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.
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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 is pretty compelling. I vote "solved".
I thought initially it must be a round number of flounces, but it's closer to 21 than 20floz, so IDK.
Flounces sounds funny
Lambs definitely flounce when they're happy
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.
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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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.
There's sadly no interesting answer. They just didn't try the marketing gimmick with cans.
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.
au contraire, fakeSHU
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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
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.
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.
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Yes.