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Juicero May Be Feeling the Squeeze

bloomberg.com

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Re: Juicero May Be Feeling the Squeeze

#51

Post by wyldfire »

shimon wrote: post #40
wyldfire wrote: post #10

> Juicero declined to comment. A person close to the company said Juicero is aware the packs can be squeezed by hand but that most people would prefer to use the machine because the process is more consistent and less messy. "We kinda didn't think about this much because the real money is in the packets anyways. This stuff is way better than ink cartridges."

True, but the proprietary tech in the machine was supposed to be a form of defensible advantage for this business. If the product value comes entirely from chopping and delivering vegetables in a bag, it wouldn't be hard for others to replicate.

Hello, darkness my old friend. The analogies to Keurig won't stop here -- next up, DRM juice packs.

Re: Juicero May Be Feeling the Squeeze

#52

Post by Pigo »

personjerry wrote: post #12
dpflan wrote: post #5

"Two investors in Juicero were surprised to learn the startup’s juice packs could be squeezed by hand without using its high-tech machine." This sounds almost comical...

I really hope a reference to that makes it to season 4 of HBO's Silicon Valley

I was pouring through my mental rolodex for the episode where they do something with a juicer. I'd never heard of this Juicero but thought it sounded like something Jian Yang would be in charge of.

Re: Juicero May Be Feeling the Squeeze

#53

Post by kesselvon »

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?

must be one sweet powerpoint presentation

Re: Juicero May Be Feeling the Squeeze

#55

Post by jlebrech »

why not have a bag of preselected fruit (unjuiced), you attach it to the juicer which has a fan to keep it from pulverising the plastic, and the fan stops when the blade has fully stopped spinning. and then you just have to wash the blade.

Re: Juicero May Be Feeling the Squeeze

#56

Post by mikeash »

illegalsmile wrote: post #15

Can someone solve the added waste and transportation problem these companies (Juicero, Blue Apron, etc...) have created by using home deliveries and lots of specialty packaging? Yes, some perishable food delivery services offer recycling but you're still left with the transportation issue.

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.

Re: Juicero May Be Feeling the Squeeze

#58

Post by simias »

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 weird to me. Those packs cost around $6 each and they only produce a small glass of juice. This is less cost effective than some hipster juice bars, and at least here you don't have to clean the glass afterwards.

Buying a good juicer sounds like a much better investment, although admittedly they're probably more painful to wash up.

EDIT: after some more digging up, it turns out that the packs are delivered refrigerated. On top of that the machine will refuse to juice expired or any kind of 3rd party packs and apparently needs an internet connection and a smartphone app to function. Preposterous.

Here's the getting started video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-i0UugILBJg

Step 1: open the box

Step 2: plug in the juicer

Step 3: sign up to your juicero account through the smartphone app

Honestly if you had shown me this video 2 hours ago I'd have assumed satire.

Re: Juicero May Be Feeling the Squeeze

#59

Post by mikeash »

afandian wrote: post #14

That looks like a waste nightmare. > The only element not recyclable by municipal methods are the Packs themselves > Request a prepaid shipping label from by clicking the “Get Started” button below. We will then collect the Packs... https://www.terracycle.com/en-US/brigades/juicero

"The only element not recyclable is literally the entire actual product."

I love how companies word things.

Re: Juicero May Be Feeling the Squeeze

#60

Post by thefifthsetpin »

dpflan wrote: post #5

"Two investors in Juicero were surprised to learn the startup’s juice packs could be squeezed by hand without using its high-tech machine." This sounds almost comical...

I don't see why this matters at all -- the disposable juice packs are what extract money from the consumer. It's the razor / replacement blade or printer / ink model. If someone finds out that they really only need the blades, ink, or juice packs, it's no big deal.

The problem for the manufacturer comes when consumers figure out that they can use knock-off blades, generic ink, or 3rd party juice packs.

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