RANT: sizes - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Alex Eisenhut
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 18, 2019, 01:21:54 am
content: why are there no or seemingly no standards when it comes to food packaging? Everything seems cunningly designed to be completely incompatible. For example, I bought some OXO plastic containers for the kitchen, they are advertised for storing dry goods. Excellent. So a package of dried beans is 907g, but that slightly overfills the 1 liter container, and doesn't fill the next size up.Etc, bla bla bla. The same goes for Ziploc plastic containers, you can't dump a whole can of tomatoes in there for example.It blows my mind.I'm just going to go back to my bachelor storage system of dumping bags at random in the pantry.

author: Illusionist
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 18, 2019, 01:44:21 am
content: You think that's bad?Try working out the price/quantity when comparing two identical products in a supermarket. One manufacture will tell the mass in grams, the other will tell you the volume in ml. Does anyone know the density of salad cream to work out the conversion ratio???And don't get me started on bread that just won't fit in the toaster. Even the toaster sold as 'designed to fit Warburtons' is too short for Warburtons toasting bread.

author: Ian.M
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 18, 2019, 02:29:17 am
content: 907g is 2 lb, so you are starting out mixing metric and imperial units. You are also mixing mass and volume, which only works out well for substances of unit density (e.g. water)Due to the spaces between them, the density of bulk beans is significantly less than 1g/ml, even if individual beans are dense enough to sink, so its hardly surprising they don't fit a 1 litre container.It also doesn't help that you have to contend with imported containers in US customary measures of volume, so there's three possible systems.There's three ways to cope with the resulting mess:The eternal student living out of packets with rubber bands round themBuy small packs to top up your containers at around 1/3 fullBuy bulk packs to repeatedly fill your containers, and carefully reseal them and store themI tend towards (3) with some (1) for stuff I don't have a dedicated container for.

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 18, 2019, 02:55:53 am
content: Quote from: Illusionist on August 18, 2019, 01:44:21 amDo you guys not have "unit pricing" there? In AU, price per each/gram/kilogram/100 mL/litre etc... is mandated by law on all supermarket products. That way you can compare the "true" cost of products with other like products.Supermarkets often love putting on "specials" (more often on junk foods and soft drinks) but if you look at the unit pricing, it's often cheaper to buy multiples of a smaller bottle than one larger bottle "on special". Things which aren't measured in grams or millilitres (like garbage bin liners, aluminium foil, packs of underwear) have their individual or per metre prices listed instead.Almost all of my shopping choices are based on unit prices, not the shelf price of a product.

author: Red Squirrel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 18, 2019, 03:03:55 am
content: I always thought the same. Same with fast food, a large poutine at one chip stand is not going to be the same as a large at another. I don't know how many times I've ordered too much poutine because I forgot how big the large is at one place vs the other.Though I really think they need to come up with reusable package standards. Think, mason jars, but all sorts of various shapes. When you buy any food whether it's fast food or grocery food it would come in this style of package and then you can return it for deposit. They could at the same time standardize the sizes too.

author: David Hess
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 18, 2019, 09:31:44 pm
content: Quote from: Halcyon on August 18, 2019, 02:55:53 amWe do but often similar products are listed with different units.

author: meeko
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: August 18, 2019, 11:43:10 pm
content: Quote from: David Hess on August 18, 2019, 09:31:44 pmSame in Canada. For one brand, they'll have the price/100mL, another will be price/100g.

author: rhodges
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 19, 2019, 12:31:05 am
content: Quote from: Illusionist on August 18, 2019, 01:44:21 amDo you mean salad dressing? Most dressings are based on oil, which is about 0.92 SG. So oil and vinegar will probably be between 0.92 and 1.00 A lot of dressings are based on mayonnaise. When I boil eggs, they seem to be close to the density of water, so I guess mayonnaise is probably close to 1 SG. Dressings with ketchup (ugh!), like "French" or "Russian" will probably be close to 1 SG too. For shopping, I think if you assume 1ml == 1g that will be close enough.But look at the label for serving size and how many servings per container. The serving size should be standard across all the brands.

author: themadhippy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 19, 2019, 12:48:07 am
content: QuoteSlow the belt down and it doubles up as a reflow oven

author: Alex Eisenhut
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 19, 2019, 01:00:28 am
content: I know, it's just that the stupid containers come with pictures of dried beans plastered all over. Then when I dumped a bag of dried beans into the container and had some left in the bag...first world problems, I get it.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 19, 2019, 11:08:19 am
content: Quote from: Illusionist on August 18, 2019, 01:44:21 amThe other day, in USA, I saw a product at the store with the price/quantity listed in $/quart, even though the item is sold and labeled by weight (oz and g on bottle) because it’s dry pellets, not liquid...

author: aandrew
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 19, 2019, 12:14:16 pm
content: Quote from: themadhippy on August 19, 2019, 12:48:07 amIt works rather better to depopulate boards; at the end of the belt when everything's nice and molten the board goes sliding down the chute, dropping all the components in a nice pile under the now barren board.

author: GreyWoolfe
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 20, 2019, 03:41:44 pm
content: Quote from: Halcyon on August 18, 2019, 02:55:53 amI do it also. I keep trying to get Mrs GreyWoolfe to do the same. It is an ongoing process. Very slowly, she is discovering the cheaper price isn't always the best bargain.