One reason the company turned to the new shape was because the square gallons resulted in less wasted space on the delivery trucks than the original shape, said Kevin McGillis, operations manager for Sam’s Club, 2925 Towne Centre Blvd. in Lansing.

“The square shape allows for more milk to be delivered at one time, cutting costs for us and well as for the consumer,” McGillis said.

The price of the square gallon is 10 to 20 cents cheaper than it was for the normal gallon shape, he said.

JoAnn Hines, a packaging expert from Georgia, said though the new packaging shape may look great on paper, many consumers do not like it.

“While it may be cheaper for the retailer to produce, the customer is the ultimate deciding factor, and if they do not like it, they are not going to buy it,” Hines said.

Lansing resident Carol Bartel was one Sam’s Club shopper that said she’d prefer to have the old milk jug shape back.

“The new shape I think is useless,” Bartel said. “It’s more difficult to pour, and you really have to get used to it if you don’t want to get milk all over the floor.”

Bartel, who said she was excited to try the new jug out at first, said her excitement has now turned to disappointment.

“I am all about making life easier and helping to save the planet, but the hassle of dealing with this is just not worth it to me,” she said.

The new square jug is now shipped in pallets, instead of carts, which allow the delivery truck to hold about 10 percent more milk, and allow for easier storage, McGillis said.

Maximizing space on delivery trucks is a priority for retailers, said Bruce Harte, an MSU packaging professor.

“When just a little more space can be used on each delivery truck, that translates into millions of extra products being delivered for the company,” Harte said.

The number of milk deliveries each week have been cut in half, said Dominic Fuller, a sales associate at Sam’s Club.

“Now we only get about one or two deliveries per week, and not only is that more convenient for (the workers) who stock the milk, but it is also helping the environment by cutting down on harmful emissions from delivery trucks,” he said.

The amount of space that a product takes up on a shelf, known as the retail footprint, is what Hines said retailers are looking at when it comes to the packaging of their products.

Products such as ultra-concentrated laundry detergent comes in smaller containers and takes up less space on the shelves than traditional detergent, Hines said.

“It is cheaper to produce and transport because less plastic is being used, but due to the price it still costs the consumer more per load of laundry,” she said.

Hines said Campbell’s soup or other condensed soup brands are really the more environmentally-friendly products because they are shipped without water, creating less weight in transportation which saves money and also helps the environment.