Why is milk sold in square boxes and coke sold in round bottles?

As for the signboard of this book, the book explains that square containers can save shelf space more than round containers. One of the reasons why manufacturers of soft drinks such as cola insist on using round containers is that most soft drinks are drunk directly from the containers, so the extra storage cost brought by round containers is offset because they need to be weighed by hand.

But milk is not. The space saved in the case of milk is obviously more cost-effective than in the case of soft drinks. Soft drinks in supermarkets are mostly placed on open shelves, which are cheap and usually have no operating costs; However, milk needs to be specially packed in the freezer, which is expensive and has high operating costs. The storage space of the freezer is very valuable, which improves the income of square container milk.

So even if most people drink milk directly from the box, they are still unlikely to be sold in round containers.

The principle of cost-effectiveness is used to explain the above phenomenon, that is, you should only do it when the extra benefits brought by the action outweigh the extra costs. This is one of the standards, and the other is the opportunity cost principle: the opportunity cost of engaging in an activity refers to the value of other things you give up in order to engage in this activity.

Economics holds that people are rational, and people can weigh their actions according to their own interests. In fact, everything in daily life contains the truth of economics. This book fully integrates economics into life, makes me feel that economics is so practical, and breaks people's understanding that economics is just boring theories and charts; It taught me to look at life from the perspective of economics and skillfully apply the principles of economics in different environments.

Be a rational person, be a good thinker and turn knowledge into wisdom.