A hardware store owner, who is usually a down-to-earth kind of guy, told his son he wanted an $80 cup for Christmas.
“You know, what the hell,” the owner told me.
Yeah, $80. For a Yeti Rambler Tumbler to keep his coffee warm. That includes a 20-ounce cup, a $20 after-market powder coating, a $10 Yeti add-on handle and more for one of the store's Bluetooth tracking devices so that Scott Snedecor can use his smartphone to find where he last set the cup down.
The nation’s fixation on thermal cups survives for another holiday gift season, sometimes pulling in late adopters.
A year ago I witnessed the spectacle of Christmas shoppers rushing store to store in search of hard-to-find $40 Yeti cups. Retailers large and small, including Snedecor, a co-owner of S&S Ace Hardware & Mower in Buford and Braselton, grappled with tight supplies and crazed demand for one of the hottest products some had seen in years.
Snedecor eventually put the cups in a locked display case. He was having a problem with theft.
People were risking criminal prosecution for drinkware.
It’s still a good seller this year, Snedecor told me. “The euphoria is gone” and so are the short supplies, but he said “it still has a brand following almost like a pair of Nike tennis shoes.”
Knockoff rivals have flooded the market, sometimes being offered at a quarter of the Yeti price. Some promise to keep drinks at just the right temperature for hours, much the way Yeti does. Online testimonials include comparisons of brands.
Apparently coffee that never cools and ice that never melts represent valuable new measures of American comfort.
"High-performing drinkware" accounted for half of the $469 million in revenue hauled in last year by Yeti Holdings, the Austin, Tx.-based company behind buzzy, super high-end coolers. (A soft-sided cooler can go for $400.)
‘Confusingly similar’
But over the last year, Yeti has unleashed a flurry of lawsuits against alleged cup copycats, including Walmart, which launched its Ozark Trail thermal cup in February. Yeti accused the retailing giant of patent infringement and essentially copying the look of Yeti cups with "confusingly similar imitations."
Walmart spokesman Randy Hargrove declined to talk about the allegations. He said the company works to give customers “quality items they want at everyday low prices.”
The rival cups really do look remarkably similar.
“It’s the same thing,” Kelvin White of Stone Mountain told me as he eyed one of the less-expensive cups at a metro Atlanta Walmart.
He wondered about friends who had plunked down $40 for Yetis, which they apparently continue to adore.
“I don’t understand why,” White told me. “$14.88 versus $40?”
“For a cup?” his friend, Clarence Smith said.
People pay extra at some outlets for monograms. Dick's Sporting Goods sells a version with college logos for a $10 upcharge.
Several people I spoke with said they wouldn’t spend for such an extravagance on themselves, but they would happily accept one as a gift. It’s an easy way to give someone a pinch of fancy.
Maybe that’s part of the reason thirst for Yetis is unquenched.
Premium hydration
Drones are a bigger draw for Bass Pro Shops this holiday season, but Yeti cups "continue to be a very, very strong and popular seller," said Katie Mitchell, a spokeswoman for the retailer.
Matt Powell, an analyst for retail consultant NPD Group, said Yeti cups remain a top seller for the outdoor and sporting goods segment nationally, even as other premium “hydration accessories” enter the market.
“I think there is an element of conspicuous consumption here, a matter of showing off that I have $40 to spend on a cup,” Powell said. It’s also a high quality item that shoppers know will last, he said.
Snedecor, the hardware store owner, didn’t add the knockoff versions to his shelves.
“That would be like if you are a Mercedes dealer bringing in a Hyundai.”
His wife and kids got Yeti cups early on. He was slower to embrace the idea for his own drink needs.
“I’m a stodgy hardware guy,” he told me. When others veered toward pricey coffees, he stuck to whatever dribbled out of the machine in the back office.
But lately he’s been thinking there might be something to this idea of a cup that helps coffee stay hot longer. Hence the gift suggestion to his son.
“You’ve got a whole generation out there that values Starbucks coffee,” he said, “so who’s to judge the Yeti?“
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