8/12/2024

Last week I had the opportunity to work for Superb Sealing Solutions at the 2024 Fall ace hardware convention, selling their canning lids to Ace Hardware store owners. During my time working at the convention and spending time with the Millers, who own the company, a few things stood out to me in the area of business ethics.

First of all, everything that they sell is 100 percent made in the USA, which if taken at surface level might not sound significant, however it is. The main competitor of Superb; Ball, claims that their jars and lids are made in the USA, however, the law only requires that at least 51% of the product by weight be made in the USA in order for the whole product to be considered made in the USA. Ball makes their packaging and some of their product in the USA, amounting to 51% of the product by weight, while the remaining 49% is made elsewhere. At Superb, every single component of the lids and the jars is made and sourced in the USA, from the sand used to make the glass to their proprietary BlueSeal rubber. They are truthful about the origin of their products, while their competitors are not, which is just one thing that makes them the most ethical company in their industry.

Another thing that stood out to me is that they are able to source the calcium carbonate (CaCO3) for their glass jars without mining. Mining calcium carbonate polutes the environment and is often done in other countries where working conditions are poor and workers are not treated ethically. At superb, they source a certain type of sand off the coast of northern florida that contains oolitic aragonite, which has the same chemical makeup as calcium carbonate, but is morphologically different. This material is formed by living organisms, which makes it a renewable resource. This allows them to make their glass jars ethically unlike their competition.