this post was submitted on 27 Nov 2023
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[–] zeet@lemmy.world 75 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

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.

[–] ILikeBasil@lemmy.world 43 points 11 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] zzzzzz@lemmy.ml 4 points 11 months ago

This is pretty compelling. I vote "solved".

[–] Nemo@midwest.social 32 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I thought initially it must be a round number of flounces, but it's closer to 21 than 20floz, so IDK.

[–] dependencyinjection@discuss.tchncs.de 16 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] Mr_Blott@lemmy.world 4 points 11 months ago

Lambs definitely flounce when they're happy

[–] RoquetteQueen@sh.itjust.works 21 points 11 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] SeaJ@lemm.ee 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] dan@upvote.au 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] ricecake@sh.itjust.works 1 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Milk has been sold in gallons longer than pop has existed is my only guess for why milk hasn't switched.

The US government has been very on board with metric, for example the US was one of the original signatories of the metric convention. It's just not simple to mandate that people stop using traditional units and instead use the official standard units.

Pepsi and coke both have significant international business, which makes standard bottles appealing.
Additionally, in the mid seventies when the US was last making a push towards making the private sector switch Pepsi as a marketing gimmick switched to a bottle that was bigger than a typical coke bottle and also metric.
https://youtu.be/L6O4UeowF5I?si=fncOmRnbigWOrAsR

They hoped to be ahead of the curve in the US, better value than coke, and use one bottle everywhere.

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[–] dan@upvote.au 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

which makes standard bottles appealing.

I was thinking about this, but if it's the case, why are cans different? US cans are 12 fl oz (355mL), Australian and New Zealand cans are 375mL, European and Middle Eastern cans are often 330mL.

[–] ricecake@sh.itjust.works 1 points 11 months ago

There's sadly no interesting answer. They just didn't try the marketing gimmick with cans.

[–] RBWells@lemmy.world 13 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Huh. I put 618ml in Google and hit "shopping" filter and only one item comes up in that size, a hair cream somewhat ominously named Fakeshu.

Unlike the completely unominous sham poo that is also used in hair.

[–] 1847953620@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] RBWells@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] 1847953620@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago
[–] kambusha@feddit.ch 8 points 11 months ago

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.

[–] yads@lemmy.ca 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Possibly started with a different volume then through shrinkflation ended up at 618 mL

[–] Gallardo994@sh.itjust.works 4 points 11 months ago

0.618? Sounds like ex-0.75 to me

[–] otter@lemmy.ca 5 points 11 months ago

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

[–] JokeDeity@lemm.ee 4 points 11 months ago

Working at a store, you can rest assured that number will get smaller in a year or less. I've caught dozens of products getting smaller but costing the same.

[–] TMarkos@beehaw.org 2 points 11 months ago

It's rather close to 1/6 of a US gallon, so if sold in a 6pk the pack would be 1 gallon. No idea if that's the real reason but it makes sense to me.

[–] Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works -3 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] bruhduh@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)