Has anyone else ever noticed that root beer soda cans are slightly thicker than all other soda cans? In my experience, the difference is very slight…only the tiniest difference in weight when empty and more resistance if you crush the can in your fist.
I’ve asked several dozen people about it over the past few weeks, and everyone thinks I’m crazy. I’ve observed the difference for years and just thought it was something everyone already knew.
Anyone else ever noticed this? Am I alone in this observation?
I’ve never noticed it with root beer cans, but I KNOW SlimFast cans are much thicker than soda cans. I’ve picked up an empty SlimFast on several occasions and was shocked at how heavy it was with nothing in it.
Could it be a brand issue? Are you buying better quality Root Beer than other kinds of soda?
I haven’t been going around measuring soda can thickness recently, but I have been shooting them a lot with airsoft guns. I’ve noticed that generic Safeway brand soda cans tear apart much more easily than, say, Sprite or Coke cans. The shots go straight through the cheaper cans with no problem, but depending on how I hit the Coke cans they might only go in one side and just dent the back.
That’s not very scientific, I know. I figured that since the Safeway soda are a much lower margin item, they have more incentive to use as little metal as possible in the cans than the higher margin name-brand sodas, but that’s just a wild ass guess. You’d also think that if Coke could get away with making the cans thinner they would - money is money no matter how much you sell your sugar water for.
I have some fairly precisce dial calipers in my toolbox - when I get a chance I’ll see if they have enough accuracy to see if there is a difference in the walls of the cans I have in my garage.
I don’t think it’s a brand issue. At least, the thickness difference seems uniform across all the premium brands of root beer (Mug, Barqs, A&W, etc.).
Things I pondered:
A difference in the manufacturing process. I learned that at one point, root beer underwent some small degree of fermentation, unlike other sodas, and that this process was what produced the carbonation. But in modern times, root beer is produced using force carbonation, same as everything else. So, that’s probably not it.
Different substances in root beer might have an ill effect on aluminum, requiring some sort of liner for the can? Or a different alloy?
Not that I need it, but the first (and only) time I tried SlimFat, just for the heck of it, I was very disappointed because of this weight deception. I was rather hungry at the time, and the can felt like whatever was inside would keep me filled for at least a little while. I swear the can is heavier than what’s inside; I wouldn’t doubt it’s for marketing reasons, IMO.
Heavy for a can that small. Especially when I thought it was aluminum like soda cans.