In The '70s, Weber Sold Something Wildly Different Than Grills

Weber is a major force in the grilling world, and according to data from OpenBrand, it's the top-selling grill brand in America as of 2024. For Weber, that achievement is particularly notable because the company didn't start out making grills. For many years, grills were just one of a number of diverse products Weber made, and in the 1970s, the company even tried selling mailboxes.

Weber actually traces its roots back to 1887, when it was founded as the Weber Brothers Metal Works out of Chicago. It didn't make grills or mailboxes at the time, but instead produced various metal products such as hinges. By 1971, the company had added what it called "mail chests" to its lineup of products. It was still a mailbox as most of us would understand it, but the name does make it sound more robust. They came in vertical and horizontal layouts, with contemporary, colonial, and traditional styles, multiple colors, and wood and metal decorative accents.

Weber mailboxes actually had more in common with grills than you might think at first glance. The boxes were made of steel coated in porcelain-enamel, which is the same material Weber Kettle Grills use to this day — the grill lids and the grates are made from porcelain enamel-coated steel or cast iron, and in smokers the lid, bowl, and center ring are made the same way. Although the metal that was used to construct the mailbox itself was high quality, the polypropylene hinges fell apart much sooner — sometimes in a matter of months. Weber later considered the mailbox experiment a failure.

The reason Weber made mailboxes in the first place is somewhat surprising considering how successful the company is with grills today. Consumer Reports even considers Weber's Spirit E-210 the best small gas grill you can currently buy. It wasn't that the company was unsuccessful back in the day and needed to find something to turn the tide. The problem was that Weber had become successful at just one item and then plateaued. Sales were strong, but profits were not. Even today, grills are often considered just a seasonal item, and that sentiment was very pervasive in the 1970s. To keep employees working through the off-season and avoid seasonal layoffs, the company chose to diversify.

Weber sold everything from plastic statues of the comedy duo Laurel and Hardy to custom fireplace screens, lanterns, bug zappers, and even tablecloths. By the end of the 1970s, Weber was shipping between 500,000 and 800,000 grills a year, with annual sales reaching as much as $24 million, according to MB Sturgis.

While the reason behind making the mailboxes was a practical and even noble one, they still proved to be unpopular. "People didn't want to spend their money on mailboxes that would last a lifetime," according to Weber. Instead of continually trying to find new angles, the company simply focused on improving the quality of its grills. This is part of the reason Weber grills are so expensive. A lot of work went into perfecting them. But based on its current reputation and sales, the plan was a good one.