A Tale of Two Thermoses

Stanley Continues to Turn Up the Heat (Day 69)

This is just to say that my father would be - not horrified - perhaps puzzled, by the hubbub surrounding the pink Stanley cup. Technically, it’s called a Stanley Quencher H20 Tumbler.

I’m not going into details, you all know what I’m talking about. It retails at about $45.

The reason my father came into my thoughts when I saw images of people tearing apart a display at Target to get their cups is because in the days before he moved out of his home, he passed on to me one of his prized possessions, something I still own, and still use to this day even though it’s likely 60-70 years old now.

And that possession is also a Stanley cup. Again, technically, it’s called a Stanley Built for Life Thermos. It’s beautiful. A work of art. It reminds me of my dad, who used it for decades at the steel plant. And then used it even more on our fishing and camping trips.

I doubt even William Stanley himself could have foreseen such chaos at the local Target. (To be fair, he likely wouldn’t have foreseen Target either, but I digress.) In 1913, Bill was working on building insulation for transformers, when he had an idea - maybe he could use the same tech to keep his coffee warm.

BOOM! One hundred and ten years later, his all-steel, double-wall vacuum bottles are now the rage of the internet.

Allow me a moment here to muse about William Stanley, a brilliant engineer, inventor, electrician and physicist. He’s basically the grandfather of electricity, building the first alternating current transmission system that allowed widespread electricity distribution. He won the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Edison Medal, from Thomas Edison himself. Bill’s son, Harold, was one of the founders of Morgan Stanley. Bill held nearly 130 patents when he died, including the socket for the incandescent electric lamp.

William Stanley, the guy behind stampedes at your local Target.

Basically, Edison may have invented the light bulb (he didn’t actually) but Stanley invented everything around what was needed to make the light bulb work.

Anyway, where am I going with this? Beats me. This all just strikes me as funny that a brilliant, Yale trained genius that could and did give Edison a run for his money, is still playing a role in our lives, but that way is in causing stampedes at Wal-Marts.

One more thought that I don’t have the space to explore right now, but am curious what you all think. For decades, the Stanley thermos has been the purview of men - blue collar, hard working men. I mean heck, just look at the shape of the thing. If you know you know.

But now, an honestly pretty brilliant re-branding campaign has targeted the - how can I put this - the NOT blue collar, hard working men demographic, and is wildly successful. And that’s the campaign that gets derided, THOSE are the buyers that get mocked. Might I point out that the Stanley thermos I own, the one my dad loved, goes for about 70 bucks these days. So… yeah… something to think about? Or not. Who knows!

At least we all learned about William Stanley today! Keep those drinks hot my friends. Don’t trample anybody. And buy yourself things - within reason - that make you happy. See you tomorrow!

I wanted to send a shout out to my friend and amazing writer Virginia Macgregor, who is responsible for today’s post. You see, Virginia also writes a Substack, called The Writing Cafe. (You all should immediately stop reading this and subscribe.) Anyway, she posted a writing prompt challenge to use those first words, "This is just to say…” I did and for some reason a million words about William Stanley poured (get it, poured) out of me. Anyway, thanks Virginia!