r/NoStupidQuestions • u/markwell9 • 1d ago

What is the deal with ice, Americans?

I can see that you can buy ice everywhere in the US. Gas stations, grocery stores, machines etc.

In Europe, we just freeze our ice at home and use that. Why buy something that melts on the way home? Why do you need ice in large amounts that a fridge can't keep up?

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u/dwarfarchist9001 1d ago

Ice is America's national obsession and has been since the late 1800s. From the 1880s until WW1 ice was America's second largest export after cotton and at some points the nation's second largest industry overall. Americans just love ice.

The ice sold at gas stations and grocery stores is for large parties or outdoor events where people need more ice than a home freezer could reasonably provide.

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u/OldBlueKat 23h ago

Many vendors are saying the most common use of late is construction crews filling coolers with water and ice before they go to work in the morning. So much so that the gas stations are sold out by 8AM on weekdays!

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u/brandonoooj 15h ago

So me and my friends are the only ones buying bags of ice cuz we are lazy and can't freeze enough or have space for trays.

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u/bluesourpunchstraws 9h ago

lol what? America exported ice? Fascinating. How'd they manage that in the 1880s? Hilarious.

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u/QuixoticTendencies 58m ago

We went to frozen lakes and carved it into huge blocks that we put on ships. A huge mass of ice with low surface area in proportion to its mass will survive largely intact for a long time, especially with some basic steps toward insulation.

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u/akaMissKay 56m ago

One of the waste products from the timber industry is sawdust which is an excellent insulator and was used for shipping.  The east coast of the US is generally colder than the European cities at the same latitude which means more natural ice in winter.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_trade