It was a real disappointment when these cool jugs disappeared from my local Costco. When I asked the guy why they were gone, he told me that I was the only person in the county who liked them. But for all the reasons you cite, they were great, and I hope they come back. (From a partner in domestic dorkiness . . .)

Posted by Julie on 30 June 02008 @ 3pm

I also get my milk in glass jars from the farm and we return them each week and they get sterelized and reused. It was difficult to get the idea of pouring milk from a mason jar the first week, but it went okay after that.

These are great for all the reasons listed above. How about offering both jugs, and price them accordingly due to the extra cost of fabrication and shipping on traditional jugs. How many people will pay a priority for packaging when they can’t afford gas?

Posted by John Athayde on 30 June 02008 @ 4pm

“How about offering both jugs, and price them accordingly due to the extra cost of fabrication and shipping on traditional jugs. How many people will pay a priority for packaging when they can’t afford gas?”

The costs associated with running two parallel large-scale bottling operations, on top of the costs incurred during the traditional and inefficient bottling method, would only make us waste even more resources getting goods to the market.

Posted by Sam on 30 June 02008 @ 5pm

Paint cans. Standard round paint cans with the pry-off lid and that little wire handle that digs into your hand. They’ve been in use, without a single design change for what? Something like 100 years? The design sucks. Paint gets all into the edge where the lid needs to press down into and then you can’t close it all the way. It’s hard to pour from in a tidy manner. The handle is terrible.

Get rid of ‘em. Lets start putting paint in the new milk containers or something.

Posted by Jackson Landers on 1 July 02008 @ 9am

Get rid of ‘em. Lets start putting paint in the new milk containers or something.

Enter Dutch Boy. It’s about time.

Posted by Kaveh on 1 July 02008 @ 10am

Along those same lines is the wine tetra pack. I work at a wine shop, and have talked many customers into trying the “Yellow and Blue” Argentinian Malbec in the tetra box.

A lot of wine consumers turn up their noses at anything not in a bottle, but you’re getting a much better wine for the price (not to mention it’s a liter instead of the standard 750 ml). Highly recommended if you’re looking for bang for your wine buck in the $10 range.

Posted by finnegan on 1 July 02008 @ 12pm

I wish there was some way to recycle Tetra Paks. They are recyclable, in the abstract, but since they’re made out three layers of material (paper, foil, and plastic), they’re tough to tear apart and downcycle. There are a bunch of places in the UK where they can be recycled, but I don’t think that any such service exists in the US. I suspect that using Tetra Paks over bottles is a net positive, if you’re buying wine that’s been shipped from California or Europe, but it sure would be nice if the packaging didn’t end up in a landfill.

Posted by Waldo Jaquith on 1 July 02008 @ 6pm