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Popcorn fact of the day
[Richard] McKenzie did a fair amount of real-world research on the popcorn front, and his most important finding (as far as I'm concerned) is that if you're in a cinema which gives you a choice between buying a medium bag of popcorn and a large tub of popcorn, there's a greater-than-50% chance that the medium bag will actually contain more popcorn than the large tub.
That's from Felix Salmon.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on June 14, 2008 at 07:20 AM in Data Source | Permalink
Comments
Wow, I would NOT have guessed that!
Posted by: Speedmaster at Jun 14, 2008 8:41:39 AM
Doesn't surprise me at all. Ever see how they pack those things? One layer, butter, pat-pat, second layer and even more butter, again pat-pat, with the final third lay er of popcorn, butter and a final pat to cram all that popcorn in one bag. You could turn that bag upside down and only the top would initially fall out.
Posted by: Gunnar W at Jun 14, 2008 9:13:00 AM
I worked at a movie theater (one of the Consolidated Theater chain) in college, and I can believe this. I'll note that I'm comparing the tub to a large bag, as we had 3 sizes of bags and the tub. The thing was that the tub seems bigger, is more stable, and was like 50 cents more, so they weren't too hard to up-sell.
By the way, if anyone's ever wondered why the concession line people annoyingly ask you if you'd "like to get a large soda for only 25 cents more," just remember that they are, like at fast foods restaurants, supposed to attempt the up-sell. Just say no thanks and move on. (you be surprised at how many people go to the movie theater in some sort of unstable, rude, foul mood--seemingly just waiting to snap at the concession line)
Posted by: capital L at Jun 14, 2008 9:43:26 AM
This particular popcorn fact has to be "at the margin". In total, it would seem that a large tub contains more kernels of popcorn than a medium bag, but that at the margin, you get more popcorn per dollar with the medium bag.
Posted by: Enrique at Jun 14, 2008 3:51:15 PM
Large popcorn often comes with a free refill, though. Just ask for a box when you buy the popcorn, dump out all the popcorn into the box, and ask for a refill. A good way to get your money's worth.
Posted by: Oibalf at Jun 14, 2008 5:29:38 PM
None that I've seen. No theater I have been to here in North Carolina actually sells tubs, just the three bags, and the large is clearly larger than the medium, although without utilizing the free-refill I cannot say just from visual inspection which is most cost effective.
Posted by: LoneSnark at Jun 15, 2008 4:34:46 PM
There was a video on Youtube too. I think he was promoting his book.
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