Stanley Thermos

For me, the first image of a Stanley thermos that pops into my mind is the old green thermos that I saw my dad carry off to work. It wasn't just green, mind you. It had white paint streaked across it in no certain pattern at all from where my little sister had gotten into a can of paint and expressed her artistic nature.  The thermos was one of many items to receive her young expressions before my mom discovered her.

My dad was the mechanic/fixer at the local cotton mill. Here in the South, entire towns were built around cotton mills. The cotton mills pretty much owned the town they were in, creating mill houses just for the workers. Most mill houses were two stories and had a wall that made two houses out of one. The mill house boom was way before my time; I never lived in a mill house.

As far back as I can remember, my grandfather had already retired from the furniture plant. I do remember, in his building (He would skin my hide when he would catch me in there, maybe he didn't want me finding the Playboys he kept in a black bag inside of a box, on top of an old chair that hung on the wall inside of the building) on a shelf sat his old black metal lunch box and an old Stanley thermos. I inherited that old combo many years ago.

As far as my father's thermos, I'm not sure what became of it. When I was a boy around the ripe age of 8, I thought I could turn his thermos into a Roman candle.

I took apart many packs of the the old bottle rockets and Black Cat firecrackers,

( You could buy the bottle rockets and Black Cat fire crackers at almost any store back then.  Age didn't matter. Hell, my grandmother would hand me and my cousin a handful of fire cracker packs and a lighter, and she would tell us not to come back 'til supper time.)

 putting all the powder and wrappers in the thermos, and thinking it needed extra help, I also added kerosene in it from the oil lamps. A Roman candle did not happen. Nothing really happened, just a lot of smoke... Followed by a belt on my ass, once my father caught me. It was worth every minute.

Many years later, I received my first Stanley thermos as a graduation present from my father (minus the fire works) .That green thermos quickly became part of my gear anytime I went fishing, hunting or anything outdoors that I wanted to take ice tea or the such with me. It was also great to hide beer in when sneaking in to those hidden fishing holes. I still have that thermos, and I still use it, but only when I'm hunting and the such.

Today, I work the night shift at the local psychiatric hospital.  I carry a Stanley thermos every night, and two, when I work 16 hour shifts. They have been dropped from time to time. Some nights you have to drop everything and react to a situation on the ward. It has had no affect on the thermos. They still keep my coffee hot. Some times that hot cup of coffee on break gives me that much needed reset after a stressful night on the floor.

Johns river, Burke County NC

Up until a couple of years ago, I thought Stanley only made a thermos. I was looking for a water bottle for my wife,  and I happened across the Stanley section in the store, and there sat the familiar Stanley thermos.  Beside them sat a water bottle and a coffee mug.

I purchased the water bottle, on the promises on the label of  it keeping beverages cold for X-many hours. My wife was extremely impressed with how long it kept water cold. I went back a couple of weeks later and purchased the coffee mug for her. She was happy with the performance of the mug also. A couple months later I borrowed her water bottle one night, and I was actually impressed with it. A couple days later I went and got me one. After that, I was hooked. I began trying out other Stanley products.  Then they came out with products for spirits and beer... It was all over for me.  I became addicted.

Since then, there's not a day that has gone by where I haven't used some sort of Stanley product. Which brings me to this, I have no connections with Stanley, by any means. I'm down here in Western NC.  I'm only a fan of their products. I've noticed on certain forums and social media, of the repeated trolls crying about Stanley being made in China, how cheap they think they are now, on and on. Trolls are going to troll.  I only speak from using Stanley products. I've not had an issue with anything.  Being an avid Stanley product user, I feel like the trolls are coming at me too by criticizing Stanley products.  I've noticed on forums where people are crying that they will never buy a Stanley thermos because it's made in China.  Then, in another forum, the same people are bragging about buying all this Chinese and Russian made 7.62.

People on social media crying about the same thing.  You click on their profile and see that big flat screen.  They have no trouble with overseas merchandise. I own a couple of older Aladdin Stanleys.  Yes, they are a lot heavier, but does that make them better? Was your 100 pound 70's floor model TV better than that 30 pound flat screen you now have? (which is made overseas)

It's called technology, people! If Stanley was made in the USA, it would cost a $100 for a stainless steel water bottle! Then people would bitch about that.  I sure as hell wouldn't pay $100 for a water bottle, I don't care where it was made.

Hell, I still believe the old glass Gatorade bottles make the best water bottles.  Then again, I miss the sardine tins with the keys.

Then you have people buying other products based on their names alone.  I could name several.  Yeti is one.

  They came out with their stainless steel tumblers this year.  Guess where they are made?  Yep, overseas, probably made on the exact machines as Stanley's products.  Yeti even says that if you want a cooler that's guaranteed to be made in the USA, you need to contact them personally. Think about that when you pick up that Yeti cooler for the holidays.

Most metal and steel products are manufactured overseas now a days.  It's just cost efficient. Even if it says “made in USA” that does not guarantee it's 100% made here. Some products will even say "assembled" in the USA. I use to work at a lighting fixture company,  creating lights for ball parks, Disney, high end furniture, etc.  Sure,  we slapped the “made in USA” sticker on them, but the metal housings came from over seas.  We would un-box them, hang them on the line, run them through the paint booth, and off they went. I enjoyed un-boxing them.  They always wrapped the housings in newspaper, and I loved looking at the gadgets they had over there. Made in the USA VS Assembled USA

Before you embarrass yourself as a whiny, cry-ass troll online or on social media:

1) Make your account private so everyone can't see what a hypocrite crying troll you truly are, crying about products made overseas.  In your pictures, you clearly have little Asia in your house and that TV and PC you can't live with out.

2) Actually buy and test the product before trolling it.  From what I've seen, Stanley is happy to replace any non-working products, even their older stuff. As many thermoses as they make and ship world wide, sure, there's going to be a dud or two. You wouldn't condemn an entire brand of vehicles if an alternator went out on your car would you. (Some people probably would.)

 3) Don't be a dick! If you want to dribble bile from your mouth, behind your computer, make your own post. Quit chiming in on someone's comment or post. Were you not breast fed as a child? Mommy not show you enough attention?

I'm excited to see what 2016 will bring and what new products Stanley will put out. Stanley even has a Golden Stanley award.

picture from Stanley's Facebbook page

Short of saving Orphans from a burning orphanage, I'm not sure how else one may win one. I save turtles from burning leaf piles and help them cross roadways, which in itself is pretty dangerous since most people don't pay attention while driving. I've had to dive for safety on several occasions.

(Remember to always help turtles cross when it's safely possible, and to always place them to the side of the road in which they are facing.)

 I also help hurt turtles and heal sick ones, so that they can return to the wild. I wonder if that may apply!? Off to the thinking table!

Does Stanley's products being made overseas bother me? It's 2016. The world is changing every minute of the day. Life is short--way too short for such trivial things. The only things I care about with the “Stanley made” business, are the memories and moments I've "made" with family and friends over the years and the memories we're going to continue to make with Stanley products. (Especially with their spirit line.) That's the only "made" I give a shit about and will continue to give a shit about.

On that note, it's beer time!