Case (goods)

A case of some merchandise is a collection of items packaged together. In the United States, typically a standard case contains a certain number of items depending on what the merchandise is. For consumer foodstuffs such as canned goods, soda, cereal and such, a case is typically 24 items, however cases may range from 12 to 36, typically in multiples of six. For larger bottles such as gallon jugs, a case is typically 4. The standard case for 32 oz bottles of soda and Powerade contains 15 bottles due to their peculiar shape and size. Cases of video tape are typically packed 10 to a case, and so on. A case of wine is composed of 12 bottles. A case is not a strict unit of measure and can be big enough to accommodate a dram or an hectare and small enough to cover a milligram. Cases are also known for carrying pizzas and barrels (à la Crate & Barrel).

The term case binding in the book manufacturing industry refers to a collection of pages contained in a case which is attached to it. (There are also cases for books e.g. slipcases which merely enclose a book.) The original case is often now called simply the binding, although the integrated manufacturing process still uses the term case to refer to the hard cover and spine.

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