!44: Promotions Rubbermaid Reveal: December 2011

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Gott Thermos - A Diamond In The Rough

!±8± Gott Thermos - A Diamond In The Rough

I recently got a 2 quart Rubbermaid Gott Thermos for 4 dollars from a bargain bin and didn't realize how useful and precious it can be. First of all, when people hear the word thermos, they imagine one of those tall, thin, vacuum flasks used by industrial workers to store hot coffee. The Gott Thermos I bought is not like that. It's basically an insulated plastic jug cooler similar to the more recent Coleman coolers. But it serves the same purpose, it's vacuum sealed and insulated so anything stored in it will maintain its temperature for a much longer time.

Another thing is that Gott thermos brands are rare and extremely hard to find these days, resulting in a cult-like following among collectors, so I guess finding it being sold cheap on a thrift store makes me all sorts of lucky, despite its importance and rarity being lost on me. I basically just bought the Gott thermos because I know I could have some use for it, and partly because it brought back memories from my childhood. As my childhood was spent in a school where plastic jugs and coolers similar to it were used in abundance.

The Gott thermos I brought home had a white colored lid with spout and handle, matched with a blue body. It's ten inches tall and six and a half inches around in size and can hold 2 quarts of water with temperatures ranging from hot, cold, or lukewarm. I haven't tested its limits but it can keep the temperature consistently for 4 hours. I haven't tested it much longer than that.

Lately I've been using the thermos more and more and becoming increasingly dependent on it. I put iced water on it and lug it along to the gym during my weekly workouts, and even got weird stares from officemates when I started bringing it to the office filled with hot coffee. I admit that hot coffee looked out of place in what looks like a water jug meant for cold water, but it works perfectly well for coffee as well. I think the box and paper that came with it explicitly mentioned said fact.

I also took it to the park a few days ago, having filled it with hot soup. It was perfect for the cold morning, just sitting on a bench with a Gott thermos and a plastic spoon having my way with the soup. I admit I must have looked like a well-dressed hobo that time, but it felt good and relaxing. It's a little convenience that may have gone a long way towards feeling refreshed and active longer and easier throughout the day.

Right now the trusty Gott thermos is beside my PC, as I find that filling it with hot coffee meant that I could save some time going back and forth from the computer table to the kitchen just to fix myself a cup, and I can also take my time in drinking the coffee without worrying about it going cold on me. I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing but the 6 dollar thermos that nobody notices already became a large part of my daily life, and I hope that it's as durable and long lasting as its box claims.