
$400 VC-Backed Juice Machine Is Completely Unnecessary - flyingramen
https://daringfireball.net/linked/2017/04/19/juicero
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contingencies
Exactly what range of processing is done to the fruits and vegetables before
packaging? How effectively washed are they given what we now know about
pesticides and cognitive development? How environmentally destructive is
individual shipment of the packages? How disposal-friendly are the packages?
Are fruits and vegetables sourced in season, locally or organically?

I think we can guess what the probable answers are.

Process...

Step 1: Pick a natural, functional, thing like a fruit.

Step 2: Hype the crap out of it (or wait until someone else does).

Step 3: Re-invent some part of it (eg. fruit skin) as an artificial product
(eg. QR-coded spacepack) so that you can charge money for it, even though this
is both unethical and wasteful, and actually less functional in many ways (eg.
hard expiry, juice only output, damage less apparent, etc.) than the original.

Step 4: Sell a subscription.

Step 5: Obtain some kind of industrial protection racket through regulatory
means, by claiming the natural alternative is unsanitary, of dubious or
dangerously uncontrolled quality.

This is basically how a lot of the pharmaceutical industry works (with a few
extra steps like co-opting/corrupting established points of community trust,
integrating an insurance protection racket, etc.), as well as diet pills,
cuisine fads, juice industry, etc.

Was this really the top US hardware startup last year?

~~~
acchow

      Was this really the top US hardware startup last year?
    

Maybe. Magic Leap raised $800 million in Feb 2016, but hasn't launched yet.

Carbon raised $80 million in Sept.

~~~
contingencies
For reference they claimed $120M, then fired their CEO and replaced him with a
Coca Cola executive.

I did some further reading on the business and answered some of the questions
I had. They have a 3-stage wash for inbound vegetables, however it does vary
per ingredient. Since many people in the industry integrate chemicals such as
chlorine during washing for sanitation purposes, there is a significant
likelihood that they are too and therefore there likely remains a percentage
of residue. Ingredients are sourced to their southern California facility for
washing, cutting and packing for national redistribution to 17 states. It's a
pretty carbon heavy operation.

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acchow
"Doug Evans, the company’s founder, would compare himself with Steve Jobs in
his pursuit of juicing perfection. "

The hubris.

~~~
dev_head_up
Eric Bachmann irl.

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_mikz
Also longer article on Ars:
[https://arstechnica.com/business/2017/04/this-400-appliance-...](https://arstechnica.com/business/2017/04/this-400-appliance-
that-squeezes-juice-out-of-a-bag-appears-unnecessary/)

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the_cat_kittles
this has to be a money laundering scam, right?

~~~
_rpd
They are just trying to copy the coffee pod people. It could still become a
thing.

~~~
ng12
But the Keurig is turning a small amount of raw material (coffee grounds) into
lots of coffee. I don't understand how the Juicero is different than bottled
juice.

~~~
_rpd
Lots of people buy expensive juicers with the idea that they will drink more
delicious healthy fresh juice. But then they never use them because it is a
hassle. This way they can pretend that they are getting fresh juicer-style
juice.

> different than bottled juice

Maybe no different than Suja or something like that. But they charge $8/bottle
- so maybe Juicero is cheaper in the long run, even with the wildly overpriced
dispenser.

~~~
freeone3000
Juicero packs are $7-10, and are smaller.

In addition, you can get ready-to-drink fruit juices in larger quantities at
your local megamart.

Note that the Juicero does not actually do anything other than open a packet
and pour into a glass.

~~~
_rpd
Americans spend $10+ billion per year on homeopathy. I don't think this
product is targeted to people who value substance over style.

~~~
mythrwy
That's astounding if true. Normally I wouldn't ask for sources but if you have
one please share!

