Tuesday, October 31, 2017

An Econ 101 Question.....

Why is it that soda cans are sold in boxes that look like this....


But beer is sold in boxes that look like this....


My guess:  Soda cans are usually sold warm, and it is convenient to be able to put the whole box into the fridge and have it cool quickly. For that, you want more surface area. Beer, on the other hand, is often sold cold. You then transport the container to somewhere where (if you are, for example, Ben Powell ) you drink the entire 12 pack while you shoot your deer rifle at the power lines from your back porch, sitting in your underwear on a lawn chair. That would mean that you want LESS surface area for the already cold-and-you-want-to-stay-cold beer than for the warm, want-to-cool-fast, and only one or two cans a day soda. The surface of the beer box is 325 square inches. The surface area of the soda box is 365 square inches. You want the soda to cool fast, and you want the beer to warm slowly. So, there is 12% more surface area on the soda box, just as you would expect if Powell's Law ("Hey! We ain't done drinkin', son. There's still beer left in the cardboard box!") is correct.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Never tried Montejo. How does it compare with, say, Pacifico?

Thomas W said...

And the swapped images are an initial sobriety test?

LH said...

Also with respect to cooling, if one finds himself lacking a cooler but having some ice, it's easier to pour and distribute the ice into the higher volume-to-surface-area-ratio box.

PeeDub said...

Another suggestion. Sodas, you want to have a fridge dispenser for that time you want that one soda. Beer, you want an easy to carry case so you can get them where you're going and dump them in the cooler so you can get one after the other.