Are they shorter than the store championship/cardboard rulers in general? Not by a lot, but mine is a half centimeter or so short... enough that I wouldn't use it but not obvious without lining them up.. just curious if it is just how they made the batch, or if I may have a miscut.

I refer you to the following;

I have also heard that they're a tad short. The bright orange also makes it look like you've been given a safety ruler for your own protection and thus perhaps they're a bit shorter so you have slightly less ruler to injure yourself with?

I noticed this as well. There is a definite difference with the orange ruler being every so slightly shorter. I would estimate the difference is the width of the line itself.

I just shrugged and put it back in the box. I use an acrylic short, medium, and long range rulers for preliminary measurements and the original cardboard for "official" measurements when things are close anyway.

I'm prepared for it being something they aren't going to fix, it's disappointing the actual plastic is shorter.. the printed ranges all match up with the store champs, just range 5 and long range get a tad cut off. If it's a general production issue/feature I guess it goes in storage or ebay.