Dinner or Party Invitation:

During the holiday season you will be invited to a dinner of perhaps a “get together”. Bringing a small gift to show your appreciation is definitely considered proper etiquette, not to mention polite.  This could include a bottle of wine or a small personal gift for the host or hostess.
Always take the time to wrap a gift.  If the gift is worth giving, it’s worth spending a dollar on a gift bag and some tissue paper.  Wrapping a gift is part of the spirit of gift-giving.
Always include a card with the gift, and actually write a note in it in your own handwriting.

Gift Giving at the Office:

If you are new to your present environment find out what has been done in the past. If there is a maximum dollar limit, stick to it.
If you are buying a gift for a particular person, not a general male or female gift, find out what that person’s hobbies or pastimes are.  A golf-related gift is ideal for the golfer or perhaps a lighter for the smoker or Zippo lighter collector.
Do not be tempted to give a gag gift. They are considered taboo for the workplace, as are very personal gifts.  Unless it’s your wife, do not give a woman anything that is a real personal item like a negligee, roses or perfume. It’s the wrong message.
Homemade items could also be viewed as being too personal in the workplace.
What you choose to give and how you present your gift is always the most important part of gift giving.

Is money an appropriate gift?

Always try to avoid giving money.  It’s more thoughtful to give a gift certificate or gift card, but only if you take the time to consider the most appropriate store or restaurant.  Pick something that will be useful for the gift recipient. If the person has a long commute each day, a gift of an Auto Emergency kit may be most appropriate.  Giving gift certificates for specialty items such as food, wine, movies or coffee do make great gifts.

Thank You Notes:

Properly thanking the person that the gift came from is also very important. “Thank You” notes are highly recommended when a gift is received, regardless of the reason for the gift. The “Thank You” note does not have to be a formal or even purchased for that matter, it is in the sentiment that is the important factor and the thank you note should always be handwritten.

After a few years in the machinery business, he sold the Blaisdell Machinery Company and put all the money into the oil business. George soon found that he hated the oil business and was not particularly good at it. The one thing he did know was that he needed to do something, and do it quickly. The oil boom days were gone and things were tough. It was the time of the Depression and the 37 year old George had very little formal education.

George was however, very good at one thing, and that was golf.  He played the game whenever he could. During the summer of 1932 George and his friends were at the local golf club when one of his friends lit a cigarette with a very odd-looking lighter. George asked him why he owned such an ugly looking lighter.  His friend’s response ignited the fuse that would lead to the Zippo Manufacturing Company that we know today.  IT WORKS, he said. 

George purchased one of these ugly Austrian made lighters and with his background in the family machinery business, decided he could refashion it to make it look and work better.  George fabricated a rectangular case and attached the lid of the lighter to the case with a hinge.  He retained the chimney design of the Austrian lighter, as it did protect the flame from the wind. The result was a lighter that was not only easy to operate but it looked good to.

He had another problem and that was with the name he wanted for his new creation. He had always liked the word Zipper and wanted to call his new lighter a Zipper.  Unfortunately another company held the patented for that name, but after tossing around some different variations of the word and settled on “Zippo”.

The next step was more difficult. He had to get the money to launch the Zippo Manufacturing Company. George soon found out that nobody had any faith in his idea to make and sell this new lighter.  Most of his friends thought that it was an outright foolish scheme.
Looking at it in a 1932 context, it must have been a very hard sell indeed.  In those days $1.95 was a week’s wages and this was to be the selling price of George’s new lighter.

He now devoted himself to making this idea work.  It had to work, for George and his family had no alternatives.

He must have been very stubborn and persuasive however in raising funds to start the new business. Within a few months he had raised enough cash to a rent a garage, buy $250 worth of equipment and hire two employees; the first Zippo Lighter was produced in early 1933.

 The original Zippo patent was filed on May 17, 1934, and the basic design of the lighter remains the same to this day, with only a few minor improvements.

His knack for product promotion created the now world famous Zippo guarantee: “It works or we fix it free.”

At this point George was struggling along selling one or two lighter at a time when, in 1935, the Kendall Oil Company ordered 500 lighters, complete with their corporate logo for Christmas gifts. This gave the fledgling Zippo Company a much needed boost.

Throughout the ’40s, the company continued to grow and acquired several buildings on Barbour Street in Bradford.

The next great influence on the company was World War II. With America’s entry in the war all production at Zippo Manufacturing was dedicated to the U.S. military. The fact that millions of American military personnel carried the Zippo lighter into battle was just what the company needed to establishing Zippo as an icon of America throughout the world.

During the war the Zippo plant was operating at full production, turning out lighters for the military. This strengthened the company financially and made it a viable entity by the end of the war.

After 1945, George hit the road with advertizing campaigns to sell lighters to a peacetime America. Always a great promoter, he even created a car that looked like a lighter to further Zippos exposure in America.

Zippo’s were also produced in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada from 1949 until the plant was closed in 2002. The bottom stamp on the lighters produced in Canada reveal the Niagara Falls location. Niagara Falls is the only other place in the world where Zippo lighters have ever been manufactured.

Mr. George Blaisdell passed away on October 3, 1978. He was 83 years of age. He is remembered not only for the Lighter he designed and for the drive and determination to succeed in building his business, but also for the generosity and kindness that he possessed.

I do not attempt to present a complete history of Mr. George Blaisdell life in these few short paragraphs, but I do wish to bring to you a small glimpse into life and times of a true American Icon.  

Allan Wright
Zippo Lighter Products