I’ve never been to Hawaii so this is news to me, but apparently, there is a difference to the soda cans on the tropical island. As it turns out, unlike cans in the rest of the U.S., the ones in Hawaii have extra ridges around the neck as well as a larger circumference on top.
If you’ve ever traveled and noticed this little difference, but never knew why, then you’re finally going to get your answer. According to Sam Denby of Half as Interesting, the reason for this is all because of industry standard.
As Denby explains in his video, the U.S. industry standard for many years until about 1998 was to make cans with the extra ridges and wider circumferences. However, it was then discovered in 1998 that cans could be made with a smaller lid, making them more economical to make.
Denby said, “The Hawaiian lids—known as 206es—were actually the industry standard for a while, …the aluminum in a can’s lid is more than twice as thick and uses more than twice as much material as the rest of the can, making smaller lids a great way to cut your can-ufacturing costs.”
However, the reason that Hawaii never made the change to the can standard was because of distance and expense. Their beverages are locally bottled, so for them to change all the equipment in local factories would’ve been way too costly given that they’re an island.
Denby adds, “…in a market as small and remote as Hawaii, changing all the equipment in the can factory, not to mention the bottling plants to suit the smaller lid, is just too expensive to be worth it. So rather than invest in overhauling the entire archipelago’s can infrastructure, Hawaii just sticks to the 206es.”
So, that is why today the soda cans on the islands look much different from the mainland ones.
Check out the full explanation in the video down below:
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