Because we sell anything and everything, we often get ads for the interesting, the unusual and the extremely specialized. One of the best parts of working here is that we learn so much about so many different things. Here’s where we feature an ad that made us sit up and take notice.
This week brings us something rather eggcellent (and, let’s face it, a great chance for some really bad puns):
400+ EGG CARTONS, $40. All, Will sep. +(SUSQUEHANNA) 570-727-3207
If you’ve found yourself short on these magnificent little items, well, now you can breathe easy. After all, 400 is an awful lot of egg cartons! Don’t be chicken – now’s your chance to stock up.
As we tend to do, we quickly became fascinated by the mundane; in other words, we spent a little time thinking about egg cartons. Such common, yet specifically crafted little things! How did they come to be?
For centuries, eggs were collected, transported and sold in baskets. While a basket can hold a number of eggs, there is some pretty strong potential for breakage. And it was a dispute about that breakage that motivated a newspaper editor from British Columbia to design a better means of transport. In 1911, Joseph Coyle, in response to a dispute between a local farmer and the hotel who purchased that farmer’s eggs, designed a paper carton to safely contain the eggs. So successful was Coyle that he not only continued with the production of his newfangled cartons, he also invented machinery to mass produce them in 1919.
So the next time you reach for those eggs tucked into their snug little carton, give Joe Coyle a thought. Or maybe call that seller in Susquehanna and give Mr. Coyle, well, 400 thoughts.