Oreck Vacuum Cleaners

David Oreck was born in the 1920s and accomplished many things in his life.  Eventually, he acquired from the Whirlpool Corporation a design for a vacuum cleaner that the company had abandoned.  During that same time he also managed to get a hold of an RCA distribution center located in New Orleans, Louisiana.  This, too, was failing.  Oreck, however, used both of these things to create the Oreck Corporation in 1963, at the age of 40.  Most men look toward a few more years and then retirement when they are 40, but Oreck had a vision of creation, and out of that vision Oreck vacuum cleaners were born.  Oreck’s largest selling point is the weight of his vacuum cleaners.


At only 8 pounds they are substantially lighter weight than any of the competition.  However, this was one of the largest points of criticism that Oreck vacuums received when David Oreck first started producing them.  Other vacuum cleaner manufacturers indicated that the Oreck brand could not perform well because of the lightness of the vacuum model.  The main concern was over the durability of the Oreck vacuum, but the effectiveness was also criticized.  As the Oreck vacuum weighed only one third of what a standard vacuum weighed it was easy to see how other companies would try to discredit the Oreck vacuum’s ability.

Instead of trying to overcome this criticism with the American consumer, however, David Oreck marketed his product to individuals that would be very interested in the light weight of the vacuum - the hotel industry.  As a generalization, it is usually women that do the cleaning in hotels, and they clean many, many rooms each and every day.

The weight of the vacuum cleaners that they must push through rooms and down hallways could affect how many rooms they are able to clean, how quickly they can accomplish their tasks, and whether they remain healthy in some respects - such as free of back problems - throughout their careers as maids or cleaning ladies.  Because the Oreck vacuum weighed so much less than other vacuum cleaners it was marketed as being both more efficient and safer than the traditional ‘industrial’ vacuums that were used in hotels.  The Oreck vacuum performed very well in hotels and it received a strong following there. 

When this had been firmly established, Oreck started to advertise his vacuum cleaner on television and in magazines so that the American public could purchase it as well.  He made sure he talked about the hotel industry and how long the Oreck vacuum had been used there so that consumers could understand that the Oreck vacuum had a strong following and had been in existence for some time.

Consumers started to purchase the Oreck vacuums, and they gained a following outside of the hotel industry as well.  They are generally very durable and efficient, and the light weight is a selling point for the average consumer, just as it was for the hotel industry.  This is especially true of elderly or disabled people that cannot carry or push a heavy vacuum, and also true of individuals that have multi-story homes, as carrying the Oreck vacuum up stairs is much easier than carrying one of Oreck’s competitors.  Overall, the vacuum’s popularity continues to rise and is consistently rated one of the best vacuum cleaners on the market.