People’s Tupperware stories stay fresh
PHILADELPHIA — In December 1999, Guinness World Records listed the 10 greatest inventions of the 20th century.
The computer wasn’t included. But the food-storage containers made by Tupperware were.
The company is famous for durable products lauded as “sacrosanct ... icons of modernism” that are included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the Smithsonian Institution. An estimated 90% of U.S. homes have at least one “super storer,” “thatsa mega-mixing bowl,” or other classic pieces of Tupperware.
The company’s nearly 80-yearold corporate model, featuring women both as salespeople and consumers interacting at Tupperware parties held in private homes, has become an indelible part of American — and world — culture.
Now, however, Tupperware faces what may be its last days.
Financial experts say the Orlando-based company doesn’t connect with young people, is overwhelmed by competitors, and is suffering a sharp decline (18%) in its in-person sales force, as demand for its products wanes. Net sales for 2022 were $1.3 billion, an 18% decrease from 2021.
Tupperware didn’t file its annual report on time, and may be delisted by the New York Stock Exchange as a result. CEO Miguel Fernandez says the company “is taking immediate action to seek additional financing.”
Last year, the company began selling some of its products in Target to revive sales, but few are buying. In a filing, the company concluded there’s “substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern ...”
As end times loom, people have been reassessing their “ancient” but nevertheless indispensable
Tupperware items.
“I still have old-school pieces from when my mom sold Tupperware 20 years ago,” said Lisa Wolverton, 50, a personal trainer from Ardmore, Pennsylvania. “A yellow strainer, a Jell-O mold, and a cupcake holder. I use that strainer daily.”
Others are sharing amusing stories from long-ago Tupperware parties, and are re-appreciating how the company influenced the lives of countless women who made cash hawking ways to keep foods fresh.
“I used to take in $200 extra a month selling Tupperware in the mid-1980s when I was living in the Northeast,” said Linda Solomon, a former Philadelphia social worker who didn’t give her age, and who now lives in Richmond, Indiana. “But my Tupperware manager made enough to pay college tuition for her eight kids.
“Hosting parties was extremely uncool, but it was fun, and if you had a sense of humor and a sense of improving your home, it was worthwhile. And a lot of laughs.”