His “… let’s hop on over to our generic bucket” really got me. The way he walked over to it! He was totally into it!
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Did you know that Hermes one of the Greek gods, protector of merchants and thieves?
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My pal JJ runs the best Chinese restaurant in town, and when I needed a couple dozen 5-Gal buckets he set me up. Bonus: They all say “Soy Sauce” and “Oyster Sauce” and “Wah Yoan” on them. Which makes me laugh when they finally break and I think “Wah Yoan for free?”
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The real question: Which makes the better toilet?
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Nope. 5 gallon yeti bucket thing. I can tell the difference between an over priced bucket, and an over priced wash tub thank you.
Whatever Yeti’s outdoorsy claims, they know their core market. And it isn’t fisherman.
Well, you can’t blame me, since you can’t tell 1/4” from 3/4”, so 
Also, Yeti spends millions a year on fishing and hunting sponsorships. I watch (too many) fishing shows, and every single one is sponsored by Yeti. They produce their own series of shows. Their booths at outdoor shows are massive. If one assumes a single outdoor trade show per year per state, that’s 50 outdoors shows times $150k to $300k per show for booth space, booth shipping and storage, booth setup, giveaways, booth staff, staff travel and accommodations, plus advertising, that’s a trade show budget of $7.5M to $15M/yr.
ETA: I looked up their financials. Yeti Corp has just under $1B in sales in 2019. While they’ve expended their market base over the past 14 years, Fishing and Hunting remain their primary segments. Their top 3 retail channels are 1. Dick’s Sporting Goods; 2. West Marine; 3. Cabela’s/Bass Pro Shops.
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That’s one expensive number two!
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It is a really nice bucket. Over engineered and over priced for what 99.9% of people will do with it but it’s still a very nice bucket.
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That guy’s channel is a rabbit hole worth spending a little time down. 
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The bucket has some nice features: The bucket itself is about 16 in. tall, which is basically seat height. The waterproof lid has a break strength of 300 lbs. The bucket has a much better carry handle than a normal 5 gallon bucket.
My experience with normal 5 gallon buckets is that they’re uncomortable to painful to carry when heavy, due to the thin wire handle and ridiculously fragile plastic grip. On job sites, 50% of their usefulness is as seats or step stools. The Yeti’s design addresses these.
Re: who a Yeti customer is–it’s the Overland crowd, for one. If you’ve spent money on recovery gear, you’re also very likely to have bought Yeti products. One of our suppliers has a standing offer that anyone he sees with his company’s sticker on a Yeti cooler gets a free knife. As an example.
Aside from the brand and some degree of extra design/engineering, here’s what I think really drives the price: These buckets are designed to be sold by both brick and mortar and internet retailers. That means internet retailers have to build the cost of shipping a single Yeti bucket into that bucket’s cost. The size of the bucket means they’re paying dimensional weight shipping prices. Those dimensional prices mean that this 1 lb. bucket will probably weight 20-30 lbs. for shipping purposes. That’s murder for small retailers with entry level commercial shipping discounts. Yeti has certainly instituted a Minimum Advertised Price policy for these buckets that levels the playing field between brick and mortar and internet retailers.
…and still this feels like an April Fool’s joke.
ETA: Looks like I can have a regular, American-made, food-safe 5 gallon bucket shipped to me for just under $20, tax included.
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related:
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Maybe it’s because I’m Canadian, eh, but I was thinking “Yeti bucket? What is this thing?” Never even heard of the brand.
I have thought about it every time I see one at REI.
As a fisherman we use buckets out on the boat to crap in. That Yeti bucket has a nice smooth lip on it.
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I like me buckets food grade plastic just in case I feel like brewing beer in em.
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I find Yeti products to be ridiculously overdesigned . All of the extra crenulations on their coolers, make their coolers hard to clean.
While we make fun of Vsco girls, we should be making fun of the red state outdoorsmen with overpriced gear and Yeti stickers on their trucks.
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Fire House Subs will sell you one for $2. Granted it will reek of pickles for practically ever, but they are good buckets.
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Without the seat we called them “groovers” because of the groove left on your butt after use.
but that was when i was homeless.
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People pay for white pails? I’ve always gotten from the supermarket, just ask a clerk for an empty one. I’ve got ones that had pickles, coleslaw, frosting… they will even rinse them out for me if it’s a slow day.
I agree the wire handles suck, so make one out of rope.
You might also check out “5-Gallon Bucket Book” by Chris Peterson.
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I originally read this as ‘the market for coolers and tumbrels’. With things going as they currently are, I can see a big market for those two things.
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