Pets.com - The Rapid Rise and Fall

*Note: This video was completed in August of 2020, but unreleased until May of 2024 as part of my 7 years on YouTube celebration.

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Company Declines:
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[KnoName]

Sounds like “The rise and takeover of Chewy” video should be next

[scottnotpilgrim]

Definitely remember that sock puppet, they were gone as fast as they appeared it seemed

[gregvs.theworld]

I barely remember the company, but a primordial memory of seeing that puppet on TV as a kid was awakened in me.

[eerieeric]

Clearly, the idea for online pet supply store was a good idea, but clearly they were way ahead of their time and I think that’s what led to their failure wrong place wrong time

[RaeannVuona-ihor]

I have the spokespuppet puppet! Talks and everything. They must have sold them as merch and I was obsessed enough to get it as a gift as a kid

[sailormoonfan]

I remember loving that puppet as a kid. Looking at it now, even after all these years, I still think it’s a good puppet/plush design.

[plantainsoupp]

The one good thing about being home sick is watching Company Man as soon as he uploads 🙌🏼

[kevinchapa]

Oh my fucking God, so that's where my profile picture sock dog is from lmaoo I never knew I just liked it and bought it off some lady's garage sale lol

[Anti-AntiAintI]

Not gonna lie. I'm one of the Company Man subs who love the corporate downfall vids and I definitely remember Pets.

[Xiporah]

You know you've hit jackpot on a rise and fall video when you remind me of a company that I forgot existed. This whole video was just a time capsule of memories that I had forgotten with both Triumph the Insult Comic and the pets com sock puppet dog

[shmookins]

Speaking of shipping costs of heavy items; It's absolutely crazy how international shipping progressed in affordability and speed over the years.
I remember waiting for three months for an online purchase to reach me (from the other side of the planet) with crazy shipping prices (usually more costly than the product itself) to now shipping costing free or next to nothing, and the waiting time is only a week.

Heck, I recently bought a large bag of flour (a little over 20 pounds) that was shipped to me from over 600 miles away with free shipping. The item was cheaper than in stores (by a large margin), _and_ it arrived in 2 or 3 days!

What a time to be alive.

[darkfoxfurre]

I remember them, and remember thinking how cool of an idea it seemed at the time. But as a consumer it just never really made any sense to use them. As far as I remember, they just offered the same sort of stock that you could get from a 5 minute drive to Walmart. And, at that time, Walmart's prices were still fairly low; so paying for shipping and waiting 2-3 weeks for the same pet supplies you could just buy at a store didn't make sense.

As for the high cost of technology- If you look at how much money Amazon has invested into their logistics technology; that's the kind of pricetag that Pets was looking at. Not just the cost of hosting a website and managing orders; but the technology cost of doing inventory digitally and sorting things for shipping everywhere in the US to a large marketshare was insanely high for that time period. Could you imagine running a company like modern day Amazon on something akin to a Windows 98 machine?

[doubleknots]

I won a plushie of the spokespuppet in a claw grab machine at the boardwalk when I was a kid. I still have it!

[xinncnc]

I'd love a video on how chewy manages to have such amazing customer service after this video. they literally send birthday cards to my cats and my dog. 🥺

[nicholastosoni]

I still have the puppet! I even made a conversion kit to turn it into 1-800-BAR-NONE.

[TheNinjaKiwi]

I was a bit too young to remember that fully, but by golly, I do have some weird memories of the puppet. Maybe even from the company that bought the puppet. Great video Company man!

[NathanSpies]

Look he’s got a stuffed thing! I LOVE STUFFED THINGS!

[brianwilliams]

Yup, I remember them very well. I used to be bombarded with commercials on TV from this company. Problem was I didn't own any pets, so I never bought anything from them. But I certainly remember all those commercials!

[lonewanderer]

I loved those commercials with the puppet dog.

[elucidator]

If Chewy was smart, they should buy the rights to that Puppet for their brand.

Or make their own. lol