New York Times article, reposted here (free):
Covers the boom in direct to consumer (DTC) cookware like Always Pan…and how many are showing up on FB Marketplace and the like at deep discounts.
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Interesting article, thanks for posting.
I didn’t like this part much:
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Fried eggs stuck to the nonstick surface, the pan couldn’t be put in the oven, and over time the interior ceramic coating began to chip away. Soon, she reached for it only when she needed to steam something, and it began to gather dust.
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So last month, Mr. Graber listed the pan on for $50. After a few inquiries fizzled, Ms. Graber, a communications manager in Mill Valley, Calif., dropped it off at her local Goodwill.
If it’s actually worthless - and it sounds like it was - don’t try to sell if for $50, and fer goshsakes, don’t dump stuff off on Goodwill that they’re just going to pay to have hauled away.
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I think the re-selling is a function of high price, hype and kind of getting con’ed. There’s a quote about one of the pans being a Target level item at luxury pricing, which is kind of unfair to Target except on price. $150 for a pan is a lot but arguably they have a nice aesthetic and seem functional…except the coating.
Hard to blame someone for wanting to get some return on a luxury item, but yeah, it’s worthless if it doesn’t do its job. As for dumping it off to Goodwill…unfortunately that’s the American consumer driven economy… over production of everything. Major retailers now dump new products at Goodwill because there’s just too much stuff.
In any case, I remember when the Always Pan got all the hype. I could see the appeal but thought that spoon was going to get lost and then you had that weird gap with the lid. Also my experience with ceramic is it wears out if used like a regular pan. OTOH, a decent quality ceramic used only for eggs and never high heat could last but I never tested the idea. I bought a $25 ceramic pan about ten yeas ago and only used it a few times a week but it wore out within a year. Buying a new pan every year didn’t seem reasonable. High heat seems to be the major problem.
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Good points. But I wasn’t aware of this:
I wonder if it’s regional. My local GW doesn’t seem to have anything new (I’m there about every other week). But I’m also only looking at kitchenwares, in case the new products you mention were other types of product.
Edit - or maybe the new stuff ends up as online sales only?
Oh - also on the ceramic/egg thing - I’m on my 3rd (and final) Greenpan ceramic. It’s never been overheated(*) and is used almost exclusively for eggs. Just like routine/PTFE non-sticks, they only seem to last us 6-8 mos before the stickage gets bad. But in context - when my younger 2 are home (summers, winter break) it generally gets 3 egg cooking sessions a day, 2 of them scrambled. So it is a lot of use in those 6-8 months.
My daughter is good with scrambling in stainless but it’s just so easy to grab that non-stick (esp if her brother has already made eggs in it and it’s sitting on the stovetop).
(*) My first Greenpan I ruined, along with my favorite flipper, at age 5 months. Forgot I’d left it on, at low heat, but eventually it got hot enough to turn the end of the flipper into a puddle of black bubbly goo. Oops.
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for those who are old enough to remember the days before the internet . . .
. . . . and thousand channel cable TV . . .
products/brands got a good name / reputation by word of mouth / family experiences . . .
in ‘more urban’ areas there were “home shows” with slick-talking dudes, selling $1,000 waterless cookware . . .
with all kinds of outrageous claims . . .
Chop-O-Matics!!!
or 3x $priced “Guenter Wilhelm” kitchen knives
with all kinds of outrageous claims . . .
now, with the internet and “late night TV” . . . somebody makes something, does a multi-million dollar marketing campaign,
maybe some ‘famous’ endorsements . . .
sells couple billion$ . . .
and then disappears.
Fad Marketing / Fad Craze / Fad Collapse, when it becomes clear . . . just some slick talking dude making all kinds of outrageous claims…
Swiss Diamond, ceramic non-stick of every imaginable color and claim, on and on and on.
It mystifies me how people buy stuff without ever actually seeing and touching it, understanding the quality or lack of inherent in it.
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I never knew there was such a thing as instagram cookware ??
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And the snake-oil spiel…"Act now and we’ll ship it free. But that’s not all, we’ll ship you TWO sets for the price of one and a small handling fee. But wait, we’re tossing in a complete bake set of 10 different pans, all for four payments of $49.99. " And more, if you keep listening.
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It might be regional, or local. I’ve seen new target stuff, like dish towels and not expensive stuff in Santa Cruz but never in the Bay Area. My sister in Colo says she sees new stuff at GW.
After the first ceramic pan, I bought one more and only use it for acidic stuff, a few times a year. It has a 600f rating but I never tested it. I brought a nice vintage cast iron pan, and then got some carbon steel pans. Have to oil to start but rather that then chemicals. Ceramic is suppose to be safe but it wears off.
I was given an inexpensive ceramic pan…it went into the camping kit.
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Newer stuff at GW
15 years ago thrifting could occasionally give you a surprise, like the occasional high end / designer item for pennies. Then GW caught on and began pulling the REALLY good stuff for their eBay store or otherwise squeezing more $$ out of it.
It’s a lot tougher to find those lucky treasures now. On the other hand, it’s still a great source for basic no frills flatware, plates, etc if one isn’t picky about matching.
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I did not know that they put the nice stuff on eBay. It makes sense. I do recall a ways back they started to realize some of the stuff was desirable and the prices were in line with craigslist and the like. I think they use to check CL.
I think garage sales and small friendly flea markets are the only places to find nice older stuff.
p.s. Instagram is now a major marketing platform with “influencers”. Also a hype and viral machine. New ways to market. Article mentions things really took off during pandemic, when people were stuck at home.
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I read the original at the NYT - I have a subscription - and the comments are as one would expect. Some loved the stuff; most didn’t. I find the comments on this site more knowledgeable 
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I get a kick out of the “life time warranty” they advertise. Like how long will these companies still be in business…
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LOL, tru dat.
I’ve only had one customer ask me, “Where do you suggest I get your knife sharpened?” (This is someone right here in the same town!) I replied that all of my knives come with free lifetime sharpening by me. She said, “But what about when you’re not longer around?” My first thought was, “I’m not THAT old!!”
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HOLY PISS!! Where do I send my money!?
Wait just a minute…is this REAL snake oil, or just coconut oil with snake oil scent added?
JERKS!!!
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And who could forget the Super Bass-O-Matic?
Sorry this has been edited to delete Dan drinking the bass and exclaiming “healthful and delicious.”
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Hey, these days people are buying houses without ever actually seeing or touching. Just pictures on line. And I mean for living in, not to convert to Airbnb’s. I know of at least two cases on the mountain where I live, where there are only about 15 houses to start with.
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Seem so healthy
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As Dog is my witness, when I was in college (well before SNL debuted) a guy in my art class brought in a blender and a fish, put the fish in the blender, bass-o-matic’ed it, and poured the resulting concoction onto a canvas for his final project. I seem to recall the assignment was to make art from unlikely components. And no, his name was not Dan Ackroyd.
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You mean I can do this with just a regular blender? Cool! I wonder if my Japanese clients who fed me cruel fish would drink it and enjoy it?
