Did you ever buy a carton of milk and find that, upon pouring the milk into your cereal bowl, it spills out onto the table? At the same time the milk runs down the side of the carton and appears to drip out of the bottom. Is this spillage a temporary aberration in the steadiness of the wrist? (But it spilt for Natasha as well.) Is it a design flaw in just a few of the cartons? If so, exactly what went wrong on the assembly line? Or does the product work this way on purpose? Does there exist an angle at which the milk can be poured without spillage?
Does this mean we won’t all evolve into uploads?
Ha! From your description, I’m guessing this happens on the first pour of a full container. I would guess it’s a combination of the low angle and that the milk doesn’t, as it were, build speed inside the container. Liquid adherence/coherence takes effect and you’re left with a soggy WSJ and dry Crunch Berries.
That you’re just clumsy.
Don’t drink milk, but I do drink coffee and this happens all the time.
Why, oh why, can’t someone make a coffee pot that pours without this happening!?!
‘At the same time the milk runs down the side of the carton and appears to drip out of the bottom.’
You have to do it quickly – i.e. get the carton from the upright to the pouring position as fast as you can. That way no milk will spill down the side of the carton.
This doesn’t solve the ‘what is the ideal pouring angle’ problem, but hey – start buying milk in plastic bottles.
Does this happen to you with both the traditional carton with the wide mouth and the kind with the spout, such as you find on Horizon organic? They solved this problem with laundary detergent by moving the spout to the bottom, which makes more sense.
Packaging fascinates me. If you watch an overseas cooking show like Jamie Oliver’s, you realize foods are packaged in different ways through the world.
Impulse is everything…begin and end the pour as suddenly as possible.
I kept thinking that the carton was somehow better and, after I got used to it, I would prefer it.
Costco/Kirkland does a great job with their private label line overall.
But after four cartons and numerous family complaints, I’m figuring this was just a mess up. Or, mess all over my kitchen, in this case.
Agree with Chug — it’s time for a review on the Costco food court.
To pour easily, (aqueous) liquids have to be moving with enough momentum to overcome the effect of surface tension, which tends to make them cling to the side of the container rather than fall away from it. Narrow openings (such as the corner of a cardboard milk container or a poorly designed coffee pot) make this tougher, due (I think) to the narrowing of the stream which decreases its mass and/or velocity.
In other words, pour faster.
Just don’t cry about it.
Hilarious! It isn’t just me! After a few weeks of spilled milk, I told my wife that we were no longer going to buy milk from Costco anymore, even though it is cheaper. Not having to deal with that awful design is worth $1 per gallon or whatever the difference is.
If what 8. above links to is right, it looks like pouring faster to prevent the ‘crawl’ down the side of the container will likely increase the spill. And I’m pretty sure the only way to prevent the spill is to pour slower to allow air go into the container as milk is leaving it, thus allowing the crawl.
The question then is: how would you like to waste your milk?
I say buy another brand of milk. If enough people do, Kirkland will create a focus group and in a little while, change the container…
I’m not sure I have a preference one way or the other after trying the Kirkland milk jugs. They aren’t bad, but are definitely different.
I have been complaining about this for a month now, my wife says I am just dumb, but if you think about it….
If you spill 1/2 of an ounce every time you pour, then over the course of a year, let’s say you spill about 4 gallons. That’s 4 MORE gallons you are going to BUY. Costco is getting you to buy more milk by making you pour / spill a little out at a time.
this one belongs on the other blog
Looking at the picture of the stupid bottle, spilling looks fairly likely.
In order to create a “spout”, where the opening of the bottle’s surface would force the liquid to run uphill, you have to turn the bottle almost sideways. But given where the spout is offcenter, sideways is enough to pour out nearly all of the milk. The only way to keep milk from pouring out en masse is to tip the milk bottle but never very far over–so the bottle is at, say, 30-50 from straight up. But then the surface of the “spout” is always a preference for the liquid–and it runs down the side rather than preferring to break free and form its own stream.
Nothing beats a nice glass bottle of milk!
Move to Canada and buy your milk in bags. For whatever reason this problem doesn’t happen with bags.
If you try to follow above advice and pour faster, you might find the milk “sputters” and splashes out, making a mess. To prevent that, punch a hole in the top of the carton to let air in.
I have been cussing these new gallon containers from Kirkland since day one. I even boycotted them in my house, but as chance would have it I HAD to buy what was there. Being the “Moronic milk pourer” of over 40 years that I am. Ofcourse I spilt it all over “again” as I tryed to help my 6 year old with his cereal. Which ofcourse lead to a few choice words in the 7am hour! HENCE my letter….I think that whoever came up with this idea should have there @#%hole sewn shut!!!Have a nice day!
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