This photo, provided by Rodney Stauffer, was too grainy to use for print. It’s a old Milk Custard box.
This might be one of my favorite consumer-y stories I’ve done in a long time.
It started with an email about cookies. People couldn’t find them.
At first, I thought it sounded ridiculous.
It’s a fact of life. Companies discontinue products all the time.
After all, whatever happened to French Toast Crunch or Surge? BuzzFeed has a pretty good list right here.
So, what makes this situation different?
I’m going out on a limb here. No one’s holiday traditions (God. At least I hope not.) are tied to short-lived sugary soft drinks or strange, toast-shaped cereals.
I later learned from Rodney Stauffer that Milk Custard cookies and Peanut Butter Goodies have a long history.
Stauffer’s grandfather developed them in late 1930s.
The company was founded in 1871.
(Side note: We’re talking about the people that brought you the animal crackers of your childhood. Respect.)
The Stauffer family sold their remaining interest in the company to Japan-based Meiji in the early 2000s.
I learned through Facebook that people were, indeed, missing the absence of these York County delicacies this year.
So — love it or hate it — this is how I found my sources.
I did it the good old fashioned way: commenting on every post I could find on the Stauffer’s Cookies Facebook page.
No one was angry. Just confused.
They shared a passion for a product that is no longer available.
So, I wrote an obituary for cookies, I guess.
It was kind of hard to describe them, initially.
Confession: I’m not from York. I’ve never actually eaten a Peanut Butter Goodie or a Milk Custard.
And now, I probably won’t.
But that’s just the way the cookie crumbles.
(Ha. I so funny.)
