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[–]Guano- 359 points360 points  (37 children)

Well I think I am going to have to send in my Grandfathers Zippo from the 50's/60's. Thanks OP, didn't think Zippo did that

[–]Rattatouille 231 points232 points  (22 children)

I did this several years ago with my Grandfather's plain silver Zippo he carried with him through the Korean War. It was such a nice treat getting it back. Cleaned out the crud on the inside, replaced the parts that needed replacing to get it working perfectly again, and cleaned it up nice on the outside so it shined but still had the character of decades of wear and tear showing. One of my prized possessions to this day. Highly recommended.

[–]Jensway 117 points118 points  (1 child)

A+++ would Zippo again

[–]MiamiZombieGuy 27 points28 points  (12 children)

Pics please!!

[–]Rattatouille 150 points151 points  (11 children)

Here you go! Nothing too exciting. Sorry if the quality is crappy. Best I can do at the moment. Just for fun I included a picture of the Marlboro pocket ashtray he carried with him as well.


[–]jakemg 20 points21 points  (4 children)

I haven't smoked in years, but I still have a Benson and hedges pocket ashtray that is like a pocket watch, but when you press the button, it opens and the little cigarette holder is in the shape of a tobacco leaf. When I was a teenager, my friends and I would ash in it exclusively and try to fill it up. My pockets always smelled liked ash.

[–]StarbossTechnology 44 points45 points  (2 children)

Same here. I've had one of my Dad's old zippos for years. Had no idea.

[–]Guano- 30 points31 points  (0 children)

Makes me all excited inside.

[–]possiblyapotato 60 points61 points  (2 children)

They WILL replace parts if they can't fix them, so if you want all the parts to stay original, put a note in there saying if they have to replace something, just to send it back

[–]pdnick 334 points335 points  (8 children)

I sent my dad's old Zippo in to get repaired and they sent me a little medallion with a penny in it that said "The cent never spent to repair a Zippo" The penny was even from the same year as the Zippo was made.

*Edit It looked just like this, only there's a penny on the other side. Sadly it got lost in a move years ago, along with the lighter.

*Edit II - Just found their history of the tag and coin here...


  1. Start Company

  2. Give away cash

  3. Profit!

[–]moonman 36 points37 points  (1 child)

That's so fucking cool!

[–][deleted] 1543 points1544 points  (312 children)

I sent in my old zippo to be repaired, as the steel wheel wouldn't spin. I included a $5 bill just in case it needed a part or something.

They repaired the original insert for free and gave me an additional new one along with two spare flints, and gave me my $5 back...in stamps! Weird that they gave me back stamps, but no biggie!

Now that's some seriously good customer service!

[–]getdeadplz 1819 points1820 points  (202 children)

because you don't send cash in the mail.

[–]40hzHERO 88 points89 points  (23 children)

When I was 11, I mailed so much money ($15 I think) in coins to RuneScape for a membership.


I got my membership.

[–]austin101123 7 points8 points  (8 children)

15 bucks a month is a bargain for this stress!

[–]U_Cheeky_Gabber 4 points5 points  (7 children)

The tank is dps! The tank is dps!

[–]rainbowdim 69 points70 points  (20 children)

Really? That car survey company (JD Power?) always sends me a 5 dollar bill in the mail to guilt me into taking their survey.

[–]NeuxSaed 132 points133 points  (16 children)

How do I get on this mailing list?


Check your junk mail. You'd be surprised. Just this morning I checked something there was $2 in it.

[–]PantlessAvenger 54 points55 points  (6 children)

I found a $1 bill paperclipped to an e-cigarette survey I nearly threw away. $1 AND a free paperclip?? Made my day.

[–]ckelley87 25 points26 points  (0 children)

Dafuq? I only got a $1 bill. I should have held out... I feel like such a cheap whore, now. :(

[–][deleted] 61 points62 points  (13 children)

I actually call when a vending machine doesn't vend my snack, and the company just sends me a dollar bill in the mail.

[–]Yoyodude101 40 points41 points  (10 children)

I did this once. They sounded really irritated. I'M the one that was thirsty as fuck and had no other source of water at that point in time, why were THEY so irritated? Fuckers never even sent my dollar! D:<

[–]PokemasterTT 541 points542 points  (72 children)

One guy once sent me payment in an envolope, $28.

[–]Chalky_Cupcake 1851 points1852 points  (46 children)

You might consider turning this story into a screenplay or at the very least an ebook.

[–]malenkylizards 112 points113 points  (13 children)

Call it "Envolope: One Man's Defiance."

And just one screenplay? I want tie-in webisodes.

[–]VTArmsDealer 90 points91 points  (11 children)

Starring Rob Schneider as Envelope.

[–]Green_Geno 23 points24 points  (4 children)

And Emmanuel Lewis as Clippy, his trusty sidekick.

[–]thephilistine_ 152 points153 points  (16 children)

Here's a link so he can self-publish it to Amazon. The world has a right to know!

[–]grimman 25 points26 points  (14 children)

But isn't this just for Kindle (and the app)? The name implies that anyway. If so then that's focusing on too narrow a market segment. We can't afford this; the word needs to be spread!

[–]Balony1 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Oh, and say hi to Oprah for me

[–]Tfish 19 points20 points  (9 children)

That's how I always pay my doctor's bill when it comes in the mail.

Last time I put $12.38 in the envelope, and taped 2 quarters to the outside because I didn't have any stamps.

[–]someomega 19 points20 points  (11 children)

Nielsen TV Ratings does. I did their preliminary survey to see if I would do their book and they sent me $2 with the first survey. Later when they sent the record book for me to do they sent $40 in cash with the book.

[–]smallandwise 31 points32 points  (5 children)

And aren't those the flattest, most crisp bills you've ever seen?

[–]gold13 9 points10 points  (0 children)

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society keeps sending me nickels though!

[–]daimposter 27 points28 points  (11 children)

You don't send $5 in cash but it's okay for $5 in stamps? Why? I'm curious. It's not like it's $500.


The govt sent my dad a 5 dollar bill to fill out the census.

[–]schwerpunk 51 points52 points  (1 child)

Well, sure, but they can always just print more if it gets lost.

[–]jeantilex 17 points18 points  (0 children)

I think we may have find a way out of the recession, Marshall!

[–]randomhumanuser 14 points15 points  (12 children)

It's legal, I just don't think it's encouraged (I think).

[–]I_MAKE_USERNAMES 21 points22 points  (10 children)

...why wouldn't it be legal? It's just not a good idea.

[–]charlie145 7 points8 points  (1 child)

Surely it is legal, otherwise lots of birthday cards would be illegal!

[–]EastvsWest 140 points141 points  (38 children)

They pay their employees in stamps as well.

[–]thephilistine_ 91 points92 points  (31 children)

Not a bad idea if they're forever stamps.

[–][deleted] 75 points76 points  (26 children)

Probably the best investment in the country right now.

[–]kahylll 49 points50 points  (5 children)

No one ever pays me in stamps :[

[–]TheNapalmNinja 125 points126 points  (10 children)

I've written thank you notes every time I've sent my lighter in because I know it's free and they're damn good about fixing them.

[–]UnholyDemigodSurvey 2016 17 points18 points  (1 child)

How many times have you needed it fixed? None of mine have ever needed maintenance that I couldn't do myself (general shit, like replacing the wick and stuff)

[–]JimmerUK 33 points34 points  (2 children)

The hinge snapped on mine and I sent it in. A month later I got it back fixed completely free of charge, and they sent a new insert as well as the old one.

[–]Namika[🍰] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I always loved how they do that. It's like "Here's a totally new insert because it will fix other problems you have... but in case you're nostalgic for the original one we included that too!"

[–]blackpony04 61 points62 points  (15 children)

Zippo Manufacturing in Bradford, PA. My company has the good fortune of doing all of their HVAC work and they are as nice to work with professionally as you would expect them to be from their customer service history. Most people don't know it but they have a Zippo Museum you can tour for free connected to their factory.

[–]alc59 17 points18 points  (7 children)

I live about 15 mins from Zippo, couple of neighbors work there, wife works at Case which is owned by Zippo now

[–]Not_A_New_User 604 points605 points  (87 children)

Some companies still value their customers.

[–]BunsTown 505 points506 points  (69 children)

Yeah. It's disgusting. Doesn't Zippo know that this is America, and that there's real money to be made? I'm going to send them a letter with some ways of expanding profit.

  1. Ship all the American jobs to China. There are virtually no rules and regulations there, and you can pay the employees a few dollars a day.

  2. Don't fix the lighters for free. Charge $15. The thought in doing so really comes into focus with #3.

  3. Make poorer quality lighters that aren't meant to last very long. People will have to get them repaired more often.

    1. This is a privately owned company. Go public. Let stock holders know you are cutting corners at every chance and are hell bent in money money money.
  4. Profit.

It's really sad to think that this is a privately owned company. They pay their employees well and offer benefits. I'm sure the owners are barely taking home $3 million a year. That's barely $250k a month. Won't someone think of the CEO's children?

[–]Rubbinmysloth 35 points36 points  (17 children)

I believe they still make them in Pennsylvania don't they?

[–]dont_look_up 30 points31 points  (6 children)

They still make them in Bradford, PA. I actually used to live there, and that's the town's big "claim to fame".

[–]whattrees 7 points8 points  (0 children)

"claim to flame" FTFY

[–]Zzombee 82 points83 points  (11 children)

Did they send you a penny? (Cent)


No penny, why do you ask?

[–]Zzombee 232 points233 points  (2 children)

Last time (20+yr) I sent them a lighter for repair they sent me a penny with a note saying "the cent never spent to repair a zippo" or words to that effect. I thought it was cool.


Yeah, I wrote them after I got my wick and cotton removed in customs. They sent me a wick, a few flints, and a keychain with a penny in it. That quote was etched in the casing for the penny. I lost it a while back and was disappointed. It had been on my keys for years.

[–]ThisDerpForSale 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I have one of those too - though mine came with my zippo when I bought it. It's got a card attached to it that advertises the Zippo Visitor Center, as well as their repair guarantee. I actually just found it recently in a pile of old papers where it'd been sitting for years. It's pretty fun.

[–]ThaddeusJP 117 points118 points  (6 children)

/r/Zippo exists in case anyone is interested. Nice little sub. Check it out!

[–]Thacrudd 9 points10 points  (5 children)

That sub is going to have the same effect as /r/aquariums had on me... "hmm... maybe I should get an aquarium"

I have 5 cats and quit smoking 3 years ago


Wish I had a reason to need a lighter.

takes up smoking

[–]B-Wing 54 points55 points  (5 children)

They're good for small time arson also.

[–]ManWhoKilledHitler 39 points40 points  (4 children)

...lighting cannon fuses, setting off dynamite, dropping into pools of gasoline to blow up your enemies, etc, etc.

[–]leontes 204 points205 points  (61 children)

I've always wanted a classy zippo lighter with a no-smoking sign on it.

[–][deleted] 139 points140 points  (57 children)

I don't smoke, but I've always wanted a zippo...

I think you can get custom designs on them now. Maybe give that a shot?

[–]Thrasher1493 59 points60 points  (45 children)

[–]Noor440 38 points39 points  (41 children)

I wanna buy one, is there anything special about zippo lighter?

[–]rcxquake 155 points156 points  (12 children)

Lifetime free repair.

[–]alwayslatetotheparty 232 points233 points  (9 children)


[–]BarkWoof 84 points85 points  (0 children)

Relevant username makes this a very clever troll... slow clap.



[–]The_jimbles 14 points15 points  (0 children)

There ya go. The only one who mentioned it lol.

[–]mclendenin 25 points26 points  (1 child)

Extra suave points when you offer to light another person's cig.

[–]Thrasher1493 23 points24 points  (1 child)

Really good build quality. It feels good in your hand.

[–]xeridium 24 points25 points  (2 children)

I'd buy a zippo just to open and close the lid while leaning against a wall.

Clink. Cluck

Clink. Cluck

Clink. Cluck

[–]jamesfordsawyer 14 points15 points  (1 child)

Hold it in your hand, flip the top open and then back down again. The feel and sound of it is robust, weighty, and durable... like a tool that is going to last.

[–]fleetber 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Standard issue during the Vietnam war.

edit: or WWII, or both.

[–]Schwarzy1 3 points4 points  (3 children)

dont have to hold button like on gas lighters (bic) but do have to buy fluid.

[–]divsky 191 points192 points  (65 children)

I discovered in the Navy onboard a submarine that most lighters stop working once the oxygen gets low. Zippos are the worst offenders. They stop working just under 20% oxygen. Most cheap generic lighters stop around 17-18% oxygen. The only lighters that work no matter how low the oxygen gets is Bic lighters. I'm loyal to them for life because of that.

A Chief in the Navy told me in the smokepit once that back in the Cold War they were under ice for a long time and the oxygen got down to 13%. And the Bic lighters still worked, even if the cigarettes themselves wouldn't stay lit. The crew wrote a letter to the Bic company to tell them and the company sent them back a whole case of free lighters in response.

[–]coonster 82 points83 points  (11 children)

Perhaps Bic's fluid contains an oxidizer? I suppose the nozzle may just be designed for a really efficient fuel-air mixture.

EDIT:Maybe not. It seems like the fluid containing an oxidizer would either make the lighter very volatile or just immediately ignite the internal reservoir of fluid.

Based on some comments, it's likely it's just an efficient flint or design resulting in an ideal air-fuel mixture.

Anyway, I didn't expect to be discussing and learning about lighters off all things on Reddit today! I've actually learned a fair amount from this post!

[–]lacheur42 28 points29 points  (5 children)

I think if it had an oxidizer mixed in, it would blow up when you lit it.

[–]chowderbags 53 points54 points  (40 children)

[–]2dTom 168 points169 points  (38 children)

I'm actually kinda shocked that you were allowed to smoke on subs in the first place.

Edit: I'm even more shocked that it took them until 2010/2011 to do it.

[–]ManWhoKilledHitler 82 points83 points  (18 children)

A steel tube, deep underwater filled with things like fuel vapours, high explosives, rocket fuel, and nuclear weapons doesn't seem like the ideal place to light up.

[–]HookDragger 58 points59 points  (8 children)

Diesel isn't combustible without compression like gasoline is. Which is one of the reasons most military vehicles run on diesel.

[–]MightySasquatch 35 points36 points  (3 children)

My friend's grandfather died from emphysema because of smoking on a submarine.

The worst part is he wasn't a smoker, but everyone else was.

[–]thespank 40 points41 points  (11 children)

good ole' bradford pennsylvania!

[–]JohnStamosEnoughSaid 20 points21 points  (1 child)

I want one, my grampa is buried with his. He also had the coolest nazi lighter from WW2 he never spoke about how he got it but im sure he earned it. He was RAF Bomber pilot DFC Recipient so that tells me he went through some heavy shit. Wish he was still here show these kids what tough is.

[–]POOPING_BUTT_FACE 2230 points2231 points  (52 children)

If I owned a hippo I would name it Zippo

[–]iBeenie 707 points708 points  (23 children)

Most irrelevant comment I ever thought deserved an upvote.

[–]Mastodon_Attack 344 points345 points  (17 children)


[–]barrygateaux 49 points50 points  (10 children)

i now want to live in a universe where a rap battle between zippo the hippo and irrelephant versus hiphopopotamus and rhymenocerous happens

[–]NyranK 33 points34 points  (6 children)

My name is Irrelephant,

I spit rhymes so elegant,

You better step off me homie, stop being so arrogant,

You a fat fucking hippo with no skill and no flow,

Float your arse in the water and downriver you go,

I'm the pachyderm respresentin' the whole of the continent,

Layin' rhymes down with ease, so cool and so confident,

You ain't nothing but a buster, completely incompotent,

Of rappin skill and rhyme you aint even cognizant.


[–]Muficita 7 points8 points  (5 children)

I'm the Hiphopopotamus,

My rap skills is bottomless,

You think you can beat me?

Your tusks are just sodomists

I'm grazing my grasses while kicking 'phant asses

You think you so huge, you just clumsy and classless.

[–]NyranK 6 points7 points  (4 children)

My name is Zippo,

I'm a three tonne hippo.

You wanna step up to me?,

I'll leave your wife a widow,

Hell I've got a hide that's two inches thick,

If you wanna know what that is? just measure your dick,

I got mad money and bitches all up in my grill,

You ain't never had a woman worth a two dollar bill,

You wanna do this homie, I pop a cap in your ass,

Sit down my nigga, you just full of gas,


[–]Muficita 8 points9 points  (3 children)

You steppin' up to Rhymenocerous?

Your idea's preposterous

You think you so 'hip' but your face is just monstrous

You talkin' bout my penis when really you just jealous

Cuz I got mad horn above, and below you can climb like a trellis

[–]NyranK 4 points5 points  (2 children)

Ok, now we're out of rapping pachyderm names. Might have to move on to other animals.

Giraffarappa, Zebroseph Z, Buffal-lowrider, Snoop Lion...

[–]limb0starman 99 points100 points  (5 children)

once it loses some weight it's Zippo lighter!

[–]ZimeaglaZ 57 points58 points  (1 child)

About 15 years ago or so, my grandfather sent in a Zippo from his youth, (when he was in ww2, I think) didn't look like the ones we have today...and they replaced it with period parts...he was surprised, and just expected a letter and a modern replacement and Of course they did it free of charge.

Zippo is pretty much the pinnacle of customer service.

[–]canoxen 46 points47 points  (7 children)

That's a cool ass lighter!

[–]SolidPudding 15 points16 points  (2 children)

Gave you $5 in stamps?

I didn't know Zippo was a product of Taco Corp

[–]indaclear 31 points32 points  (5 children)

GG company story: dyson sent me a defective vacuum cleaner that ended up scratching my hardwoods...more like gouging them. They gave me a new vacuum and 2k to get the floors refinished. Dyson rocks!

[–]spongebob_meth 3 points4 points  (1 child)

The can afford to do that when you pay them $600 for a vacuum they spend $50 to build.


Now THAT is superior customer service.

[–]Kirtsky2 26 points27 points  (17 children)

Zippo collector here and yes, great service. I have found some really rough Zippos over the years and depending on the lighter, I have sent it in for repair if the hinge needed it. I have a couple hundred at least, most are nothing special, but now and then I get a rare collectible and they have addressed them with care.

Never smoked in my life, but have come to regard a Zippo as a life tool. Knife, lighter, both go in my pockets. yes, I have had many Zippo strawberries over the years.

[–]FlightlessUnicorn 19 points20 points  (6 children)

What is a zippo strawberry?

[–]normanhome 24 points25 points  (1 child)

I thought Zippo is famous for reapairing their own Zippos your whole life for free no matter how badly it is damaged.

[–]PrawojazdyVtrumpets 15 points16 points  (9 children)

My girlfriend won a Zippo out of a machine at an amusement park. It cost us about $3 in quarters. I knew they fixed their lighters for free, but didn't think they would fix this one because we didn't buy it. They did. They rule.


This is the side of American industry that I wish we could revive. Yet, rather than making quality products created by workers earning a livable wage, we've tried to beat out other countries monopoly on cheap crap resulting in the suffering of our consumers and workers.