Discovery

It all started in 1972, when I was discharged from the US Navy early to return to college and finish my last two years.  Before class, I would stop by either Hardees of McDonalds for a cup of coffee to prepare for my morning classes - refills were free.

In 1980, I discovered, quite by accident, that a small Hardees cup held as much liquid as a large McDonalds cup.  Since a small cup at Hardees was cheaper than a large cup at McDonalds, I began getting my coffee at Hardees, even though the refills were still free.

Several years later, I began teaching Total Quality Management classes to industry and their employees mainly through team-oriented problem-solving classes (TOP) and used the two cups as examples as to how companies attempt to deceive the public to make money.

Today, 2024, forty-four years later, companies are still using this technique to charge higher prices.  The Styrofoam cups that they are using are not just angled differently but are thinner.  While most of America's coffee is not being purchased at convenience stations where fresh coffee is being perked with each cup, these companies are still using the cup technique to make a few extra pennies on each cup sold.

The two companies that I checked out recently were FASTOP and Weigle's.  Twenty ounces is twenty ounces no matter how it is weighed, assuming the scales are accurate.  However, if the cup size is different with its thickness and angles, it APPEARS that one is getting more with the taller cup.

It is that appearance concept on which these companies are counting.