Is Tupperware Still Relevant in Today's Market?

[Ivan Seeking]

Tonight, PBS is running a documentary about Tupperware. Strangely, this brings back a lot of memories for me.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/tupperware/

Does anyone still buy Tupperware? Did anyone here have a mom who sold Tupperware? Mine did, and she did it big! I remember having a garage full of the stuff at one point. She did this back when we had a house full of kids and inflation took off, around 1970. At her peak she I think she was making as much as ~ $500 a party. That was very good money back then and afforded us the few luxuries we had in life.

There are so many knock-offs that I assume Tupperware is mostly a thing of the past. But back in the day they had some unique products, and I think the first product that easily sealed - the famous Tupper seal. My mother was penny pincher so it must have made good sense, and most of the stuff she bought is still in use; either by us or my sisters. Eventually they went overboard with overly specialized products, which I think discredited the product line.

 

[Moonbear]

My aunt sold Tupperware (and Avon), so, yeah, we had tons of it too. It lasted a long time, until we got a dishwasher. The lids didn't fare well in the dishwasher and warped. At the time, containers that sealed were a big deal. Otherwise, you had to store stuff in glass serving bowls with foil or plastic wrap. In addition to the bowls, we had Tupperware cups for the kids. Now as I think about it, I wonder why kids go through so many cups in a day now. We had 4 cups, and mine was the blue one and my sister had the green one. Yellow and red were for guests I suppose, because we absolutely, positively, always used the same two colored cups for every beverage. My youngest cousin was a toddler when they came out with the sippy cup lids for them...the rest of us grew up knowing how to get a sponge or towel to wipe up spilled beverages. But with spillable cups, we didn't wander all over the place with drinks either. We very carefully carried the cup to the kitchen table and sat there to drink, then carried the cup back to the sink for washing.

I also remember clearly that the orange Tupperware bowl was for Jello. And in the summer, we had the popsicle molds...just add orange juice and stick them in the freezer. I tried it with iced tea and learned about sugars separating from solution with decreasing temperature. :rofl:

 

[jtbell]

Tupperware is/was international. I have a second cousin who was born in Finland, married a German guy, and ran Tupperware parties in Germany about 20 years ago.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Huh, even though the patent expired long ago, the last statistic provided on the show was that today, a Tupperware party starts somewhere in the world every 2.5 seconds.

They had something for everything. I wonder if they ever came out with a Tupperware keeper in which to store your Tupperware.

 

[lostcauses10x]

Strangely enough vintage Tupperware has value. do a search on Ebay etc..
People collect the stuff.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Tupperware represents the zenith of Western Civilization.

 

[mcknia07]

We still have Tupperware cups :) I love them. Best things ever. We do still have some of the food storage containers but not many.

 

[Evo]

Tupperware was great stuff, I even had a tupperware lunch kit for work. Moonbear is right about the lids warping in the dishwasher though.

Now I like those disposable sealable containers. I can't throw away fresh food, so I carefully seal them in these little containers, that get continously pushed to the back of the refrigerator until one day you find it, ask yourself "what's this", notice that it's no longer recognizable and toss it into the trash. With tupperware, I would usually empty the stuff and clean the container, which was gross.

 

[Moonbear]

Tupperware was great stuff, I even had a tupperware lunch kit for work.

I had one of those for school. It was great. No smooshed sandwich, because it had its own little box, then a little cup for snacks, and another sealable cup for beverages. Back in the time of glass liners in thermoses, it was WONDERFUL not wondering if I was going to get a cup full of glass instead of a beverage from dropping my lunchbox on the way to school.

 

[dipole]

What is a Tupperware party? I always thought Tupperware was just plastic junk (almost disposable), I don't understand the big deal...

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

My mom used to sell it in the 80s, I still have some dishes.

 

[turbo]

There is better stuff out there these days, IMO. Corning and Anchor-Hocking have very nice glass containers that are oven-safe and microwavable with tight-sealing plastic lids for storage. My wife and I have tossed a lot of the plastic containers because when you use them to reheat sauces, etc, in the microwave the interiors of the dishes tend to bubble and create voids that are impossible to clean properly. We have a whole cupboard full of glass dishes with covers and SS containers with covers (for freezing). We have had some unfortunate incidents when freezing food in plastic containers (even when leaving plenty of head-space) and since we have a big garden, we freeze a lot of stuff.

Tupperware and Rubbermaid are fine for refrigerator-storage of leftovers, but the food has to be transferred to a different container for reheating. My wife went to a Tupperware party (favor for a friend) a couple of years back, and it was like pulling teeth to get off that email list. She'll still go to a Pampered Chef party every once in a while, and has bought specialty tools and a salad spinner at those, but no more giving out email addresses.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Too funny! I didn't really expect many responses to this thread. Yes, my mother thought Tupperware was about the greatest thing since sliced bread.

What is a Tupperware party? I always thought Tupperware was just plastic junk (almost disposable), I don't understand the big deal...

Watch the program linked. In short, it was the first [or first widely marketed] product for food storage that could seal. They were also smart about targeting specific needs, like sandwich keepers, and products that stacked or packed easily for conserving storage space, that housewives loved. It was only sold at "Tupperware Parties", which was a then unique marketing concept. A party was just a gathering of folks interested in the product, that was hosted by people like Greg's mom, and mine. Mom would demo their product line and then take orders for delivery later.

All of those imitation products didn't exist back then. Tupperware had the patent on the seal and I think the production process.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Tupperware is extremely important. So important the thread title had to be improved.

 

[Chi Meson]

This is from my memory, with no googling, youtubing, or anything other than reading this just now:

ahem

"we're Tupperware ladies
[something something]Tupperware ladies,
we'll show you some new things,
a million-and-two things
for locking in
[sound bite of a Tupperware "burp"]
freshness!"

Why is that a permanent part of my brain?

 

[turbo]

This is from my memory, with no googling, youtubing, or anything other than reading this just now:

ahem

"we're Tupperware ladies
[something something]Tupperware ladies,
we'll show you some new things,
a million-and-two things
for locking in
[sound bite of a Tupperware "burp"]
freshness!"

Why is that a permanent part of my brain?

Why is LSTMFT a permanent part of my brain? Repetition.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

"we're Tupperware ladies
[something something]Tupperware ladies,
we'll show you some new things,
a million-and-two things
for locking in
[sound bite of a Tupperware "burp"]
freshness!"

I never thought of you that way before!

That vaguely rings a bell. I did a search but couldn't find it on YT.

I'd bet Zooby could use a banana keeper.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I'd bet Zooby could use a banana keeper.

Indeed, tupperware is the one human invention zoobies have not been able to recreate in brush.

 

[Chi Meson]

I never thought of you that way before!

That vaguely rings a bell. I did a search but couldn't find it on YT.

Someone else remembers:
http://www.thegoddessblogs.com/?p=14060

 

[Ivan Seeking]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgHTzOQeb3M

Interesting, "We have women in Siberia making $100,000 a year".