One standard that has stuck out to me is shipping pallets. This piece[0] opened my eyes to how they standardize what a commodity is: > The magic of these palle

One standard that has stuck out to me is shipping pallets. This piece[0] opened my eyes to how they standardize what a commodity is: > The magic of these pallets is the magic of abstraction. Take any object you like, pile it onto a pallet, and it becomes, simply, a “unit load”—standardized, cubical, and ideally suited to being scooped up by the tines of a forklift. This allows your Cheerios and your oysters to be whisked through the supply chain with great efficiency; the gains are so impressive, in fact, that many experts consider the pallet to be the most important materials-handling innovation of the twentieth century. [0]: https://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/52/hodes.php https://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/52/hodes.php (The piece is far more interesting than the bit I quoted)