I feel like the problem is often the opposite one. I'm plugging a USB device into the back of my PC, and can't see the direction that the USB port is facing. So

I feel like the problem is often the opposite one. I'm plugging a USB device into the back of my PC, and can't see the direction that the USB port is facing. Some of the motherboard shields sit out far enough that, even if you look back there, you can't really see whether it's pointing up or down. Maybe it's always consistent, but I don't have an intuitive sense for that. I would definitely pay $1 or $2 extra for cables that can be plugged in from either direction.