Can Clean Up

I recently purchased a lot of old cans.  They had been in a semi-damp and dusty basement for who-knows-how-long.  The corroded condition of some of the cans initially concerned me, but after using warm water and an old toothbrush on one of them, I feel a lot more confident that these cans can easily be cleaned up to look good in my collection.  Below is the straight steel White Rock tea can from the 1970's that I cleaned up.

After

Before

Before

After

Monster Vs Monster

USA                                 Canada

I was recently given a Monster Absolutely Zero from Canada.  I already had one from the USA.  So I decided to compare the two cans to see what the similarities/differences are.  And here they are.

The first difference is the "Zero Calories" on the front of the Canadian can.  And near the bottom is printed the can size, 473mL in metric for Canada and 16 FL OZ for America's Old English measurement (why change now?).  The tops of the two cans have the same light blue Monster tabs.

The back of the cans are quite different.  The American can is split into two columns, the left being the nutritional content/ingredients and the right being a story about why they made Absolutely Zero.  The Canadian can has one column which contains information and ingredients printed in both English and French. 

USA

Canada

Another difference between the cans is the drink's purpose.  In America, it's labeled as an energy supplement.  In Canada, it's labeled as a natural health product (or produit de sante naturel.)  Also note on the Canadian can its "recommended dose for adults" is "Drink 1 can per day as needed."  It's probably just how they've worded it, but that sounds like something on a medicine bottle here in the States.

The Canadian can doesn't have the nutritional chart that the American one has.  And although both cans list the ingredients, the Canadian can breaks the list into "medicinal ingredients" and "non-medicinal ingredients," again making it sound like an energy drink you'd buy at a pharmacy. 

And if this post wasn't enough reading for you, then sit back and enjoy the story on why Monster created its Absolutely Zero flavor...

Souvenirs from Canada

I had a pleasant surprise this past weekend.  A family friend stopped by to give me two cans she bought for me on her trip to Vermilion Bay, Ontario.  These are not my first cans from Canada.  But what's neat about it is I didn't know this person even knew I collected cans. 

Canadian Pepper

In an upcoming post I am going to compare the American version of the Monster Absolutely Zero can to the Canadian version.  The differences aren't real big, but there are some things I'd like to point out.  So stay tuned for... "Monster Vs Monster"!!!

Canadian Monster

Don't Forget to Check Craigslist

Shelf 1 - left

A search for soda cans in my area on Craigslist rarely turns up anything.  So I was surprised two days ago when I checked (for the first time in a long time) while getting ready for work and found a listing that had been posted just several hours earlier. 

Shelf 1 - center

The listing said, "800+ cans ($50)."  It was both soda and beer cans.  And it was only about 15 miles from where I work.  I didn't want to call the phone number at 5:45am, so I waited until I got to work and settled in.  Then I called and found out I was the first caller!  I could either pick them up that day or Friday (today).  I didn't have the cash on me and my car wasn't big enough, so I said I'd be there today.

Shelf 1 - right

So this afternoon, with money in hand and at the wheel of my wife's mini-van, I headed to the house on my lunch break.  The family who had lived in the house moved and left what they didn't want to take with them, which included this can collection.  The guy who listed the cans said his company empties houses.  When they saw the cans, his coworkers wanted to recycle them but he thought a collector may want them, that's why he put it on Craigslist.  I was at the right place at the right time.  For once. 

You can tell from these pics the owner had a nice setup.  He'd built plenty of shelves to display his collection.  The crew that was there emptying the house was kind enough to provide boxes and even helped me carry them to the van.

Shelf 2 - top

One of the guys that was disassembling a glass display case saw a couple of old Schaefer beer cans and said it reminded him of his grandpa who used to drink that brand.  I told him to take them.  I don't collect beer cans.  I might try to use the ones I got today to trade for more soda cans.  Anyway, he was very grateful.

After the wife and kids were in bed tonight, I sneaked out to the garage and separated the beer cans from the soda cans.  I took some better group photos of the soda cans.  Eventually I will take individual pictures and get them on my main collection site. 

Shelf 2 - bottom

Final count on soda cans:  726.  And probably a couple hundred beer cans.  It's funny that last
week marked the two-year anniversary of when I started collecting cans. 

Shelf 3 - left

I mentioned I had hoped to have 3000 cans but fell a couple hundred short.  And now a week later, I have around 3500 cans!

Thanks for making your lists, Craig!

Shelf 3 - right

Two Year Anniversary

It was two years ago today that I decided to start a soda can collection.  In case you missed them, here are a couple of relevant posts:

My first post on this blog
My one-year anniversary post

My official collection website currently says I have just under 2400 cans.  I also have around 300 I haven't put on the site yet.  I had hoped to hit 3000 by now but I'm happy with what I have.

It's hard to tell what the next year will bring, but I know I'll keep grabbing those cans I don't have!

A Truckload

Yes, those bags are full of soda cans!!!

But I didn't know who owned the truck or where the owner was, so I had to hold back the tears and keep walking.  Who knows how many cans I could have scored from that find?  But as I always say... another big find will eventually come along!