Think for a second about the last time you actually opened a can with a can opener versus popping open a pull-tab. From soups to sodas, pull-tabs are on everything these days, and for good reason — they make opening things easier. So if that’s the case, why isn’t everything opened with this handy ring nowadays? Unsurprisingly, it all comes down to money. Pull-tabs are more convenient than using a can opener, but instead of just stamping out round pieces of metal and sealing them to a can, a company must also attach the tab to the metal top. Sounds simple enough, but that step alone requires more materials and time, as well as additional machinery.
For some companies that are smaller and less well-known, or for generic versions of a well-known brand, pull-tabs may not make sense financially. It’s simply not worth the extra expense if the business isn’t very profitable. That’s why you often see pull-tabs on big brand names like Chef Boyardee, a canned food celebrity. And customers will typically pay more for a brand name that has the convenience of a pull-tab. In fact, a 2014 Ipsos survey found that people will pay up to 40 cents more per can if they have a pull-tab and are easier to open, per Packaging Digest.
History of the pull-tab
Canned food is centuries old. At one time, people opened these products before the can opener arrived with a hammer and chisel! However, the modern pull-tab, like you see on today’s canned foods and drinks, is a relatively new invention that traces back to 1959. The legend is that engineer Ernie Fraze had forgotten to bring a can opener along on a picnic and had to use a car bumper to open his beer — probably not one of the best ways to open a can without a can opener. The incident got Fraze thinking about how there must be a better, easier way to open cans. By 1963, Fraze had patented the first pull-tab can top, also known as an easy-open lid. From there, pull-tabs began to be integrated into modern packaging, and, perhaps inspired by Fraze’s experience, onto cans of beer.
The first beer to introduce this new self-opening can was the Pittsburgh Brewing Company in 1963, with its Iron City Beer. Right away, it was a success with customers, with Startups.co.uk reporting that the brand’s sales increased by 233% in the first year. By 1965, about 75 percent of all cans had an easy-open top of some kind, and decades later, this simple invention is still the preferred way for customers to open cans. Will pull-tabs eventually take over regular cans completely thanks to changes in the production process? Only time will tell.
