Wal-Mart’s New Milk Jug Cuts Costs, Customers Cry Over Spilt Milk

July 1, 2008

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Some customers are crying over what Wal-Mart excitedly describes as “a square shaped gallon that represents a packaging change consistent with the transformation of milk from pitchers to glass bottles in the late 1800’s and then cardboard cartons to plastic gallons in the early 1950’s,” The New York Times reports.

Wal-Mart says the new milk jugs require no crates or racks for shipping and storage (which saves on water to clean the racks and crates), and are self-stacking because the spout is flatter and each gallon can rest on another during transport, as well as while on display.

Trucks can also accommodate 4,704 more gallons per truck or nine percent of their capacity. The jugs are cheaper to ship and better for the environment. The milk is fresher when it arrives in stores, and it costs less. Sam’s Club says it is saving 10 to 20 cents a gallon.

“I hate it,” cafe owner Lisa DeHoff told The New York Times. “It spills everywhere,” said homemaker Amy Wise. “It’s very hard for kids to pour,” said Lee Morris.

Wal-Mart announced plans to measure its 60,000 worldwide suppliers on their ability to develop packaging and conserve natural resources back in 2006. The company said the project could save 667,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere. But some said savings from shipping costs and packaging materials appeared to be going toward giving better prices to Wal-Mart and its customers.

In Canada, 40 percent of milk is delivered in bags.

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Reader Comments

i think the new milk jugs are the biggest mistake ever!! if they are full they spill and if they are half empty they spill. i will never buy this new milk jug again. i lost at least one full glass per jug!!

dee morris | July 2nd, 2008

perhaps every family needs a spout that they can screw on while they are using the gallon and then re-use it each time. this would help, right? with the amount of space it saves, i think we should do what we can to make it work!!

emily | July 2nd, 2008

Obviously they tested it and somehow it works. I imagine that right now is the adaptation period. If people never change their habits due to some problems, we’ll never be able to change our habits to make the world a better place. I say give it a chance. I mean, the same argument was used by GM when they killed their EV-1 electric vehicle in the 90s – people won’t be able to figure out how to charge it, even though from testing it proved to be a simple learning curve.
I just want to say that in Europe people are trusted a lot more to figure stuff out, and they do.
..We can put people on the moon and do incredible things with out bodies, surely we can learn how to pour milk differently..

MetrikMinute | July 4th, 2008

Are you more concerned with your inability to pour milk or their future living in a trash heap…seriously, lets prioritize a little. Put your milk in a seperate reusable “kid friendly” pitcher or something…I’m super sick of whiny Americans crying because they are “inconvenienced” to help the environment. Suck it up.

Mandy | July 15th, 2008