In calc when teaching the 'min surface area of a can with given vol, of which soln is diameter = ht, I wrote a cat foot company telling them how much they'd save by making their cans taller. Got a letter from the marketing dept telling me a million reasons for the can's design. pic.twitter.com/F6V2wBSjuK
— math prof (@mathematicsprof) March 5, 2020
I too wrote to companies as a kid, my favorite was when I submitted a design for an over-the-top absurd two-floor RV to Ford. I never got a response to that letter sadly.