# Could you once buy a quart or so of soda in a wax carton from takeout? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 6, 2015, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-once-buy-a-quart-or-so-of-soda-in-a-wax-carton-from-takeout/714391 "2015-03-06T22:54:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Elemenopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5e925/32.png) [@Elemenopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elemenopy)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2015, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-once-buy-a-quart-or-so-of-soda-in-a-wax-carton-from-takeout/714391/1 "2015-03-06T22:54:37Z")
Ok, talk about your mundane, pointless questions. But I seem to remember, back in the early 80s, my folks picking up pizza or Chinese food and also soda (maybe RC in particular) in an odd wax paper or maybe styrofoam carton that looked something like a [milk carton](http://www.vectorstock.com/royalty-free-vector/milk-carton-vector-620651). It was in a quantity meant to be shared, like a 2 liter. Does anyone else remember this? My husband thinks I’m nuts, and my mom never remembers the same things I do. 😃 Bonus points if you can find a picture. I’ve looked on eBay and a few other places, but I just keep getting the cardboard containers for returnable bottles. ☹ I think the root beer stands would let you refill little glass growlers, but that’s not exactly what I’m thinking of. If it helps, this would have been in either Texas or Indiana. Thanks in advance if I can’t reply right away. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2015, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-once-buy-a-quart-or-so-of-soda-in-a-wax-carton-from-takeout/714391/2 "2015-03-06T23:12:36Z")
A&W was certainly one that did that. Many such containers were emptied in my youth. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2015, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-once-buy-a-quart-or-so-of-soda-in-a-wax-carton-from-takeout/714391/3 "2015-03-06T23:18:41Z")
Yep. A & W did this, and so did a few other local drive-ins. ---
**Author:** ![No\_umlaut\_for\_U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea5d25/32.png) [@No\_umlaut\_for\_U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_umlaut_for_U)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2015, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-once-buy-a-quart-or-so-of-soda-in-a-wax-carton-from-takeout/714391/4 "2015-03-06T23:40:41Z")
A&W and Dog’n’Suds. Root beer isn’t quite as carbonated and isn’t as acidic. I would have a hard time believing Coke, Pepsi, or Dr Pepper could have been sold this way. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2015, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-once-buy-a-quart-or-so-of-soda-in-a-wax-carton-from-takeout/714391/5 "2015-03-06T23:46:25Z")
I remember them in the early 80s. You could get them delivered with Dominos. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-once-buy-a-quart-or-so-of-soda-in-a-wax-carton-from-takeout/714391/6 "2015-03-07T00:09:27Z")
Sixthing the fact that A&W used to do this all the time. I drank more than a few of them in my time. If you go back far enough, they served it in [truncated cones](http://bevhavlik.powweb.com/eBay/ConeRootBeer.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-once-buy-a-quart-or-so-of-soda-in-a-wax-carton-from-takeout/714391/7 "2015-03-07T00:18:39Z")
A&W is the only place I ever remember doing it when I was a kid. ---
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-once-buy-a-quart-or-so-of-soda-in-a-wax-carton-from-takeout/714391/8 "2015-03-07T00:21:43Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > A&W was certainly one that did that. Many such containers were emptied in my youth. Yup, I remember that. It had that little plastic “clamp”, To hold the top tightly closed. ---
**Author:** ![D18](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@D18](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D18)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-once-buy-a-quart-or-so-of-soda-in-a-wax-carton-from-takeout/714391/9 "2015-03-07T00:35:11Z")
Did anyone mention A&W yet? ---
**Author:** ![Elemenopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5e925/32.png) [@Elemenopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elemenopy)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-once-buy-a-quart-or-so-of-soda-in-a-wax-carton-from-takeout/714391/10 "2015-03-07T01:04:37Z")
Thank you! I believe local chains used to do this, but it may have been Domino’s/A&W as well. And I did see those cone things while searching, but they aren’t familiar to me. ---
**Author:** ![Sarabellum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarabellum/32/3492_2.png) [@Sarabellum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarabellum)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-once-buy-a-quart-or-so-of-soda-in-a-wax-carton-from-takeout/714391/11 "2015-03-07T02:02:09Z")
Interesting… I do not remember this at all. And we ordered from Domino’s from time to time when I was a wee kidlet in the early 80s. Hard to imagine that this was a viable storage method for carbonated drinks! When did this format die out permanently? And did they ever package other soda like Coke, Pepsi this way? Beer? ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-once-buy-a-quart-or-so-of-soda-in-a-wax-carton-from-takeout/714391/12 "2015-03-07T02:09:23Z")
Besides those mentioned some of the K-mart-ish hot dog and pretzel counters did as well. ---
**Author:** ![Grotonian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c2a13f/32.png) [@Grotonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grotonian)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-once-buy-a-quart-or-so-of-soda-in-a-wax-carton-from-takeout/714391/13 "2015-03-07T03:32:44Z")
Little Caesars in Michigan sold pop this way in 1990. ---
**Author:** ![excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e8c25b/32.png) [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/excavating_for_a_mind)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-once-buy-a-quart-or-so-of-soda-in-a-wax-carton-from-takeout/714391/14 "2015-03-07T03:36:35Z")
I don’t know anything about cartons of soft drinks in waxed cardboard cartons in the 1980’s, but I know you could buy beer is 1/2 gallon cartons in Tennessee at “to go” package stores in the 1970’s. Kind of like a way to get draft beer economy at a to go place. They weren’t very popular (not nearly as popular as growlers are today), but I did sell a few… ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-once-buy-a-quart-or-so-of-soda-in-a-wax-carton-from-takeout/714391/15 "2015-03-07T03:37:40Z")
> [@Sarabellum1976](#): > > Hard to imagine that this was a viable storage method for carbonated drinks! It wasn’t a _storage method_. It was a way to get an amount of bulk soda home with your burgers. Nobody expected the stuff to remain fizzy past a couple of hours. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-once-buy-a-quart-or-so-of-soda-in-a-wax-carton-from-takeout/714391/16 "2015-03-07T03:45:47Z")
They looked more or less like the vessel on the left. [http://cdn.blisstree.com/files/2012/05/huge-coke-japan-640x480.jpg](http://cdn.blisstree.com/files/2012/05/huge-coke-japan-640x480.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Grotonian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c2a13f/32.png) [@Grotonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grotonian)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-once-buy-a-quart-or-so-of-soda-in-a-wax-carton-from-takeout/714391/17 "2015-03-07T06:31:17Z")
> [@bump](#): > > They looked more or less like the vessel on the left. > > [http://cdn.blisstree.com/files/2012/05/huge-coke-japan-640x480.jpg](http://cdn.blisstree.com/files/2012/05/huge-coke-japan-640x480.jpg) Actually, they looked _exactly_ like the vessel on the left. And they were harder than fuck to fold and clip. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-once-buy-a-quart-or-so-of-soda-in-a-wax-carton-from-takeout/714391/18 "2015-03-07T06:41:47Z")
> [@bump](#): > > They looked more or less like the vessel on the left. > > [http://cdn.blisstree.com/files/2012/05/huge-coke-japan-640x480.jpg](http://cdn.blisstree.com/files/2012/05/huge-coke-japan-640x480.jpg) > [@Grotonian](#): > > Actually, they looked _exactly_ like the vessel on the left. And they were harder than fuck to fold and clip. Oh, _those_ things! ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-once-buy-a-quart-or-so-of-soda-in-a-wax-carton-from-takeout/714391/19 "2015-03-07T06:55:36Z")
We used to get these all the time, for several years, our Friday night dinner was the pizza,wings and a sub special from a local place, and it came with one of those containers of Pepsi. They actually had a hole in the top that you could punch out with your thumb and slip in a straw. It was handy if you had someone who you were okay sharing a straw with. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-once-buy-a-quart-or-so-of-soda-in-a-wax-carton-from-takeout/714391/20 "2015-03-07T12:48:07Z")
I remember when I was a kid and there was an A&W near where I lived. I don’t recall the product in question because I was probably about 5 or 6 at the time. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-once-buy-a-quart-or-so-of-soda-in-a-wax-carton-from-takeout/714391.md?page=2)