If the end of Tupperware is upon us, the marginal consumer must be really, really tapped out.
Tupperware Brands (TUP.N) is preparing to file for bankruptcy as soon as this week, Bloomberg News reported on Monday, citing people with knowledge of the plans.
The bankruptcy preparations follow protracted negotiations between Tupperware and its lenders over how to manage more than $700 million in debt, according to the report.
Their campaigns in the Middle East really added to their unsustainable debt load.
I have a lot of Tupperware and I use them everyday …. I do the cooking and grocery shopping … so this topic is relevant. I hate to see such a good product stop production. I think I have all the Tupperware I will need for the duration.
Could this demise of a food management product be due the fact that most people … cannot … will not …. or are too damned lazy to prepare and cook their own food. They prefer to pay for the fast food delivery at exorbitant rates.
Tell me again why our society is so fat and sick.
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Folks … there are really good alternatives to tupperware available these days … my wife and son buy the latest stuff on Amazon and the lids are much better than Tupperwares but the lids can’t go in the dishwasher or it will shorten their lifespan. No idea of the price comparison.
On another notes … who are the idiot lenders that are owed 700 million by Tupperware … WTF were the banksters thinking unless Tupperware is sitting on 700 million worth of real estate?
I remember my mom going to Tupperware parties back in the 1960’s (I think) and coming home with a ton of stuff … she loved her tupperware and it did last for ever … I think it had a lifetime guarantee whereas today’s shit is guaranteed to fail within 5 to 10 years.
I bought some Tupperware clone from COSTCO on an impulse. Seemed really well built. Until … Until the pieces all got deformed in the dishwasher. Now the lids don’t fit properly and most have been thrown out. Guess my wife needs to find a Tupperware Party somewhere? Is that still the way they’re sold? Order them, then wait weeks for delivery? As an AMAZON PRIME member … I get pissed if I have to wait more than two days for anything to be delivered.
And JWest … I believe you are spot on. Few people MAKE their own food anymore, hence the market has shrunk. I’ll also add that higher quality ziplock bags has also taken market share. I store ALL my meat in ziplock bags in the freezer. It’s convenient and saves space in the freezer. I also store many leftovers the same way in the ref’r.
The “lifetime guarantee” just ended when they filed for bankruptcy.
I think the advent of Chinese Dollar Stores has much to do with Tupperwares’ looming demise.
Seems like a reach to me. Companies suck and decline for a lot of reasons.
Poor (DEI) management.
Losing track of their market.
Cheap competition (as others have noted).
The most likely explanation for Tupperware’s demise is that it loaded up on debt when interest rates were falling as it ramped up production during the pandemic. Then it got sideswiped by the most recent round of rate hikes when it had to roll some of those bonds. They were not the first company to do this, and they won’t be the last to suffer for it.
Their Total liabilities has exceeded their total assets since 2018, and $728 million of their debt came due in 2023. Looks like a zombie company that needed a whole lot of work to get back upright.
Everybody’s brother is making plastic food storage containers it seems so I’m kind of surprised Tupperware lasted as long as they have…personally I’ve switched to glass with the plastic lids.
That said – Makes me crazy seeing people microwaving leftover food in plastic containers…don’t do it folks.
Since people became aware of micro plastic contamination, glass containers have become popular again.
Buy food products in glass containers.
Recycle containers as storage.
We grow mostly root vegetables, more than we can eat. Nobody wants raw vegetables. Even our kids can’t be bothered?
We tried roasting/baking and then freezing as an option. Nope!
Any SDAer remember the scene in the Airplaine! comedy movie where the female lead was trying to demonstrate Tupperware to women in a primitive African village? And where her male partner was trying to teach the young men basketball — and they ended up as good players after 30 seconds of practice? Hilarious.
“I speak Jive”. You couldn’t get away with that today.
“glass with the plastic lids”
When opening them I always feel empowered by my incredible feats of self restraint for NOT ripping the f###ing plastic lid that’s always torn halfway across and backed up by clingwrap underneath and flinging it againt at a WALL!
I feel like bankruptcy is part of the modern day business plan. Take a slow growth, mature company with lots of dedicated buyers and suck all the money out of it. Do it in the form of real estate (Red Lobster) or sell part of the business to a Hedge Fund, who will lend your business back to you at an unsustainable rate. The idea is you (current management) can get a big pay-out and incoming management will drive the company into the ground and then restructure to increase their ownership position. Reinvent the story, go public, borrow a ton of money from the banks, and repeat the process to get out yourself. All on the backs of the employees, clients and banks.
We had Tupperware growing up. I preferred the empty butter containers and cool whip tubs that could be tossed instead of trying to get the smell out of the ‘good’ orange plastic.