Containers

Why the median is the wrong number

On this page11

The number of fitting closures per container is not smoothly distributed Which happens because the neck finishes are concentrated And that makes the median unstable Twelve extra rows moved it a whole step So both medians are correct and quoting either alone would mislead Which is the general lesson and it applies well beyond this table The distribution itself is short enough to quote in full And it answers a different and better question Catalog-wide the fan-out is wider and the same caution applies Nothing on these pages reports a median on this shelf without the distribution References

61 or 36, depending on which population you take. Neither is wrong and neither is useful.

The number of fitting closures per container is not smoothly distributed

It arrives in spikes. 56 containers have 67 fitting closures. Another 56 have 61. 36 have 36. 16 have 27. 12 have 17. And 18 have exactly one.

Which happens because the neck finishes are concentrated

Two finishes carry 56 containers each on this shelf, and every container on one of those finishes sees the same set of closures. So the count is a property of the finish rather than of the container.

And that makes the median unstable

Across the 216 containers that share a notation with a closure here, the median is 61. Across the 228 that have any recorded fit, it is 36.

Twelve extra rows moved it a whole step

The twelve round tubs have one to three fits each. Adding them to the bottom of the population shifts the midpoint by six positions, and six positions is enough to cross from one spike to the next.

So both medians are correct and quoting either alone would mislead

A reader told the median is 36 would picture a shelf where a typical container has a few dozen options. A reader told 61 would picture twice that. The shelf is actually a small number of distinct situations.

Which is the general lesson and it applies well beyond this table

A median summarizes a distribution on the assumption that the distribution has a middle. Where the values arrive in a handful of large spikes, the midpoint lands arbitrarily between them.

The distribution itself is short enough to quote in full

Six values cover 194 of the 228 containers. Printing those six is both more accurate and no longer than printing a median and a range.

And it answers a different and better question

Not how many closures a typical container has, but how many situations exist on this shelf. The answer is about six, which is a planning fact rather than a statistic.

Catalog-wide the fan-out is wider and the same caution applies

Between 1 and 109 closures per container, averaging 50. An average across a spiked distribution is weaker than a median, and the median is already weak here.

Nothing on these pages reports a median on this shelf without the distribution

Which is a rule adopted on this property because of what this measurement showed, and it is worth carrying to the other shelves.

References

The Davis Pack Supply catalog, measured 19 October 2026. The number of on-shelf fitting closures per container is distributed in spikes rather than smoothly: 56 containers have 67, another 56 have 61, 36 have 36, 16 have 27, 12 have 17 and 18 have exactly 1. Because two spikes of 56 sit either side of the midpoint, the median moves a whole step between the 216 containers that share a neck notation and the 228 that have any recorded fit, from 61 to 36, purely because twelve low-count rows were added to the population.

The Davis Pack Supply catalog, measured 19 October 2026. On this shelf the fit table records 9,273 pairs in which both the container and the closure are on the shelf. Those pairs reach 228 of the 251 containers, with between 1 and 67 fitting closures each, and use 257 of the 288 closures, leaving 31 closures that fit nothing here and 23 containers with no recorded fit at all. None of the 9,273 rows records a basis. 216 of the containers record a neck finish that at least one closure here also records, and for all 216 the number of recorded fits equals the number of same-notation closures exactly. A further 12 containers have a recorded fit while recording no neck finish at all, and all twelve are polypropylene round tubs.

Written from 16 U.S.C. 3372 and from the catalog as it stood on 19 October 2026. That section is the Lacey Act prohibition and it makes a federal offense out of trade in fish, wildlife or plants taken in violation of other law; it does not govern hooks, swivels, sinkers or beads, and nothing here says it does. Nothing here states whether lead tackle is lawful in any jurisdiction, which varies and is not in this record, and nothing here is guidance about fishing or licensing. A closure recorded as fitting a container shares a neck notation in the supplier record, which is not a test of fit. This shelf is shared identically by nine groups and the sewing notions property enumerates the inventory.