Does the shape of a water jug matter?

I never gave much thought to the shape of my water jug. I only had one. It was a Coleman 5-gallon jug which was basically a cube shape. I'd learned that the collapsible jugs did not stand-up to use over time, that's when I upgraded to the one that I had. I didn't use it very often, mostly just when I went camping for one of my off-road trips.

Then, I had a need to get another jug to have in my truck - all to do with my now-disabled dog, but that's another story. I went to Walmart and they didn't have the Coleman jug like I already had - out-of-stock, so I picked up an Igloo brand that looked good in the basic jerry can shape. What I learned surprised me.

The first problem that I had with the jerry can shape is that it was too tall to sit upright in the bed of my truck under my bed cover. That was a pretty big problem since the vent was just a stopper that could easily be knocked loose.

Second, I found that trying to pour water out of this jug was not nearly as easy as my other jug. The Coleman was much more stable when I began to tip it over to pour water out given it had a larger side that it was resting on. The Coleman also had a spigot and was designed so that I could set it on its side at the edge of a table and easily get water from the spigot.

Sadly, the jerry can shaped jugs that I have now are used primarily for water storage. I transfer the water from those into the Coleman and use the Coleman for my daily use.

I guess under some circumstances the jerry can form-factor may be better. It does take up less floor space to store the same amount of water. But for my uses, I'll stick to the cube-shaped containers I believe.

Want a little tip? Add some air pressure to the jug when you are getting water from the spigot. I will just blow into the vent to generate this pressure. That puts the water under pressure and it comes out of the spigot much faster.