​​The Puzzle WEIGHTS® Story . . .

Puzzle WEIGHT® production started in Imperial, NE where it began as an idea formulated by Gary Cook, former owner of Cooks Ready Mix in Imperial.  The whole idea of the Puzzle WEIGHT® began, says Gary Cook, over a number of winters.  ​

​I had lots of people coming in asking me to put cement chunks in their pickups.  Then come spring, they were back wanting me to take them back out.  I thought, there's got to be a better way, and then I thought of a puzzle.

I first thought of making the puzzle pieces out of cement, But then, I thought, that wouldn't really solve the problem because shipping would be so excessive.  So I got the idea of making them out of plastic.

Gary Cook

​Once the design was created for his three puzzle pieces, a patent was issued and production  of  the  mold  began.    He  found  a  blow  mold company  in  Three  Rivers,  Michigan  who  was known  for  producing  wheels  for  kids  wagons  among  other  plastic  products.    Soon after, Puzzle WEIGHT® production began.

Puzzle WEIGHTS®

Marketing  the product was the next challenge.  One of the first places he did try to market proved successful in one way, but not in the way he intended.  He took his product to the Stock Show in Denver and discovered that people in agriculture did not seem interested.  He did however, meet a man from the Postal Service. ​

The USPS trucks were built in Houston Texas and did not handle well in snow and ice.  Cook started calling around and finally talked to a man with the USPS in Washington D.C.  They did a three month study to see how they worked and then recommended them.  From that point on, the Postal Service purchased over 400,000 pieces that have gone to 37 states.  ​

This truck needed Puzzle WEIGHTS®

A gravity fed machine was also designed by Cook to fill the weights with dry sand, trucked in from North Platte, NE.  The Postal Service purchased the weights filled and then were trucked to location.  Empty sets were also sold and then filled with sand. ​​

 When Cooks Ready Mix sold to L & L Ready Mix, Cook was in the process of moving the puzzle operation to his new home in South  Dakota.  However, an employee of L & L Ready Mix talked Cook into  moving the operation to Haxtun, CO.  Pat Kamery along with her husband Doug began managing the business in 1997 and later purchased the company.

Sales to the Postal Service were very good until 9 -11.  After that time, due to the Anthrax scare, budget cuts and decreased revenues for the Postal Service funding became difficult for individual offices and mail facilities to obtain for purchasing the Puzzle WEIGHTS®.   ​

With decreased sales to the USPS - so began again - the marketing challenge.  A website  was designed, and emphasis on empty sets was increased as it was so costly to ship the filled weights.  To decrease the cost of freight from Michigan to Colorado, Kamery's began searching for a blow molder that was closer to Colorado.  ​​

Puzzle WEIGHTS® on USPS Truck

In 2007 they moved the molds to a large blow mold company in Clinton, Iowa.  Since that time, the molds have been manufactured there, and until July of 2014, were taken to a warehouse in Clinton and shipped from that location. Recently, that shipping service made changes in it's direction and stopped shipping individual orders.  After much deliberation, Kamery's made the decision to move the weights back to Haxtun and to do the shipping from their home.

The  entire  Puzzle WEIGHTS®  operation  has  changed  since  it's  conception.    As  a  petroleum  product,  the  cost  of  manufacturing  has tripled since the beginning. As the life expectancy of a set of Puzzle WEIGHTS® is  well,  forever  -  and  believing  that  the  product  does indeed add  to  the safety and stability of drivers on icy and snow packed roads - the Kamery's continue to strive towards making the product known and available to the general public.  ​​

Owners: Doug & Pat Kamery 
Haxtun, CO 80731​

For more information please call:  1-800-843-1866    

Comments or questions may be sent to our email address:  contact@puzzleweights.com