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At Popco, we're very proud that our president, Elihu Wear, has been honored by Fortune Magazine in their December 2022/January 2023 issue. Elihu appears in the Magazine's Who's Who feature, a spotlight on America's top professionals. Here's what Fortune's had to say about Elihu'e life and achievements:

Corrugated material is widely used in merchandisers such as floor stands, trays and dump bins. The strengths of corrugated materials are many: cost-effectiveness, printable with your graphics, flat shipping, and sustainability to name a few. When a corrugated display needs to be strong as an ox, assembly parts such as Popco’s corrugated shelf-support clip become essential. Popco’s corrugated shelf-support clip system includes two pieces that work together to create a means of supporting shelves on corrugated displays. The back piece, shown above on the left, is placed on the back of a corrugated display and protrudes through a die-cut opening on the display. The front piece, shown above on the right, slides into the corresponding slot on the back piece. This front piece is inserted into corrugated material, and glued in place, in order to form the sides of a shelf on a corrugated display. The illustration above shows how the back piece of the corrugated shelf-support clip system protrudes through a die-cut opening on the display, and how the front piece is inserted into the sides of a shelf. Inserting glue along with the front pieces fuses the shelf-support clip to the corrugated material. The four holes in the clip help the glue form and extra-secure bond. When complete, the shelf can support significant weight and often displays assembled with these parts support bottles in liquor stores. In addition to the strength of the display, a display constructed in this manner can ship flat and can be quickly and easily assembled in the field. As we said, simple, strong and meant to last… support, Popco style.

Popco offers all sorts of off-the-shelf parts that make display pieces hang, stick and stand out. However, sometimes a combination of parts is required to achieve a desired result, and it’s projects like these on which Popco can really shine. Recently, a customer came to us seeking a literature box that could mount to metal surfaces. Using tape was not an option. Neither was any sort of screw arrangement since the metal surface could not be damaged. The obvious solution was a magnetic mount and, under normal circumstances, this would be a simple combination of Popco parts – resulting in the magnetized box shown above. The challenge on this project was a very tight deadline. Thankfully, Popco is more rabbit than tortoise when it comes to sourcing parts and labor and drawing on our own inventory to create a custom product. And so it was that with jack-rabbit speed, we were able to create the item that our customer needed. Simple? Yes. Effective? Definitely. Done in record time? You betcha, as we say in Minnesota.

In last month’s post we spoke about our vacuum-formed trays and their use in the food industry. Today, we’re back for seconds, continuing on the food theme, and focusing on our sign bases and our collaboration with the Thomas Cattle Company (TCC). The folks from TCC contacted Popco seeking our 2-inch sign base, a part that is made from ABS plastic and is meant to be used in food settings. The 2-inch sign base is most typically combined with branded inserts and deployed in food coolers; exactly the usage that TCC had in mind. In fact, TCC requested that Popco provide the insert and well as the sign base. To do this, Popco draws on a number of fine vendors with whom we’ve worked on similar projects. In the case of the TCC project, we used supplied artwork and printed on polystyrene, another material meant to be used around food. The end result was a smash success in the eyes of Popco and our new customer, the Thomas Cattle Company. Our people at TCC were gracious enough to share a terrific picture of the sign base and insert in its intended setting. In closing we’ll say that if you love all-natural fine meats, you owe it to yourself to check out the Thomas Cattle Company. Be forewarned, you’ll likely salivate when you see the photos on the TCC site, and you’ll likely beam, ear-to-ear, when you read the about-us section of the site.

Nearly 40 years ago, in the earliest days of Popco, servicing the food industry was an important part of our business. Specifically, we were involved in the production of spring-loaded merchandising trays for food coolers. This work then led to our production of vacuum-formed trays, again, servicing the food industry. Over the course of many projects, we came to develop trays in all sorts of styles: some branded; some not; some colored; others clear; branded trays that were embossed, or hot-stamped or with labels applied. A constant on these projects is that one size does not fit all. Popco customers merchandise their projects in packaging that varies wildly in size and style. And, of course, branding is going to be unique to a customer. This is why we don’t offer vacuum-formed trays as a stock item. Instead, we work with our customers to develop trays specific to their needs. If you are in the food industry and you’re looking for merchandising options for your products, be aware that Popco can help. From concept to design to production, Popco can offer decades of experience in the production of vacuum-formed tray. We’ve given a great deal of thought to food and the marketing of food packages.

“One size fits all” is such a lovely notion. Too bad it’s rarely true without compromise. For instance, the stocking cap that fits your son perfectly makes lines on your forehead and gives you a headache. The hip shoes your daughter loaned you look great but rub your feet raw. The same is true in the point-of-purchase world. Designers know this. They know that different stock thicknesses require different assembly hardware. The trouble is, sometimes thick and thin stocks are employed in the same display piece. Suppose you’ve constructed a dump bin using thick stock like foam board or Coroplast® so that it will last over repeated uses. Now suppose the bin will occasionally hold different products, or products that might go on sale. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could modify graphics without having to scrap the large, expensive panels that form the bin? Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a simple, inexpensive way of adding and swapping out graphics on the bin? Enter the saddle clip.

At Popco, we pride ourselves on practicality. We ought to since we are purveyors of widgets that are modest, simple, and useful – essentially, the definition of practical. Among our products, none is more practical that our push-lock post and loop-screw sets. Practical in that hand-assembly with these parts is rapid (no tools are required). Practical in that the screw portion of the set contains a loop connection point (ideal for swatch books that will be hung as shown in the photo). Practical in that post and loop-screw sets are visually discrete (your design is the star of the show, not our parts).

Dear reader, if you are slavishly tethered to your phone, incapable of ignoring your social media accounts and have never (or no longer) listened to LP records, this post is not for you. If, instead, you have some fondness for old-school craftsmanship and timeless simplicity, read on. Recently, Mr. Alan Bourgault, a new Popco customer, placed an order for our PT-3 series poster rail. This product is typically used to hang light-weight signs and banners but Mr. Bourgault has found another clever use for the part. He uses the PT-3 as a blade protector for his hand-made bread knives, pictured above.

In March of 2018, in this blog, Popco published the results of informal tests on our suction cups. The goal of the tests was to determine the weight-bearing capacity of our suction cups under ideal conditions. Of course, ideal conditions are elusive when mounting suction cups (or just slogging through life for that matter). For suction cups, “ideal conditions” means that the cups are applied to clean and non-porous surfaces (window glass is the best example).

This time last year, in this blog, we grappled a bit with the realities of the pandemic, global supply-chain disruptions, and our desire to remain positive and grateful during a challenging holiday season. One year later, we are still battling ever-increasing costs, continued delays in acquiring materials and producing product, and the challenges of communicating these unpleasant realities to our customers. Now that we’ve acknowledged the obvious, we’ll say that glimmers of hope – if not outright rays of sunshine, are all around us. Most of our customers have stayed afloat in this tough time and they’ve stuck with us. These customers understand our challenges and accept the unavoidable price hikes and delays. So, it is with special poignancy that we say, during this holiday season, thank you from the bottom of our hearts to all the loyal customers who are weathering the storm same as we are – same as folks the world over are. We hope that the spirit of this holiday will carry us through the coming year and, together, we and our customers can emerge stronger than ever. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and a joyous New Year to all of our customers and their families. At Popco, once again, we’re grateful for all that is good; and plenty has been good, even in 2021.