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Juicero May Be Feeling the Squeeze

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Re: Juicero May Be Feeling the Squeeze

#161

Post by moonka »

Yetanfou wrote: post #135

I'll offer a brief glimpse into the future. Juicero, burnt by the ease at which consumers rob them of potential revenue poaches someone away from the likes of HP or Gillette. That someone comes up with the perfect solution: add a coded valve to the juice bags which only opens when it has been inserted in a licensed Juicero machine. The added advantage is that the machine can refuse to squeeze more juice out of a bag…

They are starting from the other side:

> The company sells produce packs for $5 to $8 but limits sales to owners of Juicero hardware. The products were only available in three states until Tuesday, when the company expanded to 17.

Re: Juicero May Be Feeling the Squeeze

#162

Post by slizard »

distances wrote: post #31
TillE wrote: post #3

So what's actually inside the packs, very fine bits of wet plant matter? Is there any real benefit of this over just selling bottles of fancy juice?

The same thing I was left wondering. What's the point here with $400 machine and juices 5-8 dollars per serving? I'm sure they could get some thousands of users, but how on earth could this be worth such a large investment?

The key idea is already in the second sentence of TFA:

"The product was an unlikely pick for top technology investors, but they were drawn to the idea of an internet-connected device that transforms single-serving packets of chopped fruits and vegetables into a refreshing and healthy beverage."

Keywords: IoT, single-serving refill packs, healthy fuit & veg.

further details reveal that the thing will track you at every single use pinging the central servers. It has a kill-switch to refuse juicing when they don't think you should be juicing anymore (for now expired package, but hey, nothing prevents updated from refining the "feature").

Need I continue?

Overall, it's a product that just rides the hype of juicing and IoT, but it's at least as nasty as the !#@%!# cloudpets [1].

[1] https://arstechnica.com/security/2017/02/creepy-iot-teddy-be...

Re: Juicero May Be Feeling the Squeeze

#163

Post by distances »

slizard wrote: post #162
distances wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The same thing I was left wondering. What's the point here with $400 machine and juices 5-8 dollars per serving? I'm sure they could get some thousands of users, but how on earth could this be worth such a large investment?

The key idea is already in the second sentence of TFA: "The product was an unlikely pick for top technology investors, but they were drawn to the idea of an internet-connected device that transforms single-serving packets of chopped fruits and vegetables into a refreshing and healthy beverage." Keywords: IoT , single-serving refill packs, healthy fuit & veg. further details reveal that the thing will track you at eve…

For them, sure, the idea is surely interesting. But for the end-user? Why would anyone go for this over just ..buying a bottle of juice? It doesn't sound like this would be freshly pressed or anything, just from a weird container.

Re: Juicero May Be Feeling the Squeeze

#164

Post by Yetanfou »

justboxing wrote: post #160
narrator wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can also buy a juicer. Takes a negligible effort to clean, and with all those grocery delivery services, the slogging vegetables around part is taken care of.

> Takes a negligible effort to clean Which one? Not trolling, but I've bought (and returned) 3 different juices in the 300 - 500$ range that were a pain to clean, dry and put away. Even the ones made in Korea that are "only 5 parts" are annoying. I've had soft shreds getting stuck in the ejection tube, and the only way to clean it is (that I've found out) by using an ear bud to push it out.

I have a Braun MP32, bought by my parents when I was born. The thing works fine. Parts are still available, as are the machines (2nd hand but who cares?).

http://www.dasprogramm.org/electrical/household/braun-multip...

http://www.ebay.de/bhp/braun-mp-32

Re: Juicero May Be Feeling the Squeeze

#165

Post by [deleted] »

beaconstudios wrote: post #119

The single most "Silicon Valley is a bubble" paragraph I've ever seen: Doug Evans, the company’s founder, would compare himself with Steve Jobs in his pursuit of juicing perfection. He declared that his juice press wields four tons of force—“enough to lift two Teslas,” he said. Google’s venture capital arm and other backers poured about $120 million into the startup. Juicero sells the machine for $400, plus the cost…

[deleted]

Re: Juicero May Be Feeling the Squeeze

#166

Post by [deleted] »

nommm-nommm wrote: post #72
colourincorrect wrote: post #66

But... what is the point of a juicer if the contents you are juicing are already liquid? I am in a state of panic right now because I cannot fathom how a group of people thought this was a good enough idea long enough for them to develop a final product. What????

They say it's "single-serving packets of chopped fruits and vegetables" not juice.

[deleted]

Re: Juicero May Be Feeling the Squeeze

#167

Post by Yetanfou »

aresant wrote: post #46

"Reporters were able to wring 7.5 ounces of juice in a minute and a half. The machine yielded 8 ounces in about two minutes. . . The company sells produce packs for $5 to $8 . . ." - So the machine is 6%, give or take, more efficient than hand. If I'm serving two juices a day during weekdays for me and spouse at average cost of $6.5/unit that's $0.78/day, $3.90/week, say I do this 50 weeks a year so $195 in juice rec…

You're forgetting to include the beneficial effects of the extra hand workout the manual juice squeezer gets. 3 minutes of squeeze per day can be offset to X minutes per day in the gym, at a cost of $Y. Add to that the increased self confidence due to the feeling of being self-reliant when it comes to juice recovery and the calculation might just tip in favour of the Luddite squeeze squad.

Re: Juicero May Be Feeling the Squeeze

#168

Post by jotjotzzz »

Pigo wrote: post #77
nommm-nommm wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Already done. >The device also reads a QR code printed on the back of each produce pack and checks the source against an online database to ensure the contents haven’t expired or been recalled, the person said.

I really hate what those machines have done to coffee. It's difficult to explain to people at work, family, and friends how they paid a premium to be overcharged and produce extra waste without coming off like a jerk. I miss getting up from my machine and filling my mug with a regular coffee pot.

Using K-cup reusable filters enable people to grind their own coffee. I wish that they would have started with this model instead of the singular disposable cups that produced lots of garbage. But then there's no money in saving mother nature I guess. :|

Re: Juicero May Be Feeling the Squeeze

#169

Post by djrogers »

simias wrote: post #58

It's the first time I hear about this product but as someone who likes fermenting vegetables this part surprised me: >We finish by sealing the produce (completely raw and never pasteurized) into our Packs, which get shipped to your door the day they're made. Wouldn't raw, unpasteurized chopped fruits and vegetable start fermenting very quickly in those packs? Are they shipped refrigerated? This entire thing is so wei…

I'm also very skeptical that raw chopped vegetables can be hand squeezed in to juice. Given that the packets can be squeezed by had in to juice, that leads me to believe that the vegetables are not as unprocessed as Juicero would like me to believe.

Lemme try this - I'll chop up a bunch of spinach, kale, and carrots, place them in a reinforced bag, and squeeze them by hand. Yeah - that's not gonna give me juice...

Re: Juicero May Be Feeling the Squeeze

#170

Post by nkrisc »

magic_beans wrote: post #126
mikeash wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The waste and transportation is easy to solve: just don't use these companies. Go back to the old-fashioned way of obtaining your food from the store. The real problem would need solving (and I'm not sure it really does, because how popular are these things, really?) is people's desire for these wasteful services.

I kind of wish stores would just sell pre-cut vegetables. There HAS to be a way to do this en masse. The pre-cut kale at whole foods is almost ALWAYS sold out. Not to speak of the cauliflower "rice" that people actually battle over at Trader Joes. If stores stocked these kinds of pre-cut veg, that would take 3/4 of the pain out of cooking.

My local mid-range grocery store sells peeled garlic, containers of chopped onions and other vegetables and fruits. It's great for people who want to save time or lack the dexterity to do it easily on their own. I personally don't buy them because I can and don't mind doing it myself.
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