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Amazon listings – another one bites the dust

By on April 25, 2023 in Amazon

If you’ve read our blog at all, you know we’ve got a lot to say about the deficiencies of Amazon’s seller marketplace, from the sellers perspective.

Oh Amazon

Shenamazonigans

Selling on Amazon; can this be fixed?

Whoops, Amazon did it again

Amazon.com and suspended listings

Amazon feedback – don’t believe what you read

That’s just a select few.

Well they did it again, with our replacement gasket for vintage pressure cookers.  The listing has been suspended and can not be reactivated.

By my calculations, over the last 12 months, 34 of 172 gaskets we’ve sold on Amazon.com have been returned; almost 20%.  The root of the return problem is Amazons excessively generous return policy; this motivates most customers not bother with the minimum amount of due diligence before ordering.  Combine that with the fact that Amazon routinely returns items to inventory that customers claimed were damaged, and you have the perfect storm for high returns, and the delisting of specialized replacement parts like ours.

It does appear that perhaps Amazon is taking some baby steps in the right direction.  Last month, they announced that they will start flagging items with high return rates with a “frequently returned item” tag.  I’m not sure if this is meant to truly help the problem or just mark certain items with a scarlet letter.

In any event, while we’ve tried to keep as many of our parts as possible available on Amazon for the convenience of the buyer, the headache of dealing with high returns for an items with modest sales just isn’t worth it; I am somewhat relieve to let this one go.

 

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Thermic-Ray aka Norrisware

By on April 16, 2023 in History, Uncategorized

The popularity of Revere Ware in the 1940’s undoubtedly motivated some copycats.  One of these which was recently brought to our attention by reader Jim is Thermic-Ray cookware.  Jim writes:

I found a few pans in a local thrift store made by Norris Stamping and Manufacturing Co., of Los Angeles CA under the trade name of “Thermic-Ray”. Same basic design as Revere Ware, but the handles don’t seem as well made.  They were produced for a few years after the War.
Norris Stamping and Manufacturing Co., maker of Thermic-Ray, had come through WW2 as the largest manufacturer of all-steel bomb and artillery shell casings. I’m sure they were searching for peacetime business, hence this cookware. But by 1951, Norris dropped Thermic-Ray, renaming it Norrisware.
I believe at some point they gave up on copper bottoms, and went with all stainless steel designs. In 1967, Norris eventually sold the line to Regal Ware.
Here is an ad I found from 1947.
The “It’s Here!” at the top makes me think this is somewhere near the introduction of the line.   Searching the California newspaper archives shows ads only through 1951.
You can clearly see the decline in ads from 1949 on.  The brand doesn’t seem to have taken hold very well.  Interestingly though, the term also pops up in 1973.  Here is an add from that year.
Perhaps Regal Ware went back to their roots and dug up the Thermic-Ray brand name to see if it would catch on.  You can see that the cookware looks like Regal Ware cookware and not Thermic-Ray cookware.
The Norrisware brand shows up in Calfornia newspapers from 1949 through 1963.
This seems to be when they first started transitioning the name.
And sure enough, by 1963, they had transitioned to stainless steel cookware.
So, how good exactly was Thermic-Ray / Norrisware?  To evaluate them, I bought a 4 quart Dutch oven and a 7 inch sauce pan from eBay; they both have the Thermic-Ray stamp.  In terms of quality, to me, they seem relatively solid and comparable to similar Revere Ware items.  The cookware isn’t unattractive.  Here they are side-by-side with their Revere Ware equivalents.
Revere ware Thermic-Ray
4 quart Dutch oven 54.1 oz 46.2 oz -15%
7 inch sauce pan 26.2 oz 29.5 oz 13%

As you can see, from a weight perspective, the Revere Ware Dutch oven is 15% heavier than the Thermic-Ray, but the Thermic-Ray sauce pan is 13% heavier than the Revere Ware one.  I’d call them pretty comparable overall.  The Thermic-Ray copper bottom does feel solid and substantial, unlike Revere Ware copper bottoms after 1968.

Price-wise, a 6 quart Dutch Revere Ware Dutch oven was selling for $11.25 in 1949 while a similar Thermic-Ray one was selling for $9.50.  I think in the anals of history, it seems likely that Revere Ware was too much of a household name at that time for a brand like Thermic-Ray to beat, if they didn’t get significant traction even selling at a 15% discount.

 

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Revere percolator / coffee maker handle design change in 1961

By on April 3, 2023 in History

Reader Jerry contact me recently regarding the percolator styles.  I hadn’t actually notice that there are two distinct style of handles.

He was concerned about compatibility of the glass percolator tops with the different versions.

Looking through all of our old catalogs, I was able to narrow down the design change to 1961.  Catalogs prior to 1961 show the old style handle.  A catalog from February of 1961 shows some with the old style and some with the new.

Another catalog from September of 1961 shows all the coffee items with the new style.

As it turns out, both styles always used the same glass percolator top.   We’ve outlined this with more detailed information in our page for the Percolator.

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Amazon shows they don’t care about the customer with Amazon Day shenanigans

By on March 12, 2023 in Amazon

Have you noticed your Amazon orders taking longer than expected lately?  You order a 1-day or 2-day item and it comes several days late?  Amazon’s forced enrollment in Amazon Day might be the reason.

Amazon Day allows you to bunch up your ordered items to be delivered on a single day, in fewer boxes.  It’s a nice option for people that want it, but, beware; if you enroll it it, there appears to be no going back.  In some cases, like with our Amazon account, it can get turned on by itself, and is enabled even when settings say it is not.

If you go to your account settings, you can find your Amazon Day settings.

Now, from looking at our Amazon Day settings, you could be excused for thinking it is turned off.  That doesn’t seem to be the case.  For example, we go to order an item that shows free 2-day delivery.

But on checkout, it defaults to the following Saturday.

I spoke with Amazon customer support and they confirmed there is no way to turn Amazon Day off.  The settings appear to be completely non-functional other than the day selection (although ours shows no day selected and it is using Saturday).

I can only imagine that Amazon is forcing this on customers because most customers will fail to notice the less expedient option is chosen, or get tired of the extra hassle to use them (see below), and Amazon will save money shipping less boxes.  It seems really disingenuous to force this option on customers with no way to cancel it.

Seems strange for the company that “invented” (or at least patented) 1-click ordering to force customers to use more clicks to checkout.  The solution is to be vigilant and chose the speedier delivery option upon checkout.

If you are ordering with 1-click on a mobile app they really try to hide the option.  Click on the date area to bring up the delivery options.

Then click on the FREE Prime Delivery option.

Now here is where it gets a little strange.  You just clicked on the FREE Prime Delivery options, but it takes you to another screen where you again have to make that selection.

Hmm.  Didn’t I just select Tuesday delivery?

The fact that they make you click three more times, combined with the fact that just changing the shipping speed takes an exceptionally long time on both the mobile and desktop versions, I can only think Amazon is trying really hard here to make not using the Amazon Day delivery option really difficult.

As an Amazon marketplace seller, I’ve gotten used to Amazon foisting really unfriendly policies on sellers that help their bottom line, but this move seems just downright sleazy.  Shame on you Amazon.

Update: The deceit is much worse than I thought.  Today I tried to place a 1-click order.  Three times I clicked on the more immediate date, and three times it took me back to the confirmation window with the Amazon Day date shown as the delivery date.  It would appear they have made the area you can click on so specific, clicking anywhere else assumes you are keeping the same options.  On the fourth try, I apparently clicked on just the right spot to select the faster delivery, and it took me to the regular checkout screen with a message that my delivery options had been updated, and yet, the Amazon Day delivery was still selected.

Does the portend some kind of extreme desperation on Amazon’s part to reduce costs?  Is the post-pandemic slowdown causing them to freak-out about costs and take extreme measure to contain them?

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Brand new vintage Revere Ware set on eBay (super rare)

By on February 24, 2023 in Ebay

Update: This sold for a very reasonable price in the end.

This is unheard of.  In over 10 years of watching Revere Ware items on eBay, I have never seen a set like this, only over the odd single new vintage piece.  And with a starting bid this low, it may be a real steal for someone.

I wouldn’t be surprised if this went for $500 or more in the end.  But even at that price, It would be a great deal.

There are some other good deals on sets on eBay right now, like these two (one and two); used, but in good condition, well rounded sets, and a good price.

What is up with that speckled handle?

 

 

 

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Removing walnut stains from a marble countertop

By on February 16, 2023 in Care, Tips

I pride myself on savvy kitchen problem solving, but this one had me stumped for a bit.

We have a nice big white marble island in our kitchen.  From time to time, it will get a stain, like the time the kids left a pink feather on the counter and it got wet; pink stain in the marble.

My go to for stains natural stone has been a baking soda poultice, which you get by just mixing baking soda with enough water to make it the consistency of toothpaste, apply over the stain liberally, cover with plastic, and it will pull the stain out of the stone.  Mu understanding of how this works is that the water travels constantly between the stone and the moist baking soda, and the baking soda has a higher affinity to capture the stain molecules than the stone does, so eventually all the color ends up in the baking soda.  Works like charm.

But it doesn’t work on every stain, and there are many types of poultice designed for specific stains.

About a week ago, my wife was soaking walnuts. We soak them to remove the bitterness (and make them easier to digest) and then dry them in our dehydrator.  But this time someone bumped the bowl and some of the water got out and formed a puddle on the counter.  A few hours later when I went to wipe it up there was a nasty brown stain about 10 by 18 inches long.  It looked kind of like this, but much larger and slightly darker (I wish I had taken a picture).

My trusty friend, the baking soda poultice, had no affect on this stain.  I even let it sit for several days.   I was a little worried that this stain might be permanent.

Searching the internet for how to remove walnut juice stains doesn’t bring up a lot of answers, as I think it isn’t a very common problem. Who other than the odd nut like us actually soaks walnuts?

I did find one roundabout reference to trying bleach on some stains.  So tonight I sprayed some bleach water on the stain, and let it sit for a few minutes.  Almost like a miracle, the stain … just … disappeared.

I still can’t quite believe it.  I am quite relieved.

Hopefully this blog post makes it easier for someone else to find this solution directly.

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Old style handle on eBay

By on February 7, 2023 in Ebay

I’ve mentioned a number of times in our blog posts that if you are patient, you can often find what you need on eBay; some things don’t come up often, but the eventually do.  The best way to keep informed is to create a saved search on eBay which will email you when there is a match.

The old style handles with the two screws close to the pot side of the handle is one example.  I do see a pair every 3-4 months on eBay.  One appeared in my search emails today.

If this is what you need go ahead and snap it up.  That is a very good price for a rare item.

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