AIBU to think that producers should have to declare a 'usable volume' on liquid products?

YANBU OP, IMO.

Does anyone else use OGX hair products? The stuff is lovely, but the products are really thick so it's hard to get out even when full. The bottles are really solid, so really difficult to squeeze, and the lids are domed so you can't stand them upside down.

Because I am my mother's daughter, I will actually take a bread knife to a plastic product bottle to get at the last bit, but these OGX bottles are so solid it's impossible.... almost. There's at least two more washes hiding in there!

I’m pretty sure it doesn’t. It’s the net weight.

You're talking about weight not volume. The weight of a food includes the packaging.

I don't quite understand having to give exactly equal portions. For soup portions, and most other food, I always give dh a bit more than me. After all he is 6ft 2, I am almost a foot shorter than him so need less calories than him. They say, as an average, a man needs 2,500 cals a day and a woman 2,000.

the only people I know who weigh/measure food are parents of ultra competitive twins.

who knew that frankfurters from the same pack vary a couple of mm in length 😂

I just pour “some” into each bowl based on what looks right. Why would I care if everyone gets exactly the same amount? If my DH gets 16 grams more of the soup than I do, I can live with that.

I only know two people who weigh food in the pedantic way you describe - one is diabetic, the other is anorexic.

I have been known to chop the bottle in half to get the last bit out, but it's really messy and awkward to do.
Thanks for that, i'm going to try it.
We do it with toothpaste

Yes to the moan about toiletries. I cannot get rest of foundation out but can very clearly see there is still couple of weeks worth!

Apologies! I thought it said 560ml.

edit - that explains why nobody had made the same point earlier.

Exactly this
You pour two bowls and you say that looks about right

I was coming on with this exact example! It's so wasteful of them to design it this way. I have been known to chop the bottle in half to get the last bit out, but it's really messy and awkward to do.

agree that it can be difficult to get all content out. really annoys me with hand creme tubes that are almost still half full when you have to apply an insane amount if pressure to get more out.

[the e symbol indicates that the content is not exactly as printed, there is a tolerance of +- a small percentage]

I would always rinse out the carton too.

And with tons of tomatoes etc - you rinse with water.

I'm Scottish and so cut open bottles of cosmetics to get the last bit out was standard and obviously we rinsed out all food cartons. Married DH ( who grew up with a rich new world mother so no rationing hangover) and took years of convincing that he should rinse out tomato tins.

FWIW I don't think inaccessible containers are deliberate, the manufacturer still has to put the same amount in so there's not much gain to them by having pissed off customers that can see what they haven't used. Shrinkflation is more effective.

But the weight on the carton is a weight, not a volume. It says 560g. A gram is a gram is a gram, doesn’t matter if it’s soup or water or lead!

Yes, mayo in squeeze bottles makes my blood boil 😂

I know nothing at all about these things, other than how metric measures relate to each other, but are you sure you can measure volume accurately by putting it on weighing scales? It would be better to use a measuring jug.

I think the volume = weight link the scales are using only works for water. The definitions of metric measures are interrelated but are based around water.
A litre of water has a mass of 1 kg, approximately, when measured at its maximum density. See Wikipedia for more.

However.

As soup is more dense than water your scales should tell you that it’s more than you’d expect, not less. I’ve checked with DH, who is normally very good at this sort of thing, and he agrees.

Helmanns now sell their mayo in squeeze bottles, which are guaranteed to mean that you can't get at all the mayo.
The storing upside down method doesn't work as it isn't liquid.
I find it really annoying and i'm glad you started the thread op

I would always rinse out the carton too.

And with tons of tomatoes etc - you rinse with water.

Its very annoying with things like cosmetics etc and creams in pump action containers - you can very rarely get all of that.

By looking

I think this is a container problem.

The soups in the bucket-type plastic tubs with the snappy off lid you can get it all out, and instead of the spatula, pour some water or cream into the container, put the lid back on, and shake vigorously.

You get MORE this way, not LESS.

My boyfriend was saying similar the other day about crumbly cheese. There is a lot of cheese stuck to the inside of the packet, making it so we actually get to eat less cheese than advertised and then we have to buy more. He thought it was a ploy by Big Cheese but sounds like they have colluded with Big Soup! I wonder what other Big Foods are involved

No, the 'e' or 'estimated sign' does relate to the average weight of the contents. The fact that it's net of the packaging weight is universal, and not dependent on whether the sign is shown.

The sign indicates that:

• the average quantity in a batch of packs is not less than the nominal amount shown on the label;
• the proportion of packs in each batch that are underfilled by more than a tolerable error is small enough for batches to satisfy legal requirements;
• no pack has a negative error greater than twice the tolerable negative error.

I've never done this in my life
I go by what it looks like

Marmite and other spread jars are obviously designed in such a way that you won't be able to get at the stuff underneath the wider neck of the jar. Maybe you could if you use your finger and get it all sticky and horrid, but certainly not if you use a knife like most people do.

Also with the newer 500ml E45 tubs, unless you have narrow hands and very long fingers, you can end up barely getting any more out to be useable than you can with the 350ml tubs.