Does it make sense for organizations to ask people to save pull tabs?
Asked by
LuckyGuy (
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August 25th, 2022
I have seen a couple of organizations ask that people save their pop can pull tabs so they can be turned in and recycled for cash to fund programs or buy supplies.
I just weighed one and see that it takes about 1500 tabs to make a pound of aluminum which is worth about $0.50! (The going rate varies from about 30 cents to 80 cent per pound.)
That means 100 pull tabs are worth only 3 cents!
It also means to get those 100 tabs, 100 cans of drink were consumed, people had to spend 500 seconds (5 seconds x 100) pulling the tabs, and probably an equal time getting them to the collection site. They risked cutting themselves on the sharp edges.
Wouldn’t the organization come out far ahead if they just asked people to skip drinking just 1 can of pop out of 100 and put some change in the jar instead?
The whole process seems like a ridiculous waste of time and effort. Just donate a few cents.
Are you saving pull tabs for an organization? Can you see any point to this?
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27 Answers
Pull tans makes the assumption that people buy drinks that come in cans. I think that demographic is going way down.
But look, people will do stupider things for a hundred other reasons – in contrast to some of them (remember the Ice Dunk challenge), this is pretty benign.
I thought the practice was just one of those urban legend rumor things from 40 years back. Who is cashing in tabs? And can anyone name bonafide organizations requesting you hoarde them?
Thank you. But I’m baffled. Why not donate the entire can? And they’re not collecting the tabs. YOU are required to transport them. In fact, doesn’t it make more sense to haul the cans to one of the recycling lots and collect a nickle or dime a can, then donate the cash?
Same as saving box tops when I was a kid. It’s a way of gaging how many people buy their product, and how much they buy.
I imagine all the pull tabs go straight in the trash after they’ve served their marketing purpose.
We do save our cans for the Cowley County Humane Society. They have a collection point in Winfield.
@Dutchess_III My mom saved all the Betty Crocker coupons from Betty Crocker products and got me my stainless steel eating utensils for practically free. I saved them afterwards and got the matching serving ware.
This was before the Dollar Store carried that stuff and it was expensive.
I agree – it sounds a waste of time. Better to just have people drop a few $ in cash.
I remember some urban legend from middle school where saving pop top tabs would somehow get you laid. Nobody could ever tell you conclusively how, but young boys sure collected them. I considered it a gullibility test even as a thirteen year old.
@Dutchess III Are there identifying marks on a pull top,?
Giving (or doing) for charity is really about making the ‘giver’ feel good.
If they put ID on them in production they do. But who even uses actual pull tops any more?
@Blackwater_Park There is some urban legend that refers to the shape of the holes in the pull tab. I’ll look around for it…..
Found it.. From an article referencing a tiktok video which I did not open
“A semi-circle means you’ll receive a hug.
“A rainbow shape with a circle at the bottom means you’ll get a kiss.
“A single rainbow shape means you’ll have sex.
I guess you need to look at the cans before you buy them.
@LuckyGuy Like 35 years ago, if I remember correctly the goal was to get the tab off the can with the attachment ring still intact. That’s the part that is held by the rivet on the can. Apparently getting tabs like that meant you will get to first base. Nobody ever could say how that would entice any girl that was not already willing.
My best guess is that some psychopathic genius figured out how the social contagion phenomena worked and attempted to get that to be trending with girls. Why pop tops though? Never got that one. Clearly an underdeveloped evil child.
We used to make doorways curtains out of them in the 70s.
I went to a restaurant in the early 1970s in Vermont that bought all their food at a store that had Green Stamps; the owners went on great vacations in the Caribbean using S&H stamps ! ! !
I think the store was Grand Union !
^^ OMG I remember Grand Union in either Burlington or South Burlington! My mom went there a lot and I frequently had to go with her.
@Blackwater_Park You wrote:”... the goal was to get the tab off the can with the attachment ring still intact…...Apparently getting tabs like that meant you will get to first base. Nobody ever could say how that would entice any girl…”
You were supposed to remove it using only your tongue. :-P
^No wonder teenage girls were so confused by teenage boys.
“Hey baby. I pulled off a whole pull tab.” Wink wink, lear lear.
Preeze!!!! Can thumone hep ge dis offa my ung?
When I was a kid, we played a weird game of moving the ring back and forth, saying the letters of the alphabet with the motion. The ring would break off at a certain letter, and that would be the first letter of who we’d end up marrying.
Neighborhood kids introduced us to this game, and we had fun with it for a while. Then my dad said a bird might get his beak stuck in the broken ring, being unable to eat…I’m pretty sure now that he was just annoyed at the game. But I was very concerned about the birds, and haven’t removed any of those rings ever since.
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