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Tupperware files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after 80 years in business.
The party is finally over. Now I guess we see whether or not Rubbermaid decides to acquire their assets.
And also how long until you only see it on Antiques Roadshow.

--Patrick

Well, it's chapter 11, not 7. Red Lobster just emerged from 11, so it can be done.

Surprised they were still around.

GasBandit said:

Well, it's chapter 11, not 7. Red Lobster just emerged from 11, so it can be done.

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Long before the Disney buyout, Marvel Comics famously pulled themselves out of a chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Oh, I know that 11 still means the chance of pulling themselves up by their bootstraps, but they're not competing against Rubbermaid and Ziploc any more. Now they're competing against Uber Eats and DoorDash. The mentality these days is no longer "Make three units of food, 2-3 times/week" like it was in Tupperware's heyday. Now it's "Acquire and consume one unit of food daily." I honestly wonder how long it will be until the idea of a kitchen as a place to prepare meals shrinks to mean little more than a snack-and-coffee station.

--Patrick

PatrThom said:

Oh, I know that 11 still means the chance of pulling themselves up by their bootstraps, but they're not competing against Rubbermaid and Ziploc any more. Now they're competing against Uber Eats and DoorDash. The mentality these days is no longer "Make three units of food, 2-3 times/week" like it was in Tupperware's heyday. Now it's "Acquire and consume one unit of food daily."

--Patrick

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I've really been having to break the GF and her kid of the "Buy my burrito a Taxi" mentality. I went out of town last week and doordash got used for dinner 3 times out of 4.

I can't think of a good solution to that. One of the only reasons I'm able to even consider looking for a new (expensive) stove is that having the space, equipment, and talent to prepare meals means that we are able to feed 5-1/2 people (I'm counting the teen as 1-1/2 people here) on < $250/wk of groceries.

--Patrick

Once we moved out of the city, Mr. Z and I realized that picking up our food was not only cheaper (not tipping), but we got it sooner than waiting for delivery. We didn't have to worry about losing our parking spot and having to find another anymore, either. I think the last time I got delivery, I was very pregnant with Li'l Z, and Mr. Z wouldn't be home until much later. But again, we're the kind of people who'd rather have to drive 5-15 minutes then waste extra $$.

But getting back to the point, most nights we eat at home, because it's cheaper and far healthier, and I still almost nightly use some kind of Tupperware/other brand whatever for leftovers. Hell, I use them for sorting things around the house. It really does surprise me they have to file Chapter 11.

It's not just door dash. It's all the cheap food storage you can get in the baggie aisle of the grocery store
Tupperware is super sturdy, from my recollection, and the store-bought stuff is relatively disposable.


But it's hard to compete when you can get most of that same stuff for $20.00 or less, and in sizes that are more usable to a typical family. I rarely need to store a whole salad bowl's worth of food.

I need to find one of those GIANT, yellow, salad bowls.

Yeah, Tupperware the brand might go away, but not Tupperware the product.

(I'm also just gonna assume theres some private equity bullshit going on too)

Some day I might tell the story of when I lived in Fargo and unwittingly became the #1 regional Tupperware salesman for a quarter.

@MindDetective It’s kind of a long story that I refuse to type out in my phone. Remind me and I’ll tell it Friday from my pc.

Since I’m on mobile but bored I’ll relate the story, leaving some smaller details out.

In the late 1980’s I moved to Fargo and was working there, not really making any of my own friends - I was kind of third wheeling it with my roommate who was actually from there. On a whim I signed up to GM a TMNT game at the Fargo convention. That night a group of friends decided they’d give it a try. It was a guy and his three lady friends, one of which was his girlfriend. It was a fucking blast! They immediately went off script and I just rolled with it, eventually culminating in a really improv high speed car chase shootout that were using rules made up on the spot. After that day I was invited into their friend group and became their regular GM. Yes, this is all salient information.

Fast forward to a few months later when the girlfriend wanted to sell Tupperware. She didn’t have many friends outside the friend group so she even invited us guys. We all went. In the catalog there was this paper/sewing tray that I liked. I bought it and I’ll be damned if it wasn’t PERFECT for gaming. The bottom part kept papers or character sheets. The top had compartments that were almost tailor made for pencils, dice, index cards, and even a calculator.

A couple months after that was another convention. I set up a booth and showcased the “gaming tray”. I sold a TON of the things. When I told the people they were Tupperware they were amazed. I showed them some other cool stuff that TW had that gamers could use and sold a bunch of extra stuff. Not too long after that I got a phone call telling me my sales were the top in the region for the quarter but I had to have a Tupperware party to qualify for any awards. So I had one. It was all guys. The lady representative that came along seemed almost frustrated at how we conducted ourselves. We didn’t sit quietly and pass stuff around. If we liked it we’d say so then toss it to someone else. We were all over the place. She wasn’t sure how to take us. But I made a few sales from that as well.

That was the last time I did anything with Tupperware as I soon moved from there to Wichita and never kept it going. But I STILL have that container. I still use it for gaming. Tupperware doesn’t sell it any more but this damned thing is amazing. It’s old, it’s stained, it’s cracked on the seam. But then again it’s almost 40 years old and still going strong. When I get home tomorrow morning I’ll try and remember to get a picture of it.

It looks just like this only mine is grey.


Look what I found on Etsy:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1785144359/vintage-tupperware-brown-travel-personal?ref=share_v4_lx

That does look like a nice storage device. I am a sucker for those things.