Why not 100? 120? The recommended dosage is two to four. 2, 3, and 4 do go into 96 evenly. Maybe just to make you feel better when it evenly runs out?
I just looked at my bottle of Rolaids. Sure enough, 96.
Well, you’d hate to be stuck with just one antacid left in the bottle, not enough for even the minimal dose, right?
Sure! That’s why I was asking. 120 would also work in that case. Maybe just standardized at the closest that they could to 100? I wonder how they came historically. Maybe smaller packs that when multiplied would equal out to 96?
Because even when turned upside down, the quantity is still 96, so if the stocker makes a problem the store can’t be sued.
Stranger
I just checked, and it looks to me like antacid bottles come in a variety of sizes, including 60, 72, 120, 200, and, yes, 96.
Under 100, and you’re only guilty of possession. 100 or more and you’ll go down for dealing.
Long time antacid user, and in my personal cabinet I have bottles that range from 20 to 200, I don’t feel like there is a common standard.
My understanding is that the quantity dates back to Mount Sinai, and Moses. Originally it was two tablets, but inflation has just been an unmitigated bitch.
96 was subsequently sanctified a number of centuries later at the Diet of Tums. There was no unanimity in the decision. In fact, some say it left a bitter taste in their mouths, generally chalked up to sour grapes.
Austria is slated to host the next Edict of Gerd in 2032. The quantity is expected to be among the agenda items.
It’s got to be something to do with the mechanism they use to count them, surely
Ha, I just checked my bottle of generic antacid chewables (Meijer supermarket brand), and it comes 100 tablets to the bottle.
I’m making sure I never take 3 at a time, so I can finish the bottle with a full dose.
Or some manufacturers used to have 100 tablets in a bottle, and some genius figured out they could save a few pennies per case if they lowered the tablet count to 96.
I’ve got a bottle of Kirkland Signature Ultra Strength Antacid with 265 tabs. Pretty sure it came in a two-pack.
I think you’ve nailed it! 96 in base-10 is 60 in hexadecimal, which is a superior highly composite number that the Babylonians based their system of counting upon. Ergo, 96 is the ideal number of antacid tablets!
Do those Kirkland people know no bounds of civil exchange? 265 is 53x5. That is such a hideous factor that I can’t even…
Stranger
144 would be gross?
Some years ago in the US there was a bit of a scandal about packaging sizes decreasing. A 12 oz can of corn became an 11 oz can of corn. Mfrs were doing it because they didn’t want to raise prices, so they got their profit by diminishing the quantity. The can or jar or box would look about the same…you needed to read the fine print.
Consumers realized it when their tried-and-true holiday recipes stopped working out well. The old recipes said “Take one can of this, add one box of that…”
A little googling and stumbling inadvertantly revealed to me that the term for it is “shrinkflation.”
That’s why when it gets close, I just take what’s left.
A lot of people get heartburn after eating too many hot dogs. Since hotdogs often come in packages of six or sixteen, and buns come in packages of eight or twelve - they needed a fairly low common multiple. And who wants just 48 antacids?
I’ve always noted medicine frequently coming in blister packs of a dozen. I’ve also often observed a tendency for a standard adult dose to be 2 tablets/pills. Does a dozen offer advantages over 10 ?
Perhaps consumer psychology, or something more practical like a daily dose being two pairs a day and then three days in a row, and that’s nice and neat?
If you want your blister pack to be a nice rectangular array with no empty spaces, it certainly does. 10 has to be arranged as 5x2 (or 10x1, but that’s unwieldy). 12 can be 4x3 or 6x2.
I have no idea.
Regards, NWH, R.Ph.