Pears & Muffins

Most catalogs I receive in the mail are unwelcome and they hit the recycle bin without even an interim stop on the kitchen counter. There just seems to be no way to stop their flow except by attrition and eventually, it says here, you will be removed from the mailing list. I’m pretty good about this and have noticed I don’t quite get the volume of tree-waste I used to. But then I read about an old friend whose catalog I always liked looking at (although rarely ordering from) just because the product is just so damned expensive.

This would be Harry & David, the folks that bring you those fruit-to-nuts gift baskets. And boxes. We mustn’t forget about the boxes because they are so sturdy and useful for presenting (or mailing) other stuff to various and sundry people with various and sundry occasions to be celebrated. Unfortunately Harry & David has filed for a “prearranged Chapter 11” bankruptcy and, among other things there I suppose, they have either stopped or cut-down on the production of their catalogs. I wouldn’t be all that alarmed by this because it was rare-to-never that I bought anything from them (their Royal Riviera pears are/were sensational) but, wouldn’t you know it, a couple/three years ago Harry & David swallowed Wolferman’s, whose catalog I did utilize to order some out-of-this-world (in my opinion) English muffins.

And, now, the Wolferman’s catalog has also stopped coming. I know, I know, I could probably go on-line as we speak and order a muffin supply but when a company files for bankruptcy who knows what effect that has on production (and reliable deliver)?

This sort of thing has happened a lot over the last two or three years as the economy tanked but, upon some cagey research, I learned that H&D (and thus Wolferman’s) was taken over by Wasserstein & Company and Highfields Capital Management in 2004. These companies (and other investors) subsequently sucked out all of the profits without reinvesting anything in the company. This is my opinion anyway and, whether it’s true or a wobbly version of the truth, it means my favorite muffins have bitten the sawdust floor. I guess there’s hope that Harry & David can pull out of these dark, dank, days but in the meantime all incentive to purchase, based mostly on receipt of the catalogs, is gone.