Another First World Problem: The Decline of Campbell's Soup

[masraum]

I haven't/don't eat much Campbell's soup. I feel like it never really changed, either the soup or the labelling of the soup. If you don't modernize, eventually, you're going to be behind. Maybe I'm wrong, but I feel like Campbell's was sitting back and not updating. Most of the Campbell's soup that I've seen is sad compared to other soups like Chunky, Progresso, or any of the newer/other modern soup vendors.

[GH85Carrera]

When I first moved to Oklahoma, I used up all my liquid funds with a rent, and deposits for utilities and the cost of the move. I was was at my very poorest, and had less than 10 bucks in my checking account and it was days before payday, I survived on Japanese rice, cooked in the rice cooker. Very gummy rice, with some soy sauce for flavor. About 2 cents per meal. On Friday's after payday, I would splurge and pour a can of soup on top of the rice. I quickly changed from Campbell's to Chunky's.

I did a lot of potato soup as well. My food budget was a buck per week. After a while I had enough to buy a small cheap cut of pot roast. With a cast iron dutch oven, lots of carrots and potatoes, eat just a little meat, and all the carrots and taters. Add in more carrots and taters, and cook some again. After all that cooking the meat was finally tender.

One reason I moved to Oklahoma was my grandparents lived here. I could just go over to my dad's parents house on Sunday afternoon and hang out for a while doing my laundry. Grandma would then ask if I had time to stay for dinner. Somehow I always had time for grandma's cooking. My best meal of the week. And I paid for it with hugs!

[asphaltgambler]

^^^^oh they're updating alright.........in the form of shrinkage of contents / flavor.....

[Tobra]

onions are also tasty that way

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

I did a lot of potato soup as well. My food budget was a buck per week. After a while I had enough to buy a small cheap cut of pot roast. With a cast iron dutch oven, lots of carrots and potatoes, eat just a little meat, and all the carrots and taters. Add in more carrots and taters, and cook some again. After all that cooking the meat was finally tender

You think you had it bad! My dad used to tell us they were so poor when he was a kid they made chicken soup by making the chicken stand in a pot of cold water for an hour.

[stevej37]

My mother would can up 30 or so Ball canning jars with beef every year. A lot of it went into making stew or soup.
We would purchase beef at a half steer at a time.

I hated walking past the rows of jars with suspended meat in the basement. I can still clearly picture it.

[fintstone]

We canned hundreds of jars of vegetables each year from our garden (and stored enough potatoes and onions to last all winter) ...but never meat. We really did not have much. We raised a few pigs and beef cattle...but sold them.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by asphaltgambler

^^^^oh they're updating alright.........in the form of shrinkage of contents / flavor.....

LOL. Yes, I thought about that, but figured it wasn't worth mentioning "new and improved for Campbell's bottom line"

[asphaltgambler]

^^^^^^^zactly ^^^^^

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by masraum

LOL. Yes, I thought about that, but figured it wasn't worth mentioning "new and improved for Campbell's bottom line"

Yea, it is sad when a company relies on reputation and inertia to make the most money right now, and to hell with the future, the people in charge now will be retired with large bank accounts, and let the next folks figure out how to save the company.

Like Sears, strip it down to nothing and and keep selling off parts until it is just poof gone.

Hunter ceiling fans were once built on quality, and performance. I bought one long ago for my old house that was solid cast iron case, and had the motor that needed to be oiled on occasion with one drop of oil. It was dead total silent, just the blades of the fan moving through the air when on in high speed and no motor noise.

Try to find that now. They are all Chinesium electric motors that hum and rattle, and just a decorative cover and make lots of noise. But they do look nice on the ceiling in the off mode.

Now price is all that matters. Quality is irrelevant, just throw it out and get another Chinesium POS unit.

Hunter did bring back the old school fans. I wonder if they are the same old school quality.

[wilnj]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

Yea, it is sad when a company relies on reputation and inertia to make the most money right now, and to hell with the future, the people in charge now will be retired with large bank accounts, and let the next folks figure out how to save the company.

Like Sears, strip it down to nothing and and keep selling off parts until it is just poof gone.

Hunter ceiling fans were once built on quality, and performance. I bought one long ago for my old house that was solid cast iron case, and had the motor that needed to be oiled on occasion with one drop of oil. It was dead total silent, just the blades of the fan moving through the air when on in high speed and no motor noise.

Try to find that now. They are all Chinesium electric motors that hum and rattle, and just a decorative cover and make lots of noise. But they do look nice on the ceiling in the off mode.

Now price is all that matters. Quality is irrelevant, just throw it out and get another Chinesium POS unit.

Hunter did bring back the old school fans. I wonder if they are the same old school quality.

You would likely find better quality at a lighting shop. The big box retailers generally ask for the lower quality so they can hit the price point.

Similar to appliances, an appliance store will rarely match an offer from a big box retailer.


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[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

Yea, it is sad when a company relies on reputation and inertia to make the most money right now, and to hell with the future...

Hunter ceiling fans were once built on quality, and performance.
Now price is all that matters. Quality is irrelevant, just throw it out and get another Chinesium POS unit.

Hunter did bring back the old school fans. I wonder if they are the same old school quality.

Closer to my experience, look at Troy-Bilt rototillers. The various owners of Troy-Bilt spent decades earning the reputation for being cast iron wonders that lasted forever.
MTD bought them for the name and reputation and proceeded to sully both the name and the reputation. Now "Troy-Bilt" stands for crap.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

Yea, it is sad when a company relies on reputation and inertia to make the most money right now, and to hell with the future, the people in charge now will be retired with large bank accounts, and let the next folks figure out how to save the company.

Like Sears, strip it down to nothing and and keep selling off parts until it is just poof gone.

Hunter ceiling fans were once built on quality, and performance. I bought one long ago for my old house that was solid cast iron case, and had the motor that needed to be oiled on occasion with one drop of oil. It was dead total silent, just the blades of the fan moving through the air when on in high speed and no motor noise.

Try to find that now. They are all Chinesium electric motors that hum and rattle, and just a decorative cover and make lots of noise. But they do look nice on the ceiling in the off mode.

Now price is all that matters. Quality is irrelevant, just throw it out and get another Chinesium POS unit.

Hunter did bring back the old school fans. I wonder if they are the same old school quality.

Hunter used to make good stuff indeed! And Hampton Bay didn't. I think they are still not the same, but Hampton Bay has gotten better, and Hunter is not what it once was.

Unfortunately, a lot of that trend is driven by "us" the consumers. "People" want everything at Walmart for $50-100, and the manufacturers keep figuring out how to provide it. And in some ways, the worst, cheapest stuff has gotten better, but a lot of the best stuff is now gone.

I read this article many years ago (15-20, I think). It's about Snapper refusing to cheapen their brand to sell at Walmart. I wonder if that still holds today. Is a Snapper still a Snapper or are there 2 levels, the high quality, American made Snapper and a cheap, low quality Snapper.
https://www.fastcompany.com/54763/man-who-said-no-wal-mart

[stevej37]

^^^ I have a Hunter ceiling fan that is approx 15 years old. Not sure if it's Chinese or not.

Last month the 3 speed switch wouldn't get the slowest speed. I went to Menards and for $10 they had a new one that was easily swapped in. The thing is silent when running

[john70t]

Originally Posted by masraum

Hunter used to make good stuff indeed! And Hampton Bay didn't. I think they are still not the same, but Hampton Bay has gotten better, and Hunter is not what it once was.

Schlage has declined and Quickset has improved imo.