Horizon Half-Gallon Milk Carton Usability Assessment

HorizonMilk

½-Gallon Milk Carton Benchmark

We are going to be venturing into assessing a number of carton package products on the market soon, and we wanted to establish our benchmark first. We do believe that gable-top packages are indeed the benchmark for carton family-packs on the market, which typically pack milk and juice. One of the mainstream packages in the North American markets is the ½-gallon carton that has evolved over the years to have progressively better openings. These packages are not aseptic, and therefore they are suitable for normal [fresh] shelf life products.

This package, as well as others like it, has a two-step opening, where the consumer first removes the cap [first step], and then a pull-ring [second step]. We do believe that two-step openings for family size packages (as opposed to on-the-go packages) are better, since the two-step opening delivers an added peace-of-mind. We favor them as long as the usability of the pull-ring is acceptable.

One of the negative elements of this type of opening, is the fact that the pull-ring piece ends up in the consumer’s hand, and need to be separately discarded. This, however, is a significant issue for portion-packs, and on-the-go drinks, where disposing this piece on-the-go separately poses an issue for consumers.

Details:

Capacity: ½ gallon
Opening: ∅24mm (internal diameter)
Dimensions: 95mm (W) x 95mm (D) x 242mm (H)

Pros:

Pouring: the flow is abundant and controllable, and free from initial rush or gulping
Opening: the affordance was easy to grasp, the opening action was simple and easy. Two-step opening as preferred by many
Closing: the cap is easy to screw on, and sealed well
Structure: no buckle when grabbed

Cons: