Milk squared

A square plastic milk container that saves packaging and shipping costs is being sold at 189 Sam's Club locations in 10 states, as well as some of the 400 Costco Wholesale Corp. locations in the U.S. Sam's Club said in a June 30 news release that the new container, which it began to sell last November for its Member's Mark store-brand milk, allows its trucks to carry 9 percent, or about 384 more gallons, of milk. Issaquah, Wash.-based Costco has been using the same container design for its Kirkland brand of milk since last summer, as the flat design permits retailers to stack the containers on top of each other during shipping and on display in the stories. With the traditional design, milk containers had to be stacked in crates or on racks for shipping and storage. The containers, which were developed by Superior Dairy Inc. in Canton, Ohio, 10 years ago, were only used on a regional basis until Costco and Sam's Club added them to their product base. Sam's Club owner, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., said it hopes to expand Sam's Club distribution into Wal-Mart stores as well.