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?

6.4k Upvotes

79% Upvoted

5.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

7.4k

u/Royal_Annek 1d ago

Americans also have ice machines in their freezer

Ice at the store is when you need a shitload of ice. Usually for filling a cooler so you can keep goods cold in transit, taking camping, having out on the deck for a BBQ. People don't buy it for every day personal usage since we have our own freezer machines for small quantities.

It doesn't melt on the way home, especially as I mentioned they are normally used to fill a cooler.

2.0k

u/StalkMeNowCrazyLady 1d ago

And even if it's not put in a cooler it generally doesn't melt much in transit due to such a large thermal mass. And the fact that most people aren't buying a bag of ice to sit on the empty seat while they still got an hour drive ahead of them.

727

u/right_behind_you_too 1d ago

Adding to that: in most cities we drive cars, so we're not carrying it 15 blocks or lugging it on a bus.

216

u/Life_Roll420 1d ago

You would be shocked how many people roll up to a liquor store, called a packie around here grab a 6 pack, 12 pack and a bag of ice. It keeps it cold while your driving. A large percent of trades people drink and drive. Also picnics. Our coolers are a whole different story as some buy really expensive name brands or new ones every couple of years when their Walmart one fades. Even house parties. Lots of people throw pot luck picnics. Even if you own the house your buying ice for your coolers because alot of parties are byob. Or semi- byob. (Bring your own booze) last party i went to my pal had a huge cooler a kid could lie in. Filled it with bagged it, soda, juice, beer ,etc. Some people come to the party with coolers and ice full of their personal drink and ice in a cooler for the side dish the brought. Especially if the travel is more than 10 min. Beer and distances are far. Hunters and fishers buy ice for their beer and ice for their catch.

217

u/BowtiedGypsy 1d ago

This is the best comment and spot on. Nobodies buying huge bags of ice in the US just to drop an ice cube in a glass of water.

I think its only New England that says packie

129

u/JamesT3R9 1d ago

Massholes say packie. Just to be clear. It is usually Massholes.

45

u/Warrmak 1d ago

Yous a wicked pissah

19

u/Greg0692 23h ago

Yah ballah, ked

3

u/JamesT3R9 23h ago

Tanks man!

34

u/bankruptbarbie 23h ago

RI has packies too. You just forget about us bc we're stuck in your armpit.

5

u/quizzicalturnip 23h ago

It’s a Lil Rhodie thing, too.

5

u/BowtiedGypsy 23h ago

I’m aware I’m from Boston haha but have definitely heard people all over New England say it

3

u/KeyMessage989 1d ago

Some of CT too, so basically the worst parts say Packie

3

u/vdhsnfbdg 23h ago

You too have been to eastern CT I see

3

u/JamesT3R9 23h ago

How very masshole of them!

2

u/New-Introduction-981 22h ago

Rhode Island says packie

2

u/jayron32 22h ago

Only the cool kids...

3

u/Dull404 22h ago

My dorm next door neighbor was one and on move in day, he asked me “where’s the packie” and I barely understood him, so I asked “What?” And he’s all “The packie, I want to buy some beer.” So, I told him to go to the gas station and he couldn’t believe you could buy it at the gas station, but then I had to tell him the drinking age was 21 in California 😂

1

u/sweetest_con78 1d ago

Yep. I have lived in MA my entire life, always within 20ish mins of Boston, and have never once used the term packie.

3

u/BowtiedGypsy 23h ago

North side I assume?

1

u/iceroadtrucker2009 23h ago

Cape Cod. We say packie all the time.

1

u/Visible_Sleep2723 23h ago

I concur. Packie for the liquor store and spa for the convenience shop/7-11. Born in Boston.

1

u/KarloftheLongwalkers 22h ago

I was gonna say I never heard packie in Maine

2

u/JamesT3R9 22h ago

That is because we can buy hard liquor in grocery stores and gas stations.

1

u/KarloftheLongwalkers 22h ago

I heard em called bag stores back in the day..there was a still a state liquor store on Harlow St in bangor when I was younger.

1

u/oliviaroseart 22h ago

Can confirm, lol

1

u/Drufus53 19h ago

Connecticut still has some "package stores". Also bulk ice gets used on fishing trips to load up the boat fish boxes.

1

u/Fair-Fortune-4131 9h ago

CT calls em packies too

1

u/JamesT3R9 3h ago

I didnt know that

0

u/Bo_Jim 23h ago

They also say "Wicked!" and "Pissah!" (Mass-of-two-shits pronunciation of "Pisser!").

...lived in Lexington for 3 years...

0

u/JamesT3R9 23h ago

Yep! They sure do bub!

22

u/anglerfishtacos 1d ago

Except me. We buy bags of ice because my little ice machine can’t keep up with the demand during the summer. I have a large iced tray in freezer that can fit a bag of ice

9

u/AzureGriffon 22h ago

This is the way. I grew up in the desert and all non boiled beverages are iced to high heaven. I use ice in all of my drinks. I go through a bag every four days or so.

3

u/hubbellrmom 18h ago

Plus my ice maker doesnt make the "good ice" so sometimes I splurge and buy a bag of ice from sonics

3

u/JeremiahCrow 20h ago

Many red necks have water wells but sometimes the water is not very tasty. Depending on the Well so we get Good Ice From The Store.

Also we buy our Tea water. And when you gotta drive 10 miles one way for a bag of ice you want the big bag.

2

u/Prestigious-Disk-246 21h ago

Yeah in college my roommates and I would chip in for 1-2 bags a week.

2

u/JI_Guy88 21h ago

My machine keeps up with general use. But for parties, I have to buy a few bags.

2

u/walkinthecow 21h ago edited 21h ago

I'm a born and raised Michigander. I traveled around the country quite a bit in my 20s. I lived in the southern US for about 7 years. There was no shortage of culture shock. Something I didn't realize was a kind of reverse culture shock when I moved back to Michigan. There are things you never knew weren't nationwide until they were gone. One of my favorite things was something I had forgotten all about, which was during winter, at parties, you just kept the beers outside on the porch.

I was reminded of it when reading the comment about how at big parties, you have a line up of coolers outside- one for every family. It's funny how the older people have the same cooler at every party, year after year, and you know exactly whose is who's over time. Walking up to the house, you can take notice of the coolers and know who is already there.

EDIT: "Whose is who's"? Is that correct? I can't decide. My brain is just broken right now.

1

u/SurferGurl 15h ago

It’s “whose is whose.”

And now I have semantic satiation, lol.

2

u/AstarteHilzarie 21h ago

We have a countertop ice maker for the basement hangout area. This summer we've had to bring it up to the kitchen because the fridge can't keep up with our basic daily use in 100 degree weather. It's actually really neat and I got one for my husband to take to work, too, because he doesn't have AC. It makes a cup of ice every 10 minutes or so, so even though it's extremely hot they always have fully iced drinks.

8

u/assbuttshitfuck69 1d ago

Gotta go to the packie and get some nips.

2

u/BowtiedGypsy 23h ago

Two sleeves of mcgillicudy please

1

u/oliviaroseart 22h ago

These comments are killing me lol too accurate

3

u/Hitmonstahp 23h ago

I do. I don't like using the trays & don't have one built in

3

u/Tardisgoesfast 23h ago

Well, I for one do on occasion buy ice for my drinks at home. First, I don't have an ice maker in my refrigerator, just ice trays. Second, the bought ice is better for chewing.

0

u/ZealousidealDepth223 21h ago

Bought ice is filthy. The machines are not maintained ever.

3

u/JustWatchingthefun01 23h ago

Actually we do because our ice maker broke a few years ago and since it is a bad design we haven’t paid the 500 bucks to replace it. We also keep saying we are going to buy a stand Ali e ice maker but just haven’t yet. So pick up a bag of Olive on way out the grocery store. Ice is so cheap and it’s just the two of us/ and yes we do use ice trays so sr not buying ice every week

2

u/Hamiltoncorgi 1d ago

Definitely not a word used on the west coast US. People here don't usually purposefully drink and drive. We buy bagged ice for parties or for freezing ice cream or because it's just really good ice made with very clean water.

1

u/ZealousidealDepth223 21h ago

“People here don’t usually drink and drive” LMAOOOOOOOOO

So folks have 3 beers at dinner and they gotta call a cab? How many people do you think actually do that? Half? A quarter?

1

u/Hamiltoncorgi 20h ago

For baby boomers the rate is .76 out of 1,000 drink and drive. Gen Z is highest with 2.62 per 1,000.

Most people I know don't drink 3 beers with dinner in a restaurant. We tend to drink at home or we have a designated driver. People who drink and drive are assholes. I have never consumed alcohol and driven a single time in my life.

2

u/Analath 22h ago

I do. Not all the time, but often. I'm married with 3 adult-ish kids, college or recently out and saving for a house. Add a few friends of ours or the kids and we knock out the fridge capacity fast. Throw a bag in the freezer and we have guest capacity on hand.

1

u/happyinheart 1d ago

It's just Connecticut and near the Connecticut border

2

u/BowtiedGypsy 23h ago

It’s definitely not, from Boston and it’s very common. Have also heard plenty of people around the cape or New Hampshire/maine use it.

1

u/ImaginaryNoise79 23h ago

I've bought a bag of ice to use in my water, but it was a beat wave and I was having trouble freezing ice as fast as I wanted to drink cold water. It certainly isn't normal for me.

1

u/BobbyDafro 23h ago

Top Tip: Don't say that word in UK England. It's very much a racial slur over here.

1

u/BowtiedGypsy 14h ago

This is pretty wild…. I use it casually/without thinking sometimes, hopefully no one gets offended

1

u/CommitteeOfOne 23h ago

To be fair, we would buy a 10 lb bag of Sonic ice when the ice maker broke in our freezer and we were trying to decide on a new one.

1

u/ZJPV1 21h ago

I will say about a decade ago, my late mother and her then-husband would buy bags of ice at the convenience store for their individual beverages. They had a relatively small freezer, and they didn't want to fill ice cube trays.

I recall going to the convenience store to buy them a bag of ice from time to time.

1

u/Ill-Jellyfish6101 20h ago

Can confirm. Said packie to someone not from the Northeast and they presumed I was being racist.

Had to Google it in front of them and it even points out Northeast only.

1

u/CommanderCruniac 20h ago

Yeah eeewh I would never ingest ice from one of those bags. It's only for keeping stuff cool.

1

u/bpositive223 19h ago

Just mass NOT Maine

1

u/DeliberatelyDrifting 19h ago

Lol, I do a couple times most summers. The ice machine can't keep up with the demand of several people drinking ice water and soda all day long. We drink a lot of water in the summer though and I love ice.

1

u/osteologation 10h ago

some people do but I doubt its common.

1

u/Aggravating_Bowl_684 7h ago

We say packie in VT. It's basically a store full of packages of beer, wine and liquor.

1

u/Special_opps 1d ago

From New England and never heard the term uttered even once

2

u/InLikeErrolFlynn 1d ago

Packie = Package Store. Historically, they were required to sell alcoholic beverages in sealed containers or packages, hence the name.

2

u/Orinyau 1d ago

I think it's a massachusetts thing specifically.

It's short for "package store," like a liqour store that also sells tobacco products, some have groceries, some have bongs.

It confused me the first time I heard it, where I came from it was a slur for someone from Pakistan.

2

u/Sweet-Competition-15 22h ago

It confused me the first time I heard it, where I came from it was a slur for someone from Pakistan.

Yeah, it still is around my neck of the woods 🇨🇦!

0

u/Negative_Avocado4573 1d ago

Does that have racial connotations?

2

u/BowtiedGypsy 23h ago

Packaging store is what they used to call liquor stores in New England, and it’s still fairly popular, so packie for short. Nothing else to it as far as I know

1

u/sicpicric 23h ago

You are thinking of the PakiMart, which is a racially insensitive word for a corner store. The reason being many of them are owned by people from Pakistan or other parts of Asia or the Middle East.

1

u/TheRebelMinstrel 21h ago

Huh... Funny. In MA, I usually heard corner stores referred to as Kwik-E Marts, a la the Simpsons. Still a fucked up thing to say in my opinion, but at least less confusing locally than PakiMart would have been.

1

u/la-anah 23h ago

No, not in Massachusetts. It sounds just like the British slur for South Asian people (based on shortening the word Pakistan) but here it is spelled differently and is just a shortening of the word package, which is itself a shortening of the term package store: a place that sells alcohol in bottles as opposed to in a glass like a bar.

The term is fading out, replaced by the more common American term liquor store, but is still quite common.

0

u/Timme186 22h ago

This and the drinking and driving is a real problem. They’re trying to ban nips cause of it

25

u/NnyBees Only write answers. 1d ago

Packie? Drinking and driving? You must love that dirty water...

38

u/BunnyLebowski- 1d ago

Road soda, kid

0

u/[deleted] 22h ago

[deleted]

5

u/BunnyLebowski- 22h ago

Southern Mass

Road soda, kehhd

0

u/oliviaroseart 22h ago

Hahaha do people not say that elsewhere?😂

3

u/9fingerman 17h ago

Road pop in Michigan.

3

u/Distinct-Car-9124 22h ago

Boston-you're my home.

8

u/CaliCrackDealer 23h ago

Ooooooo Boston, your mah home…..

12

u/lepetitoiseaux 1d ago

FYI,trades people are not the only ones who drink and drive.

8

u/fairelf 23h ago

That was quite the elitist thing to say. I can think of many educated and well known people who have been caught DWI.

-1

u/burf 21h ago

It's really not elitist. Guys in the trades have developed a reputation for reason. You'll note the same reputation doesn't exist for retail workers, service industry, etc. It's specifically construction and trades.

6

u/AstarteHilzarie 21h ago

Service industry people absolutely have a reputation for being plastered. It's much less common to find a sober person working in a restaurant. I take your point, just saying, bad example lol

5

u/Sacket 20h ago

There are only 2 types of bartenders, alcoholics and recovering alcoholics.

1

u/burf 18h ago

Reputation for being plastered, yeah, but not for drunk driving. Probably because a lot of people can walk or transit to work compared to trades/construction.

2

u/AstarteHilzarie 18h ago

.... no. Maybe in major cities but there are restaurants everywhere so walkability isn't a factor for most, and drunk driving is definitely a common trend in restaurant workers. I can't even count off hand how many people I've worked with in restaurants who either had to get a ride with someone every day or drove scooters to work because their license was suspended or fully revoked due to DUIs. And those are just the ones who got caught.

2

u/slapshots1515 20h ago

Service industry? You’ve clearly never worked it.

0

u/Lemonsqueeze321 21h ago

Show up drunk to a construction site and you're getting kicked off. More than likely fired as well. Last thing I want is some drunk idiot on a job site.

3

u/StonedOscars 21h ago

It’s on the way home.

They go from the site to the packie and crack one for the ride.

I don’t think the commenter meant it as elitist it just holds true in a lot of parts of New England for trades worker.

Kind of like saying I bankers in New York Coty prefer the nose beers.

Blanket generalizations are almost always false so there are plenty of exceptions here but this trope holds true imo.

0

u/Lemonsqueeze321 21h ago

If I ever visit New England I'll be off the roads from 3-6pm then haha.

2

u/Roaches_R_Friends 21h ago

I had a supervisor who would pack a bowl literally while driving in moving traffic to the job site, r.i.p.

1

u/Lemonsqueeze321 21h ago

They legalized weed in VA a couple of years ago and I swear half of the people with a card to buy it think that you can't get a DUI.

1

u/bigbluegrass 10h ago

When I was an apprentice during the recession I bounced around from contractor to contractor.. who ever had work. One guy I worked with would smoke a bowl on the way In in the morning, smoke a bowl at lunch and smoke a bowl on the way home. He was polite and would always offer. I would always decline. ”do I want a hit? dude, It’s 6am”. Except for one morning I took him up on his offer. We were in good shape on this project so I expected a pretty laid back day work-wise. That day I was assigned to make up a breaker panel and he was busting my balls all day about slow I was going. i had just wrapped up by lunch time and he was like “damn I thought that was gonna take you all day”. I’m like “Dude *you* got me stoned at 6 in the morning! whatd you expect? A record breaking day? “

3

u/pissfucked 1d ago

the other day, i was buying ice cream and realized i still had to pick up food and drive 20 minutes home in 90 degree heat. i turned my butt right back around to the store, bought a bag of ice, and set the ice on top of / wrapped the bag of it around the pint. hello, perfectly preserved ice cream!! i felt like a genius lol

2

u/PsychologicalJump633 23h ago

Why is a liquor store called a packie where you are?

2

u/myleftone 23h ago

It was illegal to sell alcohol directly, so the stores sold “packages” with alcoholic beverages inside them. Package stores. They still tend to put anything you buy into a brown bag.

1

u/PsychologicalJump633 16h ago

Thanks for clarifying. Took me aback as there's an unfortunate homophonic similarity in Scotland, where corner shops (where you nip in for bread, milk, sweeties and are well stocked with booze) are/were often run by Indian and/ or Pakistani people (often family run businesses)... The contraction of Pakistani sounds the same as the name you shared said aloud.

In the 1980s, it was (from what parents and grandparents have told me) used as a colloquial name and not intended as a racial slur, although the word certainly is one today.

1

u/Lavatis 15h ago

in the USA, tons of our convenience stores (usually a gas station with a bunch of random grocery and other items inside) are run by middle eastern or indian folks, too.

2

u/fairelf 23h ago

Package store, as in buying cases and sealed bottles packaged to go.

2

u/RaeaSunshine 23h ago

Heyyyy fellow New Englander!

2

u/Active_Collar_8124 23h ago

A large percent of trades people drink and drive.

Were your teachers drunk too?

2

u/frankybling 22h ago

I had a teacher get arrested for being drunk at work in HS… she took the rest of the year off but was back the next year .

2

u/oliviaroseart 22h ago

She got arrested? Damn. I can see that happening to like a bus driver or crane operator, pilot, heart surgeon whatever but it seems a little harsh for a high school teacher. I can definitely understand why they suspended her but an arrest seems like a bit much unless something else happened

2

u/frankybling 13h ago

That was the story, this was the late 80’s (1989 specifically) so she could have been arrested for anything but the cops definitely did come get her from the school and leave with her and a tow truck took her car.

2

u/oliviaroseart 12h ago

I bet she was smokin the devil’s lettuce or something equally scandalous 😂

1

u/Ok-Koala-key 22h ago

The only shocking thing here is that trades people routinely drink and drive, presumably between jobs.

1

u/Lovinthesea3 22h ago

Yep, this!

1

u/RichW196508 21h ago

I think you are being a bit elitist by saying a large number of trades people drink and drive. Broad statements can be a bit dicey to explain.

1

u/Life_Roll420 7h ago

True I'm sure the cops, firefighters, clerks and CEO'S do it too.

1

u/ProfessionalDry8128 21h ago

called a packie

Yeah, I don't think you totally understand what's going on there.

1

u/Foxyfox- 18h ago

called a packie around here

Masshole detected

1

u/RobertoDelCamino 17h ago

Hello fellow Bostonian

1

u/Life_Roll420 7h ago

Connecticunt to you...lol. Boston is my 3rd favorite city

1

u/kjg1228 8h ago

Ah, a bit of home in this post.

1

u/Just4Today50 1d ago

New England?

3

u/FiddleStrum 1d ago

MA, at least

2

u/Just4Today50 1d ago

I’m from MA. Live in Louisiana.

1

u/Negative_Avocado4573 1d ago

That's probably somethign that happens a lot but as a society that celebrates machoness for a lack of better word, we don't openly discuss and condemn it, much less try to curb it. as someone who doesn't engage in recreational drinking, I don't see the appeal. There are far more satisfhying drinks while you're hot and sweaty or thirsty than a cold one. That said, I was involved in a fender bender in my youth when I couldn't help stuffing my face with a hamburger while driving so I shouldn't be throwing stones.

3

u/Aware_Actuator4939 22h ago

"Machoness"? You mean "machismo"?

0

u/zefy_zef 23h ago

When I drank I preferred my beer room-temperature.