We were on a US domestic flight recently, and my wife was served a Sprite that tasted diet, despite not being diet. Upon closer examination it was bottled in Great Britain, and their Sprite recipe has sugar and aspartame (no HFCS). The can was also slightly shorter than normal and only 330ml instead of 354.8ml (12oz). I realize this is not very interesting, but when you're stuck on a plane, it doesn't take much to interest you. I studied the can thoroughly before the trash cart came around.
Makes sense, food regulations are much stricter in the EU and GB, so they probably couldn't use some of the artificial sweeteners or not as much sugar as in the American recipe and 330ml is the standard size in the metric world, probably because 12oz converts to such an awkward number.
this is not really a thing anymore, but when i was a kid here in mexico, coke will taste diferent from one city to another due to the diference on the water quality on each place.
@@FernandoGonzalez-hu3id "Mexican Coke" is pretty well known here in Texas. They use cane sugar instead of corn syrup, and it comes in tall glass bottles. To me it tastes the same, but the bottles are cool.
Sprite used to taste sweeter in the UK but since the introduction of our high sugar tax Coke cut a lot of the sugar out of all their main products other than full sugar Coca Cola I don’t drink Fanta anymore because of it but that’s not necessarily a bad thing
@@SalisburySnake i actually think we switch to corn syrup at some point in the last decade, i remember there being a big thing on the news about the sugar cane industry wanting the goverment to stop this but they did not because of NAFTA.
I don't think that actually is the answer. Rather that since they own the whole Hawaiian market, with no competitors, there is no reason to invest in cost reduction, as they sell all their cans anyway. Not like Pepsi all of a sudden will start buying cans from anyone else, cause there is no one else.
I used to work for Ball Corp (yes the one that owns the plant)as a Metal R/D Engineering (literally doing the R/D to make cans lighter and launch the new Ball Aluminum Cup) and know all about this, and Sam got it exactly right. The technical term for the "neck" of the Hawaiian can is called a "Quad Neck". It necks the can in 4 large operations making that distinct look from the 70's, versus the modern 211 cans with 202 ends have 14-20 necking operations making a smooth neck.
Hawaii felt like it’s own country when growing up there. The fast food menus are unique, 7 eleven sells actual food there that is good and worth buying, and even my poor public school had hand made meals every day.
@@nunyabiznes33 depends on the area I guess. In Pahoa on the big island... "Wanna scrap haole?" If you cut.someone off in traffic, your race will.come.up. My friends with Italian kids did a lot better. Your stuff gets stolen A LOT if youre white too. They have a point. A lot of asshole folk over there. Starting with Cpt.cook, then missionaries, now millionaires and.karens. We moved back to.mainland in 2020.
Fun fact: Ball actually doesn't make Ball jars anymore. They sold off that part of their company years ago and license the Ball name to use on the jars. I think it's Jarden that actually makes them now.
Jarden didn't even have any involvement in Ball jars. Ball sold that division before they morphed into Jarden (which is now part of Newfield-Rubbermaid). I don't know whether Newfield-Rubbermaid owns the Ball name, whether the Ball family still owns it or if the name trademark was sold to whomever they sold the jar division to. I actually went to university with one of the Ball family's daughters but that was well before Jarden came to be.
@@mharris5047 Newell Rubbermaid still is the maker of Ball/Kerr canning jars. I know I just bought some this fall that had a refund that came from Newell Rubbermaid.
Kinda like how, with few exceptions (Chicago being one), Donald Trump doesn't literally hire people to build buildings that he can put his name on. Other people build buildings and he just licenses his name to them because they think it will help their business to have his name on it, but he doesn't actually RUN anything there. He just gets a check every month or every year for doing nothing. He's basically the corporate office and they're franchisees.
Good to know. I once temped for a few weeks in the office of the Ball glass factory in El Monte, California. The employees seemed proud to work for Ball, and of course the jars for preserves are a big part of Americana. Sorry there’s no longer direct involvement.
If you're in that much of a rush and time is so precious to you, why are you wasting any of it looking TH-cam video? There is nothing more hypocritical and stupid then the people who complain about the time they choose to waste on TH-cam.
These might only be found in Hawaii within the US, but they are found in many other countries and places. Here in Okinawa, Japan, they are somewhat common, for example.
Meanwhile I imagine Singapore might have the best of both worlds if the cans of drinks it consumes were made in neighbouring Malaysia as it has a significantly lower cost of living/operation while also being near to Singapore
Sometime mid-pandemic, I picked up some food from a local cafe and a soda which had a 206 cap. I live in Alaska, so I can only assume that supply chain issues (plus maybe reduced demand in Hawaii from tourism) resulted in us getting some 206s. We get 202s normally.
Fun fact about the Ball Corporation, they have an aerospace division which does some cutting edge work. For example they provided the main mirror assembly of the James Webb Space Telescope (you know, like arguably one of the most important parts of a multi billion dollar telescope).
I mean it probably takes some serious engineering talent to optimize canning that far. I wonder if aerospace just made sense since they already had the talent and then it just bloomed from there
In the mid-80's I worked for MCI Telecommunications. One piece of test equipment we carried around were Rubidium Standards; essentially little atomic clocks for ultra precise timing requirements. They were manufactured by who? (drum roll...) a division of Ball!!!
Until this video I had only known them for their aerospace work. An interesting niche player ("boutique" might be more appropriate) going back to at least the 1960's. Mostly one-off specialized space equipment, vs say a whole constellation of communications satellites.
Japan actually makes a lot of cans with that same shape, I remember buying a can of pocari at an import shop and it had the same can shape. It was also noticably thicker and I suspect it was made out of steel but I never tested it so I don't know.
My great uncle, who was an engineer, worked for the company contracted by Coors in the 70s. He was on the team that invented the push tab style cans we have now.
I've had 206 cans containing imported coconut water (from Thailand I believe). Or at least, that is what I now believe they were. They had the weird neck thing. But they were really much heavier, not just the lid, everything. I found it odd that a non-carbonated drink was in such an overbuilt can.
I had a can of UCC coffee also using this can, and it was made of flipping steel. Felt like it could support my weight no problem. Same thing might apply to that coconut water, it might have been steel, not Aluminum. There might be a contamination issue with both of these drinks, which is why steel is used but I have no evidence for this. Just a hunch.
@@ieuanhunt552 Wanna guess why non-carbonated drinks are in the exact same cans as carbonated drinks? Because they shoot a bit of liquid nitrogen inside, right before they put the lid on. There's a massive difference between something being in a can, and something being canned. The later involves basically cooking whatever is inside, while it's in the can. So they can't put any nitrogen in. Plus, the can has to be strong to survive the expansion of the food from the heat. It would take a lot of aluminum to do that.
If by "anywhere else in the world" you mean America (as so many Americans often do) then yes, you're correct. If you've been to anyway in Asia though, you'll likely have seen this can shape before. I've been to Vietnam and saw these cans there, and I get beverages from Japan and Taiwan too where these cans are also used. So it's by no means "only used in Hawaii". And what you identify as the Ball Corp Container factory is the Coca-Cola bottling plant near the airport. The Ball Corp factory is 13 miles west on Komohana St in Kapolei (south-west end of Oahu...coincidently 500 yds away from the Coca-Cola Syrup Plant). What you identify as the Coca-Cola Bottling plant is the Pepsi Bottling plant (which is only 2 miles north of the Coca-Cola plant).
I moved to the mainland many years back, and I sometimes thought I was noticing a minute difference. I figured I was either imagining it or it was just shrinkflation in action.
Yup, can confirm here in NY that Pepsi dominates. PepsiCo headquarters is in Purchase, Westchester County. There's an iconic vintage Pepsi-Cola sign right on the Long Island City waterfront and the reason why that is because Pepsi-Cola once had a bottling plant in Long Island City and the sign used to be on top of it. The facility has since closed and Pepsi moved its Queens operations to College Point, but the sign has remained and was relocated to Gantry Plaza State Park where it was designated a NYC landmark in 2016. I will say though that the point you have for Brooklyn at 2:31 should be on the neighborhood of Canarsie since that's where their Brooklyn bottling plant actually is.
3:48 "In a market as small and remote as Hawaii's, changing all the equipment in the can factory, not to mention the bottling plants to suit the *larger* lid" "larger" should be "smaller"
Thanks! I lived in Hawai'i for 10 years, and I never noticed anything different about aluminum cans there. Living there definitely made me aware that shipping is priced by weight more than volume, though. Something as basic as canned soup is a fortune on the Islands compared to the Mainland.
What I love about our cans, is that you can fit one of those little plastic lids that you get your to go dressings from directly on top of it; fits perfectly. Also keeps it from getting stale or flat.
Or... you could go and buy a 4-pack of whatever craft beer, cider or seltzer that are held together by a "paktech can carrier" cut one off and put some press n seal inside and slap it on.. atleast it's made for a can and won't fall off 🤷♂️
At 3:49, you described how it would not be profitable to switch to the larger lids, when what you meant is that it wouldn’t be profitable to switch to the smaller* lids.
I suspect that Ball gets to use a lot of their old machinery and spare parts from their old factories elsewhere (before the switch) in Hawaii, so that helps too.
Here’s another fun fact about Hawaii vs Mainland things: the McDonald’s Apple pie is still deep fried in Hawaii while it’s now baked in the mainland! (I’m born and raised in Hawaii)
I miss those deep fried pies. Next time I’m in Hawai’i I’ll have to go to McDonalds for one. I wish they still had the cherry pies. Sure they burned my tongue most the time, but they were still sweet, flaky, and delicious.
I totally forgot they used to be deep fried and could burn your tongue. When did they switch to baked? 20 years ago? P.S. it was 1992, so 30+ years ago.
The companies that buy their cans would probably pay them to use the same size. The drink companies have to put the lids on after putting the drink in. That would require them buying all new equipment.
Those parts have likely worn out and been replaced multiple times already. Replacing parts for wear and/or accidental breakage is going to happen a few at a time. That means they have to replace them with the same design, or the new parts will be incompatible with the rest of their process (and the processes of their partner businesses). The cost and complexity of redoing a major, interdependent process like this is that you have to do it all at once.
I live in Hawaii and I literally have a Made in Hawaii Pepsi can, a Hawaiian Sun and a regular Mountain Dew can on my desk right now... I was wondering why they were different
This is actually surprising, as I suspected (wrongly) it was due to shipping the cans and the shipment needing more stable stacking, with the larger lids providing that more stable foundation for stacking.
As someone who previously worked in the beer industry and visited Hawaii a few times, thank you for this. I always wondered why. Those 206 cans stack so much better than the 202s.
I collect vintage and international soda cans and I always thought it was odd that hawaiian cans looked almost exactly the same as some cans from the 80s. Now it makes a lot more sense.
@@e.moonbound2420 Well any of the old cans I've gotten have already been drunk but I do always get cans if I go to other countries and I do drink those but they are usually Coke cans. Now it didn't come out of a can but I had buffalo wing flavored soda once and I have to say its the weirdest beverage I've had before.
I'm guessing this is probably why Puerto Rican soda cans are also different compared to those in the states as well, except they're probably easier on the aluminum considering that the lids are smaller than those of Hawaii
That’s interesting. I was born and raised in Hawaii up until I moved to NJ. And I’ve always thought the “Hawaiian” can design would be the same even on the mainland. I guess I’ve never really noticed the difference lol
@@Brando56894 If Hawaii isn't the most expensive place to live in the US, it's definitely in competition with NYC and large California cities. Sometimes you just have to move somewhere cheaper in order to live
2:35 If i was the CEO of Coca Cola right now, i would be advertising "Proudly Made with Capilano Reservoir Water" here in BC. Had no idea bottling plants had to be close to their target destination. You can do so much advertising with that bro. We here in Vancouver love our water quality, and love our first nations history. The advertising oppurtunity would be insane considering they basically dont have to change anything lol
The syrup that is used in the bottling process contains ingredients engineered to remove any flavoring or mineral taste from locally sourced water. Coca Cola needs to taste the same in NYC, Detroit, Los Angeles and in BC. Advertising that it is bottled using local water would be the opposite of the goal.
I live in Hawaii, and I thought it was odd that A&W had a smaller top (202 lid). Now from this video, I can deduce that it probably means it was shipped here from the Mainland. Also I did notice that all our Pepsi cans say "Made in Hawaii."
In my country up until about 20 years ago, the soda cans also had those rolled ridges at the top, but that was because the cans were made from steel. The moment they switched to aluminium it became smooth.
Fun fact: The Ball Corporation (through its subsidiary Ball Aerospace) also develops spacecraft for NASA and others. That is, until literally a week ago when Ball sold off its aerospace company to BAE.
I never knew that soda is packed locally wherever it is bought. But it makes sense cause as you said, why should you have to spend money transporting water instead of just the syrup?
You don't even transport the syrup. Syrup is just water, sugar and flavorings. You transport the flavorings, and let the local plant do the rest. In Canada soda is made with sugar. In the US, sugar is too expensive, so high-fructose corn syrup is used instead. That's why Canadian Coke tastes different than American Coke, even though the core flavoring, made in Atlanta, is identical.
You sometimes find drinks in asian stores in the UK in these cans. I'm assuming they're actually Hawaiian, I know there's a massive japanese influence so I can see "asian" drinks actually being manufactured in Hawaii.
@@calum5975 It was explained in the video: shipping cans long distances is expensive. Making a billion cans in Hawaii just to ship them to Japan to be filled doesn't make sense. Much more likely that Japan also has its own old machines and for whatever reason hasn't optimised the design for price efficiency. This is probably because Japan is a bit obsessive about food packaging.
Okay, allow to explain what the Epcot Golf Ball actually is: It's Spaceship Earth and it's not a golf ball but a GEODESIC SPHERE. And inside this geodesic sphere is a whole omnimover (a special system created by Disney's Imagineers) ride with a time machine experience learning the history of communication as you ascend. Originally the ride wasn't supposed to be inside the sphere completely as an early concept model from 1978 showed it would've had a bigger building attached to it for the ride and only enter the sphere briefly but they made all inside because...why not? That wand next to it in the pic at 0:46 was added for the Millennium Celebration but wasn't removed until 2007...good riddance.
Hey Sam, good job on this!! Even if a few details were a bit off, you clearly put in a lot of effort to understand a complicated topic, and I appreciate you.
Enjoying the content so I can tell my spouse about it and she gives me the look of "why do I care" Which is where I tell her, now you have a little bit of trivia to talk about when you're sitting there with awkward silence
If I remember right I learned this before... The Hawaiian cans use a different die to stamp the cans since the product is made locally. Time to see if I remember right.
In this video you implied that the ball corporation makes the glass jars, but that product line was given to a subsidiary that spun off into its own company in the 90's, so technically the ball corporation does not make glass jars. Besides that it was a great video!
Making the smaller top also means that, like apple and their rounded corners on their phones, the size is patented and selling stuff made to fit that size has to be negotiated with a possibility of having to pay royalties. So, if you wonder why there are "can toppers" made to store left over product such as partial cans of cat food, but don't have the size to fit a soda can to keep the fizz in, that is so that you have to finish the whole can.
If by "anywhere else in the world" you mean america (as so many amercans often do) then yes you're correct If you've been to anyway in Asia though you'll likely have seen this can shape before. Ive seen it used on beverages from japan, vietnam and taiwan numerous times so its by no means "only used in hawaii"
Until recently, cans that look similar to the 206s were used in Singapore by the Jia Jia company (selling Asian herbal tea). They've made the switch to "normal" cans recently
We had been getting them in Alaska, at least for Coca-cola products, but that was probably as a result of that factory taking up some slack when supply lines were struggling during Covid and Hawaii likely not having their previous demand without tourists but that is all speculation.
I had no idea about this! I love enjoying a Hawaiian Sun here in CA when a restaurant offered it. I thought the slightly different can was just a style choice. I know know the real reason why they are different!
I want to let you know that Amazons AMM77X made it this year. Any better way to start a global change? Don't get me wrong I know they are not like altruists or something but they keep doing the right thing to improve the situation, power the ecomonmy and so much more. We need players like them and we can always jump in the train at good spots such as this one
Ball doesn’t make home canning mason jars, and hasn’t done so since 1993. They spun that division off to another company, which has been acquired since. They now just license their name to Newell Brands, who make Ball, Bernardin, Kerr, and Golden Harvest jars.
Today's fact: The world's tallest bridge is the Millau Viaduct in France, which stands at a height of over 1,000 feet, is supported by beams and is suspended by cables.
Hawaii also has a pretty effective aluminum recovery system. High costs make “recycling” more attractive, add smaller living quarters and cans are easier to compact before needing to turn them in. Also the high homeless population usually turns in any can the find. Not sure how much actual recycling/reuse happens on island. Just worked the collection side for a while.
I was a truck driver and used to occasionally pick up some beer from budweiser. I would then drive 48,000 lbs of beer nearly 600 miles to its distribution facility.
I found this interesting as living in Alaska someone else must be still making these "Hawaii" cans elsewhere as I have been enjoying product in these cans, and I do get an IPA for my local brewery, thanks! The 49th and 50th States are always off the map and in their own Alaska/Hawaii Timezone.
I vaguely remember when they changed the cans. I remember when I first bought sodas with the new smaller tops, and thought they looked odd. I liked the bigger lids better.
We were on a US domestic flight recently, and my wife was served a Sprite that tasted diet, despite not being diet. Upon closer examination it was bottled in Great Britain, and their Sprite recipe has sugar and aspartame (no HFCS). The can was also slightly shorter than normal and only 330ml instead of 354.8ml (12oz). I realize this is not very interesting, but when you're stuck on a plane, it doesn't take much to interest you. I studied the can thoroughly before the trash cart came around.
Makes sense, food regulations are much stricter in the EU and GB, so they probably couldn't use some of the artificial sweeteners or not as much sugar as in the American recipe and 330ml is the standard size in the metric world, probably because 12oz converts to such an awkward number.
this is not really a thing anymore, but when i was a kid here in mexico, coke will taste diferent from one city to another due to the diference on the water quality on each place.
@@FernandoGonzalez-hu3id "Mexican Coke" is pretty well known here in Texas. They use cane sugar instead of corn syrup, and it comes in tall glass bottles. To me it tastes the same, but the bottles are cool.
Sprite used to taste sweeter in the UK but since the introduction of our high sugar tax Coke cut a lot of the sugar out of all their main products other than full sugar Coca Cola
I don’t drink Fanta anymore because of it but that’s not necessarily a bad thing
@@SalisburySnake i actually think we switch to corn syrup at some point in the last decade, i remember there being a big thing on the news about the sugar cane industry wanting the goverment to stop this but they did not because of NAFTA.
I love how HAI can make an answer as simple as ”retooling a factory is too expensive” into a 5 minute video.
Retooling THAT factory is too expensive
Thank you. I was looking for the answer in the comments.
I don't think that actually is the answer. Rather that since they own the whole Hawaiian market, with no competitors, there is no reason to invest in cost reduction, as they sell all their cans anyway. Not like Pepsi all of a sudden will start buying cans from anyone else, cause there is no one else.
But! All the hilarious jokes! You have a beer, but you don't have a beer? SO. FUNNY. I CAN'T BREATHE
It really puts the half in interesting.
I used to work for Ball Corp (yes the one that owns the plant)as a Metal R/D Engineering (literally doing the R/D to make cans lighter and launch the new Ball Aluminum Cup) and know all about this, and Sam got it exactly right. The technical term for the "neck" of the Hawaiian can is called a "Quad Neck". It necks the can in 4 large operations making that distinct look from the 70's, versus the modern 211 cans with 202 ends have 14-20 necking operations making a smooth neck.
Speaking of getting it exactly right: ... Simon?
@@lonestarr1490 Wow. Look at that F*** up. Sam! Corrected!
I fucking love those cups and wish they were just a little cheaper.
When I was in high school we didn't call it "necking operations".
Pretty cool. Is there a guy at Ball who gets to go on work trips to Hawaii?
Hawaii felt like it’s own country when growing up there. The fast food menus are unique, 7 eleven sells actual food there that is good and worth buying, and even my poor public school had hand made meals every day.
Well it was hehe.
It's rough if you're a blond curly haired kid in school.
@@sunnylilme I heard they dislike whites. So it's true huh?
@@nunyabiznes33 depends on the area I guess. In Pahoa on the big island... "Wanna scrap haole?" If you cut.someone off in traffic, your race will.come.up. My friends with Italian kids did a lot better. Your stuff gets stolen A LOT if youre white too. They have a point. A lot of asshole folk over there. Starting with Cpt.cook, then missionaries, now millionaires and.karens. We moved back to.mainland in 2020.
@@sunnylilme well, good for you I guess. If it wasn't for the strategic location America probably would have let Hawaii and Puerto Rico go.
The Engineering Guy video on this topic is the single most educational video ever released on TH-cam. I'm not even exaggerating. It's fantastic.
Ludwig loves that guy
It is pretty old but still the most amazing content on youtube for sure!
Still one of my favorites.
It really is a very good video.
I’ve been watching that video like once a year since I started college. It’s an amazing video.
The actual link to The Engineer Guy video th-cam.com/video/hUhisi2FBuw/w-d-xo.html
Fun fact: Ball actually doesn't make Ball jars anymore. They sold off that part of their company years ago and license the Ball name to use on the jars. I think it's Jarden that actually makes them now.
Interesting. I recall the jars from my childhood, my grandmother canned everything under the sun.
Jarden didn't even have any involvement in Ball jars. Ball sold that division before they morphed into Jarden (which is now part of Newfield-Rubbermaid). I don't know whether Newfield-Rubbermaid owns the Ball name, whether the Ball family still owns it or if the name trademark was sold to whomever they sold the jar division to. I actually went to university with one of the Ball family's daughters but that was well before Jarden came to be.
@@mharris5047 Newell Rubbermaid still is the maker of Ball/Kerr canning jars. I know I just bought some this fall that had a refund that came from Newell Rubbermaid.
Kinda like how, with few exceptions (Chicago being one), Donald Trump doesn't literally hire people to build buildings that he can put his name on. Other people build buildings and he just licenses his name to them because they think it will help their business to have his name on it, but he doesn't actually RUN anything there. He just gets a check every month or every year for doing nothing. He's basically the corporate office and they're franchisees.
Good to know. I once temped for a few weeks in the office of the Ball glass factory in El Monte, California. The employees seemed proud to work for Ball, and of course the jars for preserves are a big part of Americana. Sorry there’s no longer direct involvement.
TH-cam, where it takes five minutes to explain things that would ordinarily take thirty seconds
yea, but they make it interesting.
If you're in that much of a rush and time is so precious to you, why are you wasting any of it looking TH-cam video? There is nothing more hypocritical and stupid then the people who complain about the time they choose to waste on TH-cam.
Coulda just said "overcomplicated". The irony.
"Okay, so Hops as Interesting isn't real."
You raised my hopes and dashed them quite expertly, sir. Bravo!
Ik, with their proximity to breweries in Denver (thanks jetlag) I would love to see it happen
you raised my *hops* 🤭
Didn't actually raise any hops, since they aren't real
@@thomasreese2816 How can mirrors be real if our hops aren't real?
I wanted to try that beer, too! It really got my hops up about that beverage for them to fall flat.
These might only be found in Hawaii within the US, but they are found in many other countries and places. Here in Okinawa, Japan, they are somewhat common, for example.
Yeah I've always thought of this can as "Asian/Japanese can" because a lot of Japanese drinks have it.
military?
Taiwan too.
Yea, I’ve definitely gotten cans like that from the Asian supermarket before.
@@rachelcookie321yeah. All the fruit juice kind of drinks come in these cans
I live in Hawaii and I learned something new today. I've always wondered why Hawaiian Sun and Aloha Maid cans looked different.
I would kill a man for flats/crates of the apple iced teas. All of em really.
me too!
i think it's time for you to wake up now. this is a dream.
Is hawaii still like the 90-2000s movies?
Meanwhile I imagine Singapore might have the best of both worlds if the cans of drinks it consumes were made in neighbouring Malaysia as it has a significantly lower cost of living/operation while also being near to Singapore
Sometime mid-pandemic, I picked up some food from a local cafe and a soda which had a 206 cap. I live in Alaska, so I can only assume that supply chain issues (plus maybe reduced demand in Hawaii from tourism) resulted in us getting some 206s. We get 202s normally.
Greetings from Juneau and I am still getting product in these.
Thank you for the size comparison to the EPCOT ball- I wouldn't have understood it otherwise!
ikr! so helpful!
Fun fact about the Ball Corporation, they have an aerospace division which does some cutting edge work. For example they provided the main mirror assembly of the James Webb Space Telescope (you know, like arguably one of the most important parts of a multi billion dollar telescope).
I mean it probably takes some serious engineering talent to optimize canning that far. I wonder if aerospace just made sense since they already had the talent and then it just bloomed from there
In the mid-80's I worked for MCI Telecommunications. One piece of test equipment we carried around were Rubidium Standards; essentially little atomic clocks for ultra precise timing requirements. They were manufactured by who? (drum roll...) a division of Ball!!!
Until this video I had only known them for their aerospace work. An interesting niche player ("boutique" might be more appropriate) going back to at least the 1960's. Mostly one-off specialized space equipment, vs say a whole constellation of communications satellites.
They also made the lunar module windows, iirc
Japan actually makes a lot of cans with that same shape, I remember buying a can of pocari at an import shop and it had the same can shape. It was also noticably thicker and I suspect it was made out of steel but I never tested it so I don't know.
Truly, the most substantial of subjects being covered. Keep it up.
It is half as interesting after all
My great uncle, who was an engineer, worked for the company contracted by Coors in the 70s. He was on the team that invented the push tab style cans we have now.
I've had 206 cans containing imported coconut water (from Thailand I believe). Or at least, that is what I now believe they were. They had the weird neck thing. But they were really much heavier, not just the lid, everything. I found it odd that a non-carbonated drink was in such an overbuilt can.
I had a can of UCC coffee also using this can, and it was made of flipping steel. Felt like it could support my weight no problem. Same thing might apply to that coconut water, it might have been steel, not Aluminum.
There might be a contamination issue with both of these drinks, which is why steel is used but I have no evidence for this. Just a hunch.
Non carbonated drinks need to be overbuilt. The pressure from the carbonation actually makes the can much stronger and more rigid.
Probably made of steel instead of aluminum. Those are pretty common in northeastern Brazil.
@@ieuanhunt552
Wanna guess why non-carbonated drinks are in the exact same cans as carbonated drinks?
Because they shoot a bit of liquid nitrogen inside, right before they put the lid on.
There's a massive difference between something being in a can, and something being canned.
The later involves basically cooking whatever is inside, while it's in the can. So they can't put any nitrogen in.
Plus, the can has to be strong to survive the expansion of the food from the heat. It would take a lot of aluminum to do that.
It is a denting issue, and steel is cheaper for that design requirement.
4:04 the disclaimer is so funny tho
As a soda can in Hawaii, I can confirm that I am built different.
#NotLikeOtherSodaCans
True Soda male
I live in Hawaii and never knew they were different.
Stay out of the other can's bathroom.
@@Novusod same
If by "anywhere else in the world" you mean America (as so many Americans often do) then yes, you're correct. If you've been to anyway in Asia though, you'll likely have seen this can shape before. I've been to Vietnam and saw these cans there, and I get beverages from Japan and Taiwan too where these cans are also used. So it's by no means "only used in Hawaii". And what you identify as the Ball Corp Container factory is the Coca-Cola bottling plant near the airport. The Ball Corp factory is 13 miles west on Komohana St in Kapolei (south-west end of Oahu...coincidently 500 yds away from the Coca-Cola Syrup Plant). What you identify as the Coca-Cola Bottling plant is the Pepsi Bottling plant (which is only 2 miles north of the Coca-Cola plant).
I moved to the mainland many years back, and I sometimes thought I was noticing a minute difference. I figured I was either imagining it or it was just shrinkflation in action.
Reminds me of a joke about Gamecube discs -- only good for convincing your friend that their hands mysteriously doubled in size.
Yup, can confirm here in NY that Pepsi dominates. PepsiCo headquarters is in Purchase, Westchester County. There's an iconic vintage Pepsi-Cola sign right on the Long Island City waterfront and the reason why that is because Pepsi-Cola once had a bottling plant in Long Island City and the sign used to be on top of it. The facility has since closed and Pepsi moved its Queens operations to College Point, but the sign has remained and was relocated to Gantry Plaza State Park where it was designated a NYC landmark in 2016. I will say though that the point you have for Brooklyn at 2:31 should be on the neighborhood of Canarsie since that's where their Brooklyn bottling plant actually is.
“Canufacturing” excellent 😂
0:45 Americans will measure with literally anything but the metric system
Went to Puerto Rico 20 years ago, where they also used 206es for soft drinks back then before switching to the standard 202 cans.
3:48 "In a market as small and remote as Hawaii's, changing all the equipment in the can factory, not to mention the bottling plants to suit the *larger* lid"
"larger" should be "smaller"
Thanks! I lived in Hawai'i for 10 years, and I never noticed anything different about aluminum cans there. Living there definitely made me aware that shipping is priced by weight more than volume, though. Something as basic as canned soup is a fortune on the Islands compared to the Mainland.
Many countries in Asia also use this can, not just Hawaii. Places outside of the US exist.
Love the callout of the Hawaiian Nene. Great birds.
What I love about our cans, is that you can fit one of those little plastic lids that you get your to go dressings from directly on top of it; fits perfectly. Also keeps it from getting stale or flat.
Or... you could go and buy a 4-pack of whatever craft beer, cider or seltzer that are held together by a "paktech can carrier" cut one off and put some press n seal inside and slap it on.. atleast it's made for a can and won't fall off 🤷♂️
I did always wonder why Hawaiian Sun fruit juice cans were shaped that way, now I know. Thanks, HAI! Good luck on your brewing license!
At 3:49, you described how it would not be profitable to switch to the larger lids, when what you meant is that it wouldn’t be profitable to switch to the smaller* lids.
I love laying on a Hawaiian beach just enjoying the view of all the cans.
I like looking at the buns.🤪
@@TamagoHead
I'm on the low fat, high protein bun diet myself. 😄
@@lordgarion514 👍🤣🤣🤣
1:17 Canufacturing!
I've never been 100% sold on your channel, but this is a really fun and fascinating little trivia video! Loved it!
I suspect that Ball gets to use a lot of their old machinery and spare parts from their old factories elsewhere (before the switch) in Hawaii, so that helps too.
Here’s another fun fact about Hawaii vs Mainland things: the McDonald’s Apple pie is still deep fried in Hawaii while it’s now baked in the mainland! (I’m born and raised in Hawaii)
sacrilege!
I miss those deep fried pies. Next time I’m in Hawai’i I’ll have to go to McDonalds for one. I wish they still had the cherry pies. Sure they burned my tongue most the time, but they were still sweet, flaky, and delicious.
@@michelleb7399 Popeye's Chicken has deep fried apple pies
@@michelleb7399 you got to get the taro pies if they have while you’re in Hawaii. Infinitely better than apple.
I totally forgot they used to be deep fried and could burn your tongue. When did they switch to baked? 20 years ago? P.S. it was 1992, so 30+ years ago.
"Canufacturing" -- chefs kiss
How long will this last? I imagine the tooling will wear out eventually, and then it will be economical to retrofit to the modern can lid diameter?
The companies that buy their cans would probably pay them to use the same size.
The drink companies have to put the lids on after putting the drink in. That would require them buying all new equipment.
Those parts have likely worn out and been replaced multiple times already. Replacing parts for wear and/or accidental breakage is going to happen a few at a time. That means they have to replace them with the same design, or the new parts will be incompatible with the rest of their process (and the processes of their partner businesses).
The cost and complexity of redoing a major, interdependent process like this is that you have to do it all at once.
Finally! One of those tidbit channels with actual good script writing 👏👏👏
I live in Hawaii and I literally have a Made in Hawaii Pepsi can, a Hawaiian Sun and a regular Mountain Dew can on my desk right now... I was wondering why they were different
This is actually surprising, as I suspected (wrongly) it was due to shipping the cans and the shipment needing more stable stacking, with the larger lids providing that more stable foundation for stacking.
As someone who previously worked in the beer industry and visited Hawaii a few times, thank you for this. I always wondered why. Those 206 cans stack so much better than the 202s.
I collect vintage and international soda cans and I always thought it was odd that hawaiian cans looked almost exactly the same as some cans from the 80s. Now it makes a lot more sense.
Which is the weirdest bevarage that comes in a can? Are you the guy who drinks them?
@@e.moonbound2420 Well any of the old cans I've gotten have already been drunk but I do always get cans if I go to other countries and I do drink those but they are usually Coke cans. Now it didn't come out of a can but I had buffalo wing flavored soda once and I have to say its the weirdest beverage I've had before.
@@kirkwahmmett1666 Wing flavor sounds like a war crime
@@e.moonbound2420 It tastes like a war crime
@@kirkwahmmett1666 Can you describe the taste of war crime please?
I'm guessing this is probably why Puerto Rican soda cans are also different compared to those in the states as well, except they're probably easier on the aluminum considering that the lids are smaller than those of Hawaii
I feel like we need a hops as interesting now
I'd drink it
Shut up and take my money!
Thanks for your comparison to the Epcot Golf Ball as it really helped me understand the concept
One question: Why is Hops as Interesting not a thing?
I can't wait for the HAI canned bathwater
That’s interesting. I was born and raised in Hawaii up until I moved to NJ. And I’ve always thought the “Hawaiian” can design would be the same even on the mainland. I guess I’ve never really noticed the difference lol
As someone that grew up in NJ, why the hell would you move from a tropical paradise to the armpit of the northeast?
@@Brando56894 Dunno where he came from but some places in Hawaii are quite shitty. It's not all sunshine and luaus.
@@Brando56894 If Hawaii isn't the most expensive place to live in the US, it's definitely in competition with NYC and large California cities. Sometimes you just have to move somewhere cheaper in order to live
I’m from Hawai’i and never knew there was a difference in the cans. Learn something new every day! 😮 Aloha!
2:35
If i was the CEO of Coca Cola right now, i would be advertising "Proudly Made with Capilano Reservoir Water" here in BC.
Had no idea bottling plants had to be close to their target destination.
You can do so much advertising with that bro.
We here in Vancouver love our water quality, and love our first nations history.
The advertising oppurtunity would be insane considering they basically dont have to change anything lol
The syrup that is used in the bottling process contains ingredients engineered to remove any flavoring or mineral taste from locally sourced water. Coca Cola needs to taste the same in NYC, Detroit, Los Angeles and in BC.
Advertising that it is bottled using local water would be the opposite of the goal.
I live in Hawaii, and I thought it was odd that A&W had a smaller top (202 lid). Now from this video, I can deduce that it probably means it was shipped here from the Mainland.
Also I did notice that all our Pepsi cans say "Made in Hawaii."
I'm already looking forward to seeing "hops as interesting" on shelves 😂
In my country up until about 20 years ago, the soda cans also had those rolled ridges at the top, but that was because the cans were made from steel. The moment they switched to aluminium it became smooth.
Sam, if you ever get into the business, we will expect you to deliver on Hops as Interesting
I work as a beverage packager! Thanks for making this video, cans don't get a lot of love!
Fun fact: The Ball Corporation (through its subsidiary Ball Aerospace) also develops spacecraft for NASA and others. That is, until literally a week ago when Ball sold off its aerospace company to BAE.
I never knew that soda is packed locally wherever it is bought. But it makes sense cause as you said, why should you have to spend money transporting water instead of just the syrup?
You don't even transport the syrup. Syrup is just water, sugar and flavorings. You transport the flavorings, and let the local plant do the rest.
In Canada soda is made with sugar. In the US, sugar is too expensive, so high-fructose corn syrup is used instead. That's why Canadian Coke tastes different than American Coke, even though the core flavoring, made in Atlanta, is identical.
Parts of Canada was still making steel soda cans with rivets up the side, up until 1988.
Europe has 1-piece steel soda cans. Well, the lid is a second piece.
You sometimes find drinks in asian stores in the UK in these cans. I'm assuming they're actually Hawaiian, I know there's a massive japanese influence so I can see "asian" drinks actually being manufactured in Hawaii.
Same with those coconut beverages u can find, especially in vancouver.
Gotta love hawaii. Possibly one of the nicest states ever.
Probably not. Japan has a unique approach when it comes to packaging: the more, the better.
@@korakys not sure I understand? Japan doesn't produce cans in these dimensions, it's a purely Hawaiian thing. The cans have to be Hawaiian.
@@calum5975 It was explained in the video: shipping cans long distances is expensive. Making a billion cans in Hawaii just to ship them to Japan to be filled doesn't make sense.
Much more likely that Japan also has its own old machines and for whatever reason hasn't optimised the design for price efficiency. This is probably because Japan is a bit obsessive about food packaging.
yep and my dad was involved in the change from 3 piece welded cans to 2 piece aluminum cans in Hawaii at the Dole Can plant.
Okay, allow to explain what the Epcot Golf Ball actually is: It's Spaceship Earth and it's not a golf ball but a GEODESIC SPHERE. And inside this geodesic sphere is a whole omnimover (a special system created by Disney's Imagineers) ride with a time machine experience learning the history of communication as you ascend. Originally the ride wasn't supposed to be inside the sphere completely as an early concept model from 1978 showed it would've had a bigger building attached to it for the ride and only enter the sphere briefly but they made all inside because...why not? That wand next to it in the pic at 0:46 was added for the Millennium Celebration but wasn't removed until 2007...good riddance.
So next time you're enjoying a refreshing drink in Hawaii, take a moment to appreciate the unique design of the can!
Just wanted to say you nailed the pronunciation of Kapolei
err, what did he say at 2:55?
I dunno
I remember the larger style lids here in the contiguous states
0:54 Me, an American, hoping they would give me a metric conversion....
..."Epcot Golf Ball..." Yeah, what the actual F kind of scale is that
an american one that i can understand
Hey Sam, good job on this!! Even if a few details were a bit off, you clearly put in a lot of effort to understand a complicated topic, and I appreciate you.
So you are able to compare it with some oversized golf ball, but can't mention the size in metric, like almost the whole world uses?
Petition for him to start Hop As interesting
Enjoying the content so I can tell my spouse about it and she gives me the look of "why do I care"
Which is where I tell her, now you have a little bit of trivia to talk about when you're sitting there with awkward silence
Please learn how to punctuate. Enjoy that content.
I like how at the end he acts like he was part of making Nebula. No way this stock footage dude who drags out a simple topic is that creative.
I really don't appreciate the humor in your video. Just providing the facts is all that is needed.
I've lived in Hawaii for about 15 years now, never noticed this. Going to have to keep an eye out next time I'm in the store.
Doesnt japan have similar soda cans or are they slightly different?
If I remember right I learned this before...
The Hawaiian cans use a different die to stamp the cans since the product is made locally.
Time to see if I remember right.
In this video you implied that the ball corporation makes the glass jars, but that product line was given to a subsidiary that spun off into its own company in the 90's, so technically the ball corporation does not make glass jars. Besides that it was a great video!
3:38 hey I've delivered pizzas to that manufacturing plant!
Skip to 3:12 , HF
Making the smaller top also means that, like apple and their rounded corners on their phones, the size is patented and selling stuff made to fit that size has to be negotiated with a possibility of having to pay royalties. So, if you wonder why there are "can toppers" made to store left over product such as partial cans of cat food, but don't have the size to fit a soda can to keep the fizz in, that is so that you have to finish the whole can.
If by "anywhere else in the world" you mean america (as so many amercans often do) then yes you're correct
If you've been to anyway in Asia though you'll likely have seen this can shape before. Ive seen it used on beverages from japan, vietnam and taiwan numerous times so its by no means "only used in hawaii"
Until recently, cans that look similar to the 206s were used in Singapore by the Jia Jia company (selling Asian herbal tea). They've made the switch to "normal" cans recently
0:06 You can see those in London’s Saint James’s Park.
massive volcanoes?
We had been getting them in Alaska, at least for Coca-cola products, but that was probably as a result of that factory taking up some slack when supply lines were struggling during Covid and Hawaii likely not having their previous demand without tourists but that is all speculation.
I had no idea about this! I love enjoying a Hawaiian Sun here in CA when a restaurant offered it. I thought the slightly different can was just a style choice. I know know the real reason why they are different!
Growing up in 60s/70s the cans were steel. They made the best tennis ball canons!
I want to let you know that Amazons AMM77X made it this year. Any better way to start a global change? Don't get me wrong I know they are not like altruists or something but they keep doing the right thing to improve the situation, power the ecomonmy and so much more. We need players like them and we can always jump in the train at good spots such as this one
this is just a crypto scam incase you were wondering
@@thegees no
@@winzinfoway9374 Yes. SCAM!
I went to Hawaii 12 years ago and was puzzled by this since... until today
Ball doesn’t make home canning mason jars, and hasn’t done so since 1993. They spun that division off to another company, which has been acquired since. They now just license their name to Newell Brands, who make Ball, Bernardin, Kerr, and Golden Harvest jars.
I would make this video 10 seconds long ! Just tell us already why they shaped like that
Today's fact: The world's tallest bridge is the Millau Viaduct in France, which stands at a height of over 1,000 feet, is supported by beams and is suspended by cables.
Measuring a French bridge in feet just feels wrong, lol.
Hawaii also has a pretty effective aluminum recovery system. High costs make “recycling” more attractive, add smaller living quarters and cans are easier to compact before needing to turn them in. Also the high homeless population usually turns in any can the find. Not sure how much actual recycling/reuse happens on island. Just worked the collection side for a while.
Who else came here from smosh?
I was a truck driver and used to occasionally pick up some beer from budweiser. I would then drive 48,000 lbs of beer nearly 600 miles to its distribution facility.
on the big island right now, this video couldn't have released at a better time
I found this interesting as living in Alaska someone else must be still making these "Hawaii" cans elsewhere as I have been enjoying product in these cans, and I do get an IPA for my local brewery, thanks! The 49th and 50th States are always off the map and in their own Alaska/Hawaii Timezone.
You say that I know Ball for their jars. Nah, I know them for their arena.
Just seeing “Middletown, NY” made my day, thanks Sam!!!
I vaguely remember when they changed the cans. I remember when I first bought sodas with the new smaller tops, and thought they looked odd. I liked the bigger lids better.