I always look at unit prices: how much do I get for my dollar? But

that assumes I can use all of it. The manufacturer gets "12oz"

whether I'll be able to get the full 12oz or only 6oz. L'Oreal was

selling lotions where:

these Liquid Cosmetic Product

containers only dispense between as little as 43 percent to 81 percent

of the container's advertised contents. — Critcher

et al. v. L'Oreal

Even though these containers would often dispense less than half of

the advertised volume, L'Oreal won

the case: the law says the amount listed on the container means

the amount in the container, not the amount you'll be able to get out

of the container. But it doesn't have to be that way. What should our

laws say?

We should update our labeling laws to require manufacturers to use the

amount a consumer could reasonably extract. If you have a wide mouth

transparent container with smooth insides, a rubber scraper can get it

all. If you have a narrow mouth squeeze bottle, then only count what

squeezes out. Maybe manufacturers would shift to more efficient

packaging, or maybe consumers would accept higher unit cost [...]

---

March 25th, 2026

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/JCDSYcQnNLZsvvdM8/label-by-usable-volume