12-07-2008, 06:12 PM
No surprises there. Really nothing to worry about...just a market thing - and not just in the soda business...beer too...
They've had 8-packs....30-packs....16-packs for years and years....all kinds of 'odd' sizes (other than the what-we-are-used-to-standard of 6, 12, 24, etc.).
Usually the distributor will request such sizes to see if they might sell better in their respective market - so they'll do a trial run....if they sell okay, great....they might keep'em and order more and up it from there...or just discontinue selling those sized-packs altogether. Sometimes the producer/brewery will request the distributors to put these out in certain markets too...sort of a force of hand, but not really - just to gauge the market.
Depending on where you are at in the country, you'll find that there are all types of packaging for the same products that are sold 'normally' there, and never even heard of in your neck of the woods.
...fyi, I grew up in an Anheuser-Busch distributorship/wholesaler family - so I've seen and handled this stuff first-hand. There are all sorts of crazy packaging options for canned and bottled products.
They've had 8-packs....30-packs....16-packs for years and years....all kinds of 'odd' sizes (other than the what-we-are-used-to-standard of 6, 12, 24, etc.).
Usually the distributor will request such sizes to see if they might sell better in their respective market - so they'll do a trial run....if they sell okay, great....they might keep'em and order more and up it from there...or just discontinue selling those sized-packs altogether. Sometimes the producer/brewery will request the distributors to put these out in certain markets too...sort of a force of hand, but not really - just to gauge the market.
Depending on where you are at in the country, you'll find that there are all types of packaging for the same products that are sold 'normally' there, and never even heard of in your neck of the woods.
...fyi, I grew up in an Anheuser-Busch distributorship/wholesaler family - so I've seen and handled this stuff first-hand. There are all sorts of crazy packaging options for canned and bottled products.