Ah, yes . . . My point exactly!
It’s ironic that the code you cited is fairly recent ( meaning less than a quarter century ago) — right about the time suspended ceilings went out of fashion. That’s about par for the code; after all, it wasn’t until everyone switched to cell phones that the NEC decided to worry about supplying power to your old land-line!
Here’s the rub: For decades large retail spaces — supermarkets, hardware stores, discounters — used large spaces with suspended ceilings. Equipment, such as cash registers, was powered using “drops” from above. These were fine — unless you wanted to power carts of fried chicken that you could move about. Today the cart sits near register #4; tomorrow we’ll want it over by register #7. And, we need to push the card aside each night to make way for the stockboys and cleaners.
Mount a box to the suspended ceiling? Good luck navigating all the code issues that creates.
Now the issue might be moot. When did you last see a “box store” with a drop ceiling? Such stores all have open ceilings, “hiding” the ducts, etc., above the glare of dangling lights. That creates the other situation I’ve shown: pipes dropping from the sky with only the flimsiest support.This is not because the electrician is lazy; there simply isn’t anything to hang your stuff from. On the “plus” side, inspections typically take place before these drops are needed
