What's in a Name, Tupperware

Meal-preppers and leftover lovers everywhere have Earl Silas Tupper to thank for these endlessly useful and portable plastic food containers.


After working in the plastics division at DuPont, Tupper founded the Earl S. Tupper Company in 1938. It was there that he focused on developing plastic consumer goods, eventually inventing a more durable and resilient type of plastic, as well as an air and watertight seal that he modeled after the lid of a paint can. It is especially useful these days of hoarding and prepping for the unknown. PS - toilet paper does not require Tupperware to stay fresh.

Four Useful Household Hacks

Spray nonstick spray on the inside of your votive candle holders. Remaining wax will easily slide out. Use newspaper to eliminate odors in Tupperware, or the crisper bin of your refrigerator, or in a purse with lingering smells. Add a few drops of vodka and a teaspoon of sugar to make cut flowers last longer. Rub the cut edge of cheese with butter or olive oil to keep it from getting moldy.

What's in a Name

In 1946, Earl Tupper introduced plastic storage ware with airtight seals patterned after the inverted rim on a can of paint, which prevented food from drying out, wilting, or losing its flavor. Despite their breakthrough nature, the products didn't sell well in retail outlets, primarily because consumers needed demonstrations in order to see how they worked. In response, the first Tupperware Home Party was held in 1948.

Health Insurance Myths

On the Fortune 500 list of top industries, health insurance companies ranked 35th in profitability in 2008; their overall profit margin was 2.2 percent. They lagged far behind such industries as pharmaceuticals,  profit margin 19.3 percent, railroads (12.6 percent), and mining (11.5 percent). Among health insurers, the best performer last year was HealthSpring, which showed a profit of 5.4 percent. “That’s a less profitable margin,’’ AP noted, “than was achieved by the makers of Tupperware, Clorox bleach, and Molson and Coors beers.’’

For the most recent quarter of 2009, health-insurance plans earned profits of only 3.3 percent, ranking them 86th on the expanded Yahoo! Finance list of US industries. Makers of software applications, by contrast, are pulling in profits of nearly 22 percent.