempt now.

  14. I’ve been wanting to get another Land’s End backpack for a daycare bag for Chico. At this price, you betcha I just ordered one.

    I paid full price for the Jr. model for his school bag, and it’s worth what I spent on it. However, it’s wearing thin on the bottom. Admittedly, it’s because he holds it in one hand and drags it.

    Does their lifetime guarantee cover wear and tear from use? I don’t want to take unfair advantage, but if they’ll replace a bag that I paid $40+ for five months ago, that would be great.

  15. Oh, pretty Mir, thank you. I didn’t get a backpack but did score the lovely and super-cheap swimsuit I’ve been lusting after.

  16. Thanks a ton. These will last my boys for years! They will also come in handy this summer on our vacation out west. The boys can wear their own backpacks comfortably.

  17. my kids aren’t allowed to carry backpacks in school. Yet every teach demands a different 3-ring binder/notebook and textbook. When will the school systems use common sense?

  18. Sweet. I’ve been putting off the purchase of a “real” backpack since before Xmas. Poor BugMan’s bag is so worn on the bottom he is starting to lose stuff out the holes. No more cheapo packs for us. YAY! I just hope it is big enough to stuff his folder, book, and lunch box all in at once.

  19. AWESOME. Both kids just came to me YESTERDAY and complained that their backpacks were (a) boring, for one girl, or (b) falling apart with a big hole in the bottom, for the other girl. Woohoo! A green Ergo for the big girl, pink with kitties for the little! 😀

  20. Oh Mir… You’re so pretty. Joey’s backpack is falling apart. I *heart* you!

  21. Just ordered three! Mir, you are the awesomest of the awesome.

  22. Azul, you’d have to check to be sure, but I am pretty certain Land’s End will replace it. They may have changed their policies by now, but I know adults who have worn their jeans for YEARS, outgrew them, and sent them back for replacement. I think that’s terrible (I didn’t say I was friends with said people…just that I knew them), but I certainly think your child’s backpack would be replaced. Definitely worth looking into.

    And I bought the jr. version for my daughter and the regular size for me. Hooray! No more shoulder pain when I tote (overdue) books for my thesis from my office to the liberry! Just think! With the money I saved, I can afford the late fees! 😉

  23. Thanks Mir! Soon to be kindergartener is getting a red one.

  24. Okay, so I went to look at the backpacks, thinking maybe I’d get one pink and one blue for the twins to use when they started school, but then I was like, “Wellllll, maybe they’d want to choose their own, and it’s like a year and a half until they start kindergarten so maybe it’s too early, and should I get them monogrammed or not?” And in the confusion I somehow bought myself three pairs of jeans, plus bought my impending niece a little swimsuit.

  25. As someone who recently graduated from high school, I have to agree that rolling backpacks are NOT a good option for school. They can trip people in the hassle of getting from one class to another, not to mention the fact that they are so uncool as to make you a huge target. That backpack will probably get enough kicks to NEED a warranty.

    Do your kids a favor. Toss the rollers and get them an ergonomic backpack.

  26. Awesome deal, Mir! And just in the nick of time–my son’s Chicago Cubs backpack that he started using in August is already on its’ last leg!

  27. Couldn’t get backpacks out of my mind, so went back today and bought FOUR, with monograms (the four monograms cost another $20, but WELL WORTH IT for lowering same-backpack confusion at school). I got one for each of my two school kids, plus one for each twin not starting kindergarten until 2010 but GEEZ that’s a good deal and time does fly, doesn’t it?

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