PDA

View Full Version : A gallon isn't a gallon either



Jamie Buxton
12-03-2011, 5:37 PM
I know that a 2x4 hasn't been 2"x4" for a long time. I've become accustomed to quarter inch plywood that is really 3/16" thick. But I noticed a new one today. I bought a gallon can of General Finishes' White Enduro Poly. The retailer presented it as a gallon. General Finishes' web site refers to it as a gallon. The can dimensions are the standard one gallon size. However, the can is not full, and the label on the can says it is .9 gallon. :mad:

Rick Moyer
12-03-2011, 5:50 PM
And in case you didn't know this: many of the LP exchange places (20lb tanks) don't really have 20lb of LP in them. Says right on the label they are less, I think about 15 or so? So you might want to compare when getting tanks refilled. refilling is probably a better value.

Anthony Whitesell
12-03-2011, 6:02 PM
A pound of coffee can doesn't contain 16 oz (12-13). A half-gallon of ice cream doesn't contain 64 oz (48 or 54). A half agllon of OJ doesn't contain 64 oz (only 59 oz). I've stop shopping by the item cost and shop primarily by the unit price. The bummer is that paper towels come in two sizes (full size and half size aka. select-a-size) but both are priced by the sheet...even though the sheets aren't the same size.

Joe Angrisani
12-03-2011, 6:30 PM
Don't sell yourself short. Quarter-inch plywood is 7/32nds. :)

John Coloccia
12-03-2011, 7:02 PM
In all fairness, I suspect that some of this comes from packing and storage requirements. For example, I wouldn't be surprised if there isn't a very good reason that the finish is only .9 gallons...that there's a good reason for that are space....and that it's simply a matter of convenience and economy to use a standard container instead of having a 1.1 gallon container custom manufactured.

Tim Morton
12-03-2011, 8:10 PM
In all fairness, I suspect that some of this comes from packing and storage requirements. For example, I wouldn't be surprised if there isn't a very good reason that the finish is only .9 gallons...that there's a good reason for that are space....and that it's simply a matter of convenience and economy to use a standard container instead of having a 1.1 gallon container custom manufactured.

yeah thats seems more logical than thinking the manufacturer hopes to make a little more profit...*l*

Bill Cunningham
12-03-2011, 8:18 PM
I know that a 2x4 hasn't been 2"x4" for a long time. I've become accustomed to quarter inch plywood that is really 3/16" thick. But I noticed a new one today. I bought a gallon can of General Finishes' White Enduro Poly. The retailer presented it as a gallon. General Finishes' web site refers to it as a gallon. The can dimensions are the standard one gallon size. However, the can is not full, and the label on the can says it is .9 gallon. :mad:

The production equipment they use is probably metric.. A U.S. Gallon is 3.7854 liters and .9 would be 3.4 liters, much easier to measure, and they get to hose you just a little bit.. Get used to it.. Someday in the future the U.S. will have to change to metric, and your going to get hosed in all kinds of conversions..

Michael Weber
12-03-2011, 8:19 PM
yeah thats seems more logical than thinking the manufacturer hopes to make a little more profit...*l*
lol, sarcasm, the devils on tool.

Brian Elfert
12-03-2011, 8:48 PM
Did the manufacturer actually write that the size is a gallon on the container, or did they write the correct amount on the container? They could be in a whole heap of legal trouble if they represented it as a gallon when it really is not. I guess we all have to watch our finishes to see if we are getting the amount we expect.

Consumers may hate packages getting smaller, but manufacturers are doing nothing wrong as long as they label products with the proper weight and/or quantity. Personally I would rather see package sizes stay the same with price increases as necessary. It probably costs a lot to design new packaging and recalibrate the production line.

Norris Randall
12-03-2011, 9:01 PM
214683How many seconds in a metric minute?

Jamie Buxton
12-03-2011, 9:23 PM
Don't sell yourself short. Quarter-inch plywood is 7/32nds. :)

The stuff I buy is pretty reliably .19" thick. A dado .20" wide always accepts it. I can't quite figure out why "quarter inch" plywood is .06" shy, while "three quarter inch" plywood is .72" thick, or only .03" shy. Wouldn't you think they'd shy us the same amount, or the same percentage, on both?

Jamie Buxton
12-03-2011, 9:27 PM
The production equipment they use is probably metric.. A U.S. Gallon is 3.7854 liters and .9 would be 3.4 liters, much easier to measure, and they get to hose you just a little bit.. Get used to it.. Someday in the future the U.S. will have to change to metric, and your going to get hosed in all kinds of conversions..

It could well be that their equipment is fundamentally metric. But if they're looking for a nice round metric number, 3.5 would be rounder than 3.4. Furthermore, I'll bet the filling gear can fill to any arbitrary weight.

Leo Graywacz
12-03-2011, 9:45 PM
1/4" plywood is 5mm now.

the .9 gallon might be to accommodate pigments so it can be colorized. I know that my white lacquers come short in the can while my clears are always full gallons.

Dave Lehnert
12-03-2011, 10:32 PM
Another possibility. Department of weights and measures may have been on their back end about some cans not containing exactly 1 gal. of product so they just label it .9. to give them a buffer. Not that uncommon. I have seen that done with 2cu. ft bags of mulch. Now 1.8.

The mfg should correct the info on their web site. I am sure the store was not notified of the change and just keeps ordering 1 gal like always.

Greg Peterson
12-03-2011, 11:57 PM
How many seconds in a metric minute?

Time is relative.

Mike Cutler
12-04-2011, 7:39 AM
And in case you didn't know this: many of the LP exchange places (20lb tanks) don't really have 20lb of LP in them. Says right on the label they are less, I think about 15 or so? So you might want to compare when getting tanks refilled. refilling is probably a better value.

The bottle can hold 20lbs, but will be filled to ~ 80% of capacity. At 4.23lbs/gallon, the tank should have just under 4 gallons. Over filling a propane bottle can cause the relief to lift, common, and result in serious injury, also not uncommon.
If you read the labels further they say not to locate the bottle under the grill:eek: Which is where all of the grill makers put the bottle storage.

Anybody else buy paper towels at Target? Where 8 is 6, 12 is 9 and 6 is 4. Then factor in the 1/2 sheets, 2/3 sheets and full sheet size rolls. I didn't know I'd need to do serious math to buy some paper towels.

I suspect that the "gallon" of paint hasn't been a gallon for quite some time, but who would really have known.
I'd like to know why you can't buy paint in 1/2 gallons. It's ridiculous that a gallon generally cost just a little less than twice the price of a qt. from the same manufacturer.

The one that really bugs me is selling a "pint" of beer at the bar when the glass will only hold 14.5 oz. And no, it's not a "US pint", as many bartender have tried to tell me. If it's being sold as a "pint", it should have 16 fluid oz.

Zach England
12-04-2011, 9:17 AM
That's "room for cream".

Curt Harms
12-05-2011, 8:21 AM
convertit.com is a handy lil' web site.
214826214827

Bill Edwards(2)
12-05-2011, 9:36 AM
Time is relative.

No! Time is an illusion as is death.

:confused:

David Helm
12-05-2011, 12:45 PM
And in case you didn't know this: many of the LP exchange places (20lb tanks) don't really have 20lb of LP in them. Says right on the label they are less, I think about 15 or so? So you might want to compare when getting tanks refilled. refilling is probably a better value.

Refilling is definitely a better value, by more than twice!

Mike Davis NC
12-05-2011, 3:01 PM
I used to buy a LOT of paint as in contractor quantities. I noticed over the years paint would get progressively thinner then the price would go up and it would be normal viscosity again. This happened many times over the years.

Now I'm seeing the same thing in food packaging, but rather than adding extra thinner the package is smaller.

It's just one more way to smooth out the UPs and downs of costs and inflation. The manufacturers know you're not stupid but they hope you are not paying too close attention.

Ben Hatcher
12-05-2011, 3:25 PM
They wouldn't do it if it didn't work. The average American consumer looks at the price and not much else.

Jason Roehl
12-05-2011, 7:02 PM
I suspect that the "gallon" of paint hasn't been a gallon for quite some time, but who would really have known.
I'd like to know why you can't buy paint in 1/2 gallons. It's ridiculous that a gallon generally cost just a little less than twice the price of a qt. from the same manufacturer.

Most paint is sold at less than gallon quantities to leave room for several ounces of colorant. The deeper the base, the greater the shortage will be to accept more colorant. There's a reason quarts are expensive. The paint itself is the cheapest part of the equation--there's probably not even a dollar's worth of paint in a quart (in terms of raw material and manufacturing cost. The real cost is in packaging (the can itself and filling it), transporting, sales associates at the retail store and profit. Honestly, even a minimum-wage sales associate will add quite a bit to the cost. First off, they probably cost the retailer $11-12/hr just to pay them minimum wage, then the people who buy the quarts are typically homeowners that need more time with the associate to figure out what they want--that can be 30 minutes easy, which means you've now added $6 or so to the cost of a quart of paint. That's why they cost up to $15 or so.



The one that really bugs me is selling a "pint" of beer at the bar when the glass will only hold 14.5 oz. And no, it's not a "US pint", as many bartender have tried to tell me. If it's being sold as a "pint", it should have 16 fluid oz.

Beer should be sold in pints period, whether from the tap or in bottles. Canned beer (single serving, not kegs) should also be banned...if you don't think enough of your beer to put it in a bottle, perhaps you shouldn't be selling it.

Anthony Whitesell
12-05-2011, 7:56 PM
I have several gallons of paint downstairs. From the national brand they are all marked 1 U.S. Gallon. The private label primer gallons are marked 0.9 U.S. Gallon. I noticed the same thing as the OP. Even though there is some room in the 1.0 gallon, the extra space provide by the 0.9 gallon was nice. I know I paid for it though.