https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2024/09/18/tupperware-containers-bankruptcy-news/75273659007/
Tupperware is best known for its once-iconic, colorful food storage containers. Here's what we know so far after the company filed for bankruptcy.
Well, their business model of selling their stuff with "Tupperware Parties" was en vogue in the 70s, 80s. The world of businesses has changed since then. Tupperware has not. Go figure.
Were tupperware parties actually a thing?! I always figured it was a cover for selling sex toys
IMHO, they had a weird ass business model that was about selling direct to consumers through local reps and “Tupperware parties.”
Their competitors sold comparable products in stores and online waaaay before Tupperware woke up. And by the time they woke up, people had already had moved on to other brands.
They’re paying the price for dumb decisions made years ago. They basically handed their food container market dominance over to other companies.
Well, originally, they started in shops but it was failing miserably so they came up with the pyramid scheme Tupperware ambassadors.
But yeah it was a long time ago and they didn't think of changing the model until recently.
Oh is that what they do? I had no idea. They used to be a customer at the last company I worked at. I always wondered what, exactly, they consulted.
Is this late-state enshittification? Didn't they super cheap-out on some/all of their products to appeal to the 'single' use crowd?
...facilitate a sale process for the business in order to protect its iconic brand and further advance Tupperware's transformation into a digital-first, technology-led company.
Wait, what?
Tupperware is a weird ass company and for the longest time you couldn’t buy their products in a store or online. You had to go to a “Tupperware party” and buy them from a local rep.
Eventually they started to sell in select stores and eventually online.
By “digital first, technology led,” they basically mean they’re playing catchup with e-commerce basics.
People are moving away from plastic containers for food. Cheap disposable Glad and Rubbermaid containers also made a huge dent in their business.
https://www.americastestkitchen.com/articles/7872-why-you-shouldnt-microwave-plastic
Since PFAS and PFOS is basically in all food container packaging these days, I've switched to using glass containers for everything I can. Pyrex if I can manage it.
On some level their product is too good--sell it once, and that's it. You own it, and it lasts forever.
Products can break, people are born and grow up an eventually need to buy that kind of thing. Some of it can break or wear out even if most of it last decades.
The problem is expecting never ending exponential growth because of the pressures of capitalism instead of finding a stable level of production and making that profitable. Especially with buy it for life products.
This makes room in the market for a company that makes subscription-based plastic containers that steal your data.
IMHO, the bigger issue is that they refused to sell their stuff in stores and on the internet for a long long time. You had to buy from select retailers or a local rep that threw “tupper ware parties.”
A lot of use just moved to other brands that were easier to find, and when we wanted to replace stuff that never got returned by a neighbor, we bought more of the same stuff.
The products also have/had a lifetime guarantee - providing you could find a rep and they still made the product... Got a jug replaced after 40 years of hard service.
It's also why the party model failed them - MLM for a product that never broke or wore out.
Newer tupperware was microwave safe.
Reps got a cut of party sales and if they made enough each month the could get other benefits as well (a company car, for example).