Teasing Users with Tiny Characters

So very often (and probably the older you get the more you notice) vendors print text on tools and instructions as small as possible. To save ink, to save paper? Or to hide details?
I assume it is just to save whatever and certainly not to tease the users. But, oh man, are them characters small.

For a comparison I asked two gauge N (1:160) models (I call them Enli's) to take a seat on a bench, so we can see how small the characters are. The child is 3 mm or less, 1/9 of an inch.