Wal-Mart and Costco have adopted a version of the one-gallon milk jug designed with efficiency in mind. The boxier containers stack better, eliminating the need for milk crates and conserving space in trucks and on refrigerated store shelves:
The company estimates this kind of shipping has cut labor by half and water use by 60 to 70 percent. More gallons fit on a truck and in Sam's Club coolers, and no empty crates need to be picked up, reducing trips to each Sam's Club store to two a week, from five -- a big fuel savings. Also, Sam's Club can now store 224 gallons of milk in its coolers, in the same space that used to hold 80.
The new jugs probably reduce the environmental impact of milk in other important ways. Greater efficiency means less spoilage, which will help to shave down the large carbon footprint associated with dairy farming. Further, the "cold supply chain" is notoriously responsible for leaked refrigerants, which are powerful global warming agents. In addition to reduced energy use, less refrigeration means fewer such pollutants.
Consumers, naturally, hate the new design, ostensibly because of the increased spillage that results from the unfamiliar shape. Shoppers do enjoy the price savings that Wal-Mart is passing along, though, and presumably they'll warm to the updated packaging. Unwilling to take any chances, the retailer has been running in-store classes on how to operate the new jugs.
The redesigned packaging points at a larger fact about the shifting retail landscape. Wal-Mart's dominance was built on top of a global supply chain in an age of cheap oil. Some have suggested that the company simply won't be able to exist in a carbon-constrained world. This has always struck me as not only wrong, but backwards. Wal-Mart's chief advantage has always been their supply chain efficiency, an advantage they could very well extend as certain natural resources become scarcer.
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Comments
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KateNonymous Posted 11:36 pm
30 Jun 2008
In addition to efficiency
I wonder: what are these new jugs made of?
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amazingdrx Posted 1:25 am
01 Jul 2008
Big box warehouse on wheels
Local manufacturing would be a good move too. Big box chains need to make sure their customers have good enough jobs to buy the products they sell. This would save transportation fuel.
Big boxes have enough capital to convert their rolling semi warehouse on wheels to natural gas/biogas too. They should start the trend.
With a mass production/conversion plan for their trucks. They could install natural gas fueling stations at their facilities. And interstate truckstops.
That would be a way to take some of the demand for oil down. Tractors and trains could tap into the mass production efficiency to convert too. Farms can make their own biogas tractor/truck fuel. Offsetting 20 times the cO2 for every biogas powered tractor.
http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin
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Matt G Posted 3:24 am
01 Jul 2008
What jugs are made of
[Kate], from the picture it looks like high-density polyethylene - the same material as other milk jugs.
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Anna Haynes Posted 5:34 am
01 Jul 2008
I wish Yoplait would get the message
With the upside-down-U-shaped bottom, it's like their yogurt's up on stilts. Talk about a waste of plastic...
(but on the plus side, it did snooker the buyer)
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GardenNut Posted 11:37 am
01 Jul 2008
I like the idea
Not only did Costco change the shape of the jug, they also got rid of the cardboard 2-jug carrier. Unfortunately, they replaced it with shrink-wrap.
As far as the shape goes, yes, it's different, but not that different. I just wish the opening wasn't so large. The milk comes out really fast if you're not careful.
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