Saturday, August 29, 2009
Things That Make You Go . . . Huh?
I had to go to Staples today to purchase 500 rubber bands. Did you know that they do not sell rubber bands by number, but by weight?! Hence, each package contains 1/4 pound of rubber bands . . . but they do not tell you how many that is. You have to guess. Who thought of that? Not very helpful.
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The first place to go see is the Staples Economy Rubber Bands website to see they sell different sizes of rubber bands in a 1/4 lb package: #16, #18, #19, #32, #33, #64, #82, #84, and #54 ("assorted sizes").
Then one can go to the website, Rubber Band Per-Pound Counts. This provides approximate values for different sizes. If you bought "economy rubber bands" at Staples, rather than "premium rubber bands", I've listed below the estimate numbers of rubber bands in a 1/4 lb bag for the various sizes for "standard count" or "economy count." It's likely the better quality bands have more latex rubber and less heavier filler than the cheaper ones, thus higher rubber band counts per unit weight.
Size, number of standard count rubber bands, number of economy count rubber bands:
#16, 450, 400
#18, 370, 342
#19, 312, 278
#32, 175, 160
#33, 150, 140
#64, 80, 69
#82, 58, NA
#84, 38, NA
Alternatively, if you have a calibrated electronic balance accurate down to a milligram you could weigh 5 rubber bands and divide that number into 22.6 to get an approximate number of rubber bands in a 1/4 lb bag.
For an accurate count or for a bag of assorted sizes you'll just have to get your kids to count those by hand. (Now, no rubber band fights!)
Oh, and it's a lot easier for the manufacturer to sell small rubber bands by weight rather than by count, as is selling popcorn by weight rather than by kernel count.
Oops! For the alternative method, divide the 5-rubber-band weight (in grams) into 565, not 22.6, to estimate the number of rubber bands in 1/4 lb.
I used to buy a lot of rubber bands when I was a newspaper boy. never thought of how many were in there - I just ordered more when the bag got low (bought them from the newspaper - never thought of buying them from the store.) Some bands were better than others. some were so cheap, they'd break apart and snap you!
so why do you need 500?
Jim,
First, glad you're back online!
We needed 500 because we participated at an orientation event at George Mason University where we are trying to do some campus ministry. We gave away water bottles with the church name, logo, and web address on them, and rubber banded a couple of our brochures to each one. My folks said it went pretty well.
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