If you don’t know the term, this is a fridge pack. 2 rows of six cans each. The upper front corner tears off which allows you to grab one can at a time. You can also put the entire box in the fridge hence the name.
Anyway if you look at the Mello Yellow in the linked pic you will see a carry handle that is perforated into the top of the fridge pack. Very handy for picking up and carrying. You will notice that the printing on the two long side is also right side up when the handle side of the box is up. Makes sense to me. The printing on the end you open is also right side up. You will have to take my word for this, I could not find an online picture of the business end that was not already open.
However the other short end the printing is turned 90 degrees. Around here every store that stocks these FP insert them in opening end onto the shelf first. So the non-opening end is facing the consumer. This makes sense as this end has the larger logo than the opening end. As they want the label to face up, now the handle is on the side of the 12 pack not the top.
so instead of just sliding my fingers though the perforations at the handle and picking the FP up with one hand, I have to use two hands to pull the fridge pack forward, and pick it up with both hands.
So why did Coke (and everybody else that sells soda in these packages, do this 90 degree shift for the one label?
If you stack the fridge packs handle side up, the cans are laying on their sides. Stack too many that way and the weight can crush the cans on the bottom of the pile!
OOOO
OOOO
OOOO
OOOO
QOOO
[SUP]^Squished can[/SUP]
Rotate the box 90 degrees and all the cans stand on end which is much stronger.
CMC fnord!
Now that makes sense! :smack:
I knew the answer must be obvious, and I was over thinking it.
Thanks!
Wow! I never thought about that. It is really incredibly irritating that you can’t just pick up your box of sodas and go, though. Is there a reason they can’t just put the handle on the “side”, then? (Would it not be as stable?)
In that case, if you got it home and put it in your fridge handle-side-up, as seems natural, it wouldn’t work the way fridge packs are supposed to work.
The handle can’t go on the can-end side, because there’s no room for your fingers. On the can-side part, you punch in the flap between the rounded cans. It is rather awkward, though, pulling the box off the shelf and fumbling to find the handle.
By the way, reading the website gives one an idea of how much thought goes into developing packaging ideas like this. As the site mentions, Alcoa developed it, even though it’s made of cardboard and not aluminum, but it’s in their interests since it will lead to more sales of soda in cans.
I don’t like the fridge packs. They’re too long to fit in a typical backpack, which means I can’t hop on my bike and zip to the store for a 12-pack any more. The old 3x4 packs fit perfectly.
So…why not put a handle on both sides? Merely a structural integrity problem?
See post #6 and you run the risk of tearing the box in half.
Me neither. We (used to) keep our soda in our trusty 20-year-old under-the-counter dorm-style fridge, and three 3x4 12-packs used to fit perfectly in it. The fridge packs wrecked that, and we don’t like to keep soda in the big fridge because it takes up too much space. So we had to stack individual cans in the little fridge instead of just slapping the box in there. Yuck.
But the question is moot, because we don’t drink soda (much) anymore.