I've never really seen milk cartons delivered towards schools or shops (think juices and milk) be damaged all that often, but I'm not watching their deliveries either! I just imagined it was a problem already solved for non-pressurized drinks.

Then you're blessed with good fortune! Unfortunately I remember getting my lunch milk carton already sticky and wet from other damaged cartons in the elementary school cafeteria many times. Only the inside was waxed, so once one carton sprung a leak, the rest would weaken from the leakage, and sometimes when you'd go to pick yours up, it would tear and spill. Yuck.

Those are often transported in thick reusable crates rather than cardboard boxes.

Then maybe soylent were solving the wrong problem

Milk cartons delivered to a school can be in a crate of hundreds, Soylent is delivered to a single person in a box of 12 or so.

A few cartons being damaged in the school delivery is fine, but even one damaged in the Soylent delivery means an angry customer.

From the article, they needed a solution that works for small numbers of bottles being delivered to an individual.

And what exactly is the problem with denting? As long as the contents aren't spilled it should make no difference, no?

The problem is the customer paying $4+ a serving won't find that acceptable. A school won't care if a few $0.50 cartons are dented in a shipping crate of over a hundred milk cartons, but a customer that gets a dented $5 drink is going to complain and ask for a refund/replacement.

Seriously? What Retards.