In the store, I sometimes encounter containers (e.g., beer, water, shampoo) with a volume of 618ml. Why exactly this number?
In the store, I sometimes encounter containers (e.g., beer, water, shampoo) with a volume of 618ml. Why exactly this number?
618ml equates exactly to 600ml + 3% - maybe manufacturers add 3% on top because that's the maximum allowable variance in quantities?
From a quick search, 412ml and 515ml both seem pretty common too.
I think you're on the right track. My guess would be that they have a 3% tolerance (uncertainty, idk) with filling so they fill 600 ml but statistically it might be as much as 618. Putting 618 on the packaging lowers the price per liter a little, compared to 600.
This seems backwards from what a manufacturer would want to do. The concern with variances isn’t really having too much but having too little in the bottle. If you aimed to put exactly 600 in the bottle, you will sometimes end up below 600. It would make more sense to label it 600, aim for 618, and be confident that you’ll always fill it to at least the advertised 600.
This is pretty compelling. I vote "solved".
This doesn’t make sense. If there’s 3% variance in their manufacturing, they should be advertising it as 97% of their target amount because overpromising in advertising is a major legal liability. Telling people you’re giving them 618 ml when you actually given te 582 ml is basis for some kind of lawsuit I would wager.
Giving people less than you say you’re giving them is more of a crime than giving them more than you say you’re giving them.
What country are you in, OP?
In Canada we have a lot of that and I always assumed we import things from America and then just change the labels. The metric usually converts to a more reasonable number in imperial.
We get the joy of both here in the US. Both are required to be listed and either can be a nice round number but generally it is the imperial one.
I love that both are listed.
You do sometimes see nice round metric numbers, for example soft drinks (soda / pop) often come in 2 litre bottles.
I'm still unsure as to why soft drink bottles are measured in litres while milk is measured in gallons... A carton of milk (half a gallon, 1.9L) is almost as large as a bottle of soft drink (2L) so it's strange they haven't converged.
There's also things like the TSA liquids limit, which is defined as exactly 100mL but commonly written as 3.4 fl oz.
Do you perhaps mean 568ml? It's a pint and beer quite commonly comes in that size. Some water, like liquid death comes in that size, and I've just googled and so does shampoo.
Which country?
I think the other commenter is on the right track and it's likely a conversion from another standard unit. I would've said pint but a pint is 568ml.
Possibly started with a different volume then through shrinkflation ended up at 618 mL
0.618? Sounds like ex-0.75 to me
If all those different products, with different shapes containers, have the same number then I'm not sure
But I do sometimes see things like shampoo coming in weird sizes because of the shape of the bottle
Because it probably used to be something larger in a different round unit and then they removed a little without adjusting the price so now when u do the unit conversion u get this mess
It's a man's number.
Can i call him?
Yes.
It’s the Illuminati. They have to tell/show you what they’re doing for some reason. Probably has to do with that. I don’t know what it means though. And yes, I read conspiracy theories.