Questions regarding Peanut Butter M&M's

Vending Machine | 7/29/09 | Me

[the_devils_advocate_666]

I just purchased a package of Peanut Butter M&M's that has led me to ponder three things:

1. Why does the name M&M's contain an apostrophe-s?
2. Why is the package Net weight 1.63 oz.? Maybe related to a metric measure you might suggest. Well they also list that at 46.2g. Why not 1.5 oz. or 50g?
3. Why can't they balance the colors? There's always at least one under represented color. My package has 6 blue, 6 orange, 5 green, 4 brown, 3 yellow, and only 2 red.

[the_devils_advocate_666]

I'm sure there are smart people here who can shed some light on these items for me. Thanks in advance.

[noname07718]

You have entirely too much time on your hands.

[LongElegantLegs]

It doesn’t matter, you’re only supposed to eat blue ones. Everything else is a commie plot.

[PeteB570]

Why? Why?

Don’t know. The daughter got a bag the other day. I ate it when she looked the other way.

Not too impressed with them.

[TSgt]

[the_devils_advocate_666]

I like to eat them one at a time. My wife eats them by the handful and I think that’s just wrong.

[mnehring]

Why does the name M&M's contain an apostrophe-s?

Because each M&M belong to the M&M next to it. They are possessive that way. :->

[laweeks]

Me thinks you need a hobby . . . perhaps internet backgammon, turkey bowling, go to the mall and have yourself paged . . . something.

[stuartcr]

It’s because of Obamacare.

The more people try to figure it out, the more confused and frustrated they will become, eventually needing psychiatric care and ultimately euthanasia.

All this because he is from Kenya and is an American hating, Muslim, demon-spawned, baby killer.

[VRWCmember]

According to a Mars Candy Corporation spokesman, the brown, yellow, and red M&M’s don’t have as powerful lobbying groups representing them on the Mars Candy diversity council. However, the council did issue a statement that since yellow and red have their own larger than life representatives on the television ads, that red and yellow should shut the heck up about being underrepresented in the population in your bag.

[Travis T. OJustice]

Make sure you immediately throw out the W’s, they are bad for you!

[JustaDumbBlonde]

You have got way too much time on your hands. Really.

My guess on the weight is that they are looking for a certain volume, which happens to come to that particular weight. The colors are not dispensed individually into the bags, the candies come down a conveyor mixed. I don't believe that they produce the colors in even numbers either.

It occurs to me that since I have answered you, I have entirely too much time on my hands today. I'm going outside and getting busy immediately.

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

Uhhhhhh.....just don’t eat the ‘green ones’. ;-)

[Travis T. OJustice]

LOL!

[VRWCmember]

I like to eat them one at a time. My wife eats them by the handful and I think that’s just wrong.

I segregate them by color and then eat them in groups. I do the same with Skittles, but with those you actually have different flavors so that actually makes sense even to someone without OCD.

[green pastures]

Perhaps you can answer this question— how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop?

[Gypssy]

I tried the new coconut M&M today. Very good! I think it’s limited time.

[mnehring]

#2 Why is the package Net weight 1.63 oz.? Maybe related to a metric measure you might suggest. Well they also list that at 46.2g. Why not 1.5 oz. or 50g? #3 Why can't they balance the colors? There's always at least one under represented color. My package has 6 blue, 6 orange, 5 green, 4 brown, 3 yellow, and only 2 red.

Re #2- my guess would be packaging weight so the M&M's weight is consistent and an even number.
Re #3- wild guess, it would take too much of an expense to make a machine that balanced that better for the fraction of a fraction of people OCD enough to notice.

[VRWCmember]

Three!

[RepublitarianRoger2]

Eat, or eat not. There is no why.

[Doogle]

My package has 6 blue, 6 orange, 5 green, 4 brown, 3 yellow, and only 2 red.

..you might want to contact the Department of Indian Affairs so they can sue for proper representation...(the "how" Indian, not the *pointing to the forehead*)

[monocle]

I know virtually nothing about M&M’s, but I suspect that insofar as the weight is concerned is tgat at some earlier date the package weighed more and rather than raising the price the reduced the weight.

[the_devils_advocate_666]

Did you know that if you put an M&M in a glass of water with the “M” facing up that it will eventually separate and slide off? It isn’t printed on there it is actually a thin film of paper stuck on there.

[OldDeckHand]

"You have entirely too much time on your hands."

Beat me to it.

[freeagle]

M & M’s are available for purchase at craft stores, in large quantities, of individual colors, in individual bags. Don’t know about the weight. You can get all the blues your heart desires!

[trisham]

These are important questions, and I for one am glad to see that someone was finally brave enough to address them.

[jakerobins]

Just enjoy the M&M’s and relax way too much thought involved in eating a bag of candy! LOL

But if you want a conspiracy the blue ones contain a chemical that make you stupid and therefore move to Rio-Linda and vote Democrat....Our RNC operatives managed to sneak in and plant the two Red ones (Code name DEEP Chocolate).........Take the RED ONE’s and your will be contacted.......LOL

[autumnraine]

Well, you obviously stole Mr. M&M’s candy. He even wrote his name on the package. He didn’t have much space to write “This bag of candy belongs to M&M”, so he just made it possessive with an apostrophe.

I’m telling on you... eating that nice man’s bag of candy.

[OldDeckHand]

"I like to eat them one at a time. My wife eats them by the handful and I think that’s just wrong."

Interesting. My wife does the same thing with french fries - eats them one at a time. It drives me up a wall, and has for more than 25 years.

[envisio]

Its a conspiracy.

[Sundog]

They've been testing blue M&M's on rats. Be careful. Be very careful.

[bigbob]

that’s cuz it’s....

“Bush’s fault”!

[nmh]

Are you serious?

I wish I had your time to ponder these idiotic things.

Lay off the weed!

[green pastures]

“Why can’t they balance the colors?”

You have to wait for the vernal and autumnal equinoxes. Then you can balance them.

[nymomx2]

It is all economics—cheaper dyes = more of that specific color. May not seem like much $$$$, but when manufacturing millions of MM’s, those fractions of a penny all add up.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Why can't they balance the colors? There's always at least one under represented color. My package has 6 blue, 6 orange, 5 green, 4 brown, 3 yellow, and only 2 red.

That I can answer. All color M&M's are dumped into a hopper where a certain number are then dropped into the little bag. To have the colors equal they would have to have six hoppers and the bag would have to stop six times. This would be a waste of space, time and money.

[nmh]

To answer your “why” -

WHY NOT?

It’s because they CAN.

[ml/nj]

The same reason that the legal definition of a dollar is 371.25 grains of fine silver?

ML/NJ

[GOPJ]

Why can't they balance the colors? There's always at least one under represented color. My package has 6 blue, 6 orange, 5 green, 4 brown, 3 yellow, and only 2 red.

The colors are balanced - buy a whole "run" you'll get exact representation. What you would do with a few hundred pounds of M&M's might be a larger problem...

[PBRSTREETGANG]

What a coincidence!

There’s presently a $500 million government study devoted to these same three questions.

[trisham]

I eat nuts, french fries and pretty much everything one at a time. My husband will finish his meal in one third the time it takes me. It doesn’t seem to bother him.

[green pastures]

You mean you can eat more than one french at a time?

Who knew!

[Lokibob]

Go to my FRprofile (my name below), and about 1/2 way down the profile is a story called “Green M&M’s”.

.....Bob

[vietvet67]

An old man and a young man work together in an office. The old man always has a jar of peanuts on his desk, and the young man really loves peanuts.

One day, while the old man is away from his desk, the young man yields to temptation and scarfs down over half of the contents of the jar. When the old man returns, the young man feels guilty and confesses to his crime.

“Don’t worry, son. I never eat the peanuts anyway,” the old man replies. “Since I lost my teeth, all I can do is gum chocolate off the M&M’s.”

[ThomasThomas]

I saw something about this on cable TV. But, I wasn’t interested so I did remember what they said. Food network has all these answers and more. Maybe it was just the regular M&M’s not peanut butter. This also might very by country. If you go to their website you can order only the colors you want.

[taxtruth]

Call the company and ask them.I’m sure they will have a better answer than anyone posting.

[OB1kNOb]

Why can't they balance the colors? There's always at least one under represented color. My package has 6 blue, 6 orange, 5 green, 4 brown, 3 yellow, and only 2 red.

Repression from the majority orange and greens, obviously. The greens breed like rabbits and will join the majority by 2030. The browns do the jobs that the blue and orange won't do. The yellows and reds are mired in the past and practice permanent victimhood and want to be handed majority status without earning it.

Either that, or the machines fill the bags randomly color-wise. Not sure which.

[HamiltonJay]

#3 M&Ms for packaging are dumped into a hopper, they are then packaged by weight, not by color distribution. Now whether or not all colors are equally represented in the hopper to begin with, have no idea, suppose its possible they make fewer of one color than another if that color costs more to make.

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

Most “scientists” are bottle washers and button sorters.

Robert Heinlein

[mass55th]

I don’t know. I’m diabetic and can’t eat them, so consider yourself lucky and don’t worry about the little stuff.