Why Are Products So Full Of Air These Days?

I bought some new thread sealant recently, the same brand that I have been buying forever, because it is genuinely a really great product.  I popped the cap off, poked a hole in the seal, and started squeezing with expectations of thread sealant coming out.  Then I squeezed some more.  hmm.  Still nothing.  More squeezing occurred along with more squeezing, and I still didn’t have any thread sealant.  Finally when I got to the 50% flat point on the tube, I was met with what I had yearned for – new thread sealant.  Then I started thinking – “Oh my god, this tube is almost empty already, and I haven’t even used it yet! I should go buy more!” Alas, I had been duped! Or had I?

Having spent some serious time at the grocery store in the last 29 years, I know that I can always count on my bag of chips, popcorn, and pretzels being at least 55/45 air to food ratio.  I can also count on wine, thirst quenching drinks, and those plastic bottles of popcorn kernels to have a giant plastic mountain on the base of the bottle that takes up valuable space inside, and leaves me disappointed.  Although I should have, I never expected my automotive products to start giving me the same treatment.  That being said, I guess I should have seen when I bought this product that it had a net weight of 1 oz.  My Bad.  Next time I will have to compare the oz. to the competitors to see if I am getting the most for my money I suppose.  Being brand loyal is something I am fully supportive of, but I also don’t like being tricked into buying a tube of air.  At least when I grab a bags of chips, I know that there are only 8 broken chips inside because I can see inside the bag.  Maybe I will create my own re-branding of liquid products. I will put 1 oz portions in extra large trash bags so it takes up the whole shelf in stores.  Helloooooo billion dollar idea!

Jeremy Nutt

Hi, I'm Jeremy.

2 thoughts to “Why Are Products So Full Of Air These Days?”

  1. Sometimes products need the air in the tube, or they harden.
    Don’t ever squeeze all the air out of a bottle/tube of LocTite thread sealent or it’ll start hardening up.
    Same goes for LocTite 518 or Permatex 51813 anaerobic gasket maker.

    It has to do with the fact that most thread sealants are anaerobic, meaning they harden in the absence of air. When you thread a bolt and nut together, the sealant is trapped in pockets without air, and starts hardening up to keep your bolt in place.

    You can test this by letting some sealant on a bolt without a nut, and letting it sit. It likely won’t harden. Put the nut on, or cover the bolt in thick grease, and it’ll sstart to harden.

    The exact chemistry is a little too in-depth for a comment, but can be found using your friendly favorite search engine.

    That being said, sometimes they do add less to the tube…

  2. They are looking out for your welfare, believe me. They don’t want you to waste half of what you bought because it dried up in the tube and you get all pissed off the nest time you start to use it; so they leave out half of what your bought in order to prevent that

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