# clock on the bottom of my cooler

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clock-on-the-bottom-of-my-cooler/687924>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 7, 2014, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clock-on-the-bottom-of-my-cooler/687924 "2014-05-07T23:48:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![pimpdoubt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@pimpdoubt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pimpdoubt)\
**Post date:** [May 7, 2014, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clock-on-the-bottom-of-my-cooler/687924/1 "2014-05-07T23:48:48Z")

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I have 3 ice chests on my front porch. Two of them have a clock face on the bottom and one has what looks like a clock face but with thw numbers 4 10 7 10 around it where 12 3 6 and 9 should be… what is the deal?

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**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\
**Post date:** [May 7, 2014, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clock-on-the-bottom-of-my-cooler/687924/2 "2014-05-07T23:54:13Z")

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[That indicates what date the plastic was molded.](http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/date-inserts-date-indicator-date-code_1571499045.html)

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**Author:** ![randompattern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@randompattern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randompattern)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2014, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clock-on-the-bottom-of-my-cooler/687924/3 "2014-05-08T00:42:55Z")

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They could also be marking what shift they were produced from.

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**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2014, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clock-on-the-bottom-of-my-cooler/687924/4 "2014-05-08T03:13:54Z")

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It may refer to mould date and date of manufacture.

Made in July 2010 from a mould first put into use in April 2010.

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**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2014, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clock-on-the-bottom-of-my-cooler/687924/5 "2014-05-08T13:35:58Z")

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And, since no one has stated it explicitly, it’s a quality control thing, like finding a slip of paper in your package of new boxers saying “Inspected by #12.” If a bunch of coolers start showing defects and being returned to the manufacturer, they can use those date and/or shift indicators to tell them which crew/equipment was responsible for the defects.