Last year for tab top production?

[Dammit Jim!]

I tried searching online for the last year of tab top production tonight, and found many incorrect answers out there. Found several that stated 1975, but that's when the stay tab was patented, not the year that it took over. I have dated cans from the second half of the 80's with tab tops, so they were produced at least until then, I'm guessing that they could have been around into the early '90's. Anyone have a definitive date on this?

Thanks!

[Uncle Jackson]

As part of the team that is adding these late cans to USBC II, I am seeing a lot of these. Unfortunately, The book did not include many of the 80’s tab tops. Every show I go to, I find another half dozen we need to document. Many of the have a multi-crimp top. Many are from the larger breweries. That makes me wonder if there were some states that did not allow the sta-tabs until later. Also, I find very few, if any, that have a government warning with a tab top. I would use that date as the end of the tab tops.

As part of this issue, I have been asking around to find out if anyone can relid aluminum cans. Art LaComb says he knows of no one and presumes these cans are too difficult to do and there would be a very limited market for these.

If you know of cans with tab tops and government warnings, I would like to know.

Thanx.

[waste-man]

I think government warning came out in 1989. I remember my Dad getting stay top beer cans and he hated them. He would pull the stay tops off in disgust and would put them back in the can before he took a sip. He passes away in 1979 so this was 1978 or 1979. So Minneaota got stay tabs in the late 70s

[oldindiapaleale]

The Alcoholic Beverage Labeling Act of 1988 was signed into law on November 18, 1988. The industry was given one year to apply the warning to all containers. So, a transition period existed from November 1988 (earliest) to November 1989 (mandatory).

Subpart C - Health Warning Statement Requirements for Alcoholic Beverages

§ 16.20 General.

(a) Domestic products. On and after November 18, 1989, no person shall bottle for sale or distribution in the United States any alcoholic beverage unless the container of such beverage bears the health warning statement required by § 16.21. It is the responsibility of the bottler to provide, upon request, sufficient evidence to establish that the alcoholic beverage was bottled prior to November 18, 1989.

(b) Imported products. On and after November 18, 1989, no person shall import for sale or distribution in the United States any alcoholic beverage unless the container of such beverage bears the health warning statement required by § 16.21. This requirement does not apply to alcoholic beverages that were bottled in the foreign country prior to November 18, 1989. It is the responsibility of the importer to provide, upon request, sufficient evidence to establish that the alcoholic beverage was bottled prior to such date.

[Dammit Jim!]

My assumption is that as more states outlawed pull tabs, brewers would eventually switch all of their cans over instead of carrying two different types of lids, and eventually the can companies just stopped making them as the demand dropped too low to be profitable enough. It sounds like 1989 is our date as the end of the pull tab unless someone finds evidence to move the needle one way or another.

I tried looking in the old BCCA Newsletters to see if I could find the some evidence in the new cans that were coming out, but 1985-1989 haven't been uploaded yet. They keep adding more, so hopefully the answer exists in those years. I looked at November/December 1984 at the new cans and some had pull tabs at that point. I also looked at January/February 1990, but the lids aren't visible in the pictures. Interestingly enough, in neither issue did they mention what tops were on the cans, even though both were present in 1984. The "new" government warning was mentioned on most of the new cans in 1990.

[renokenn]

Randy Ks BMV has the BCCA news for the years you are looking for

http://www.mbcinfo.com/BMV

[Dammit Jim!]

Randy Ks BMV has the BCCA news for the years you are looking for

http://www.mbcinfo.com/BMV

Thanks! I'll have to dig through there and see what I can find

[MI-Cans]

@Dammit Jim!
Nothing definitive but I would tend to agree that sometime in 1990 may have been the drop dead date for the switch to take place.

I reasoned this out by looking at my Iola Car Show Set. From 1982 through 2016 they issued 38 cans, at least one each year and a couple years with double cans issued.

UPC's did not show up on the cans until 1992 (maybe original sales were at show site only).

Cans identified with A or B were issued the same year. Here's the cans without a Gov't Warning 1982 through 1989. Notice however that 1987, 1988 and 1989 are already fitted with stay tabs.

Click to enlarge.

1982 - Pull Tab - No Gov't Warning
1983A - Pull Tab - No Gov't Warning
1983B - Pull Tab - No Gov't Warning
1984 - Pull Tab - No Gov't Warning
1985 - Pull Tab - No Gov't Warning
1896 - Pull Tab - No Gov't Warning
1987 - Stay Tab - No Gov't Warning
1988 - Stay Tab - No Gov't Warning
1989 - Stay Tab - No Gov't Warning

Starting in 1990, they had the Gov't Warning on each can and the requisite stay tab.

Click to enlarge.

1990 - Stay Tab - Gov't Warning
1991 - Stay Tab - Gov't Warning
1992A - Stay Tab - Gov't Warning
1992B - Stay Tab - Gov't Warning
1993A - Stay Tab - Gov't Warning
1993B - Stay Tab - Gov't Warning
1994 - Stay Tab - Gov't Warning
1995 - Stay Tab - Gov't Warning
1996 - Stay Tab - Gov't Warning

This could reinforce the Nov 18th date as posted by @oldindiapaleale.

(MI-Cans)

[clark]

I distinctly remember when I was in college in 84-86 and I was building the typical pull tab chains for dorm decorations. The odd thing is that during this time all of the soda cans had sta-tabs but most beer cans still had pull tabs - does anybody have any insight as to why the 2 industries were out of sync?

[waste-man]

I am guessing it was for the children. Who cares if drunken slobs swallows a sharp metal object....but if a bunch of kids do.....that's something different

[Joe Older]

I distinctly remember when I was in college in 84-86 and I was building the typical pull tab chains for dorm decorations. The odd thing is that during this time all of the soda cans had sta-tabs but most beer cans still had pull tabs - does anybody have any insight as to why the 2 industries were out of sync?

I'm guessing it was economics. Think back to those years, before craft breweries were really on the scene (and those few that were didn't can beer yet), all the small, regional breweries were just trying to stay in business against the giants. I'm guessing sta-tabs cost a bit more than pulls, most new innovations cost more. But even if was only a penny or less, that could still add up to thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars of savings. (And remember, $1 in 1986 is $2.64 today when you take inflation into account.) To a small brewer that savings could be what kept you in business for another year.