this post was submitted on 27 Nov 2023
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[–] ILikeBasil@lemmy.world 38 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I think you're on the right track. My guess would be that they have a 3% tolerance (uncertainty, idk) with filling so they fill 600 ml but statistically it might be as much as 618. Putting 618 on the packaging lowers the price per liter a little, compared to 600.

[–] kirklennon@kbin.social 27 points 2 years ago (3 children)

This seems backwards from what a manufacturer would want to do. The concern with variances isn’t really having too much but having too little in the bottle. If you aimed to put exactly 600 in the bottle, you will sometimes end up below 600. It would make more sense to label it 600, aim for 618, and be confident that you’ll always fill it to at least the advertised 600.

[–] xthexder@l.sw0.com 8 points 2 years ago

That all depends on what they're optimizing for. Underfilling is more profitable, but runs the risk of customer complaints and regulators stepping in.

[–] rbhfd@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Exactly. In Europe for example, you see the stylized "e" symbol on packaging very often. It means that a negligible amount are below the advertised volume/weight.

So if the package says 600ml, they might have to set the machine to 610ml to ensure they satisfy this condition.

[–] hitmyspot@aussie.zone 3 points 2 years ago

Isn't that e for net weight. So it doesn't include the container. At least that's what I've been led to believe, so now I'll be googling!

[–] stammi@feddit.de 0 points 2 years ago

Maybe they have one machine set up to fill the bottles. In one market they are required to deliver a safety margin of 3%. So they put 618 in a 600 bottle. In the other market there is no such requirement. So they write 618 on the bottle.

[–] zzzzzz@lemmy.ml 7 points 2 years ago

This is pretty compelling. I vote "solved".