Hot Dogs VS Hot Dog Buns

The question, posted to my facebook page is

Why do hot dogs come in a ten pack and buns come in a twelve pack?

The standard answer is that meat is sold by the pound but baked goods traditionally are sold by the dozen. However, digging a little bit deeper one discovers that the "standard" is, um, loose. Hot dogs do indeed come ten to a pound; however JUMBO hotdogs are eight to a pound and some supersized varieties are only four to a pound. Hebrew National puts 7 skinny wieners in a pound package. Other types of sausages and brats, which are also consumed in "hot dog buns" can be all over the map with four brats or six spicy Italian sausages in a package. I have even seen one long lonely sausage in a package which the consumer chops up as need be: check out that 3lb monster!

When one examines the bakers, the most common number of buns in a package was eight. My questioner faced the dilemma of having two extra buns but most of America has the opposite problem: two naked wieners running rampant, just begging to be eaten. One man has faced this issue head on, and confronted the giant corporations that are making our lives miserable and taken steps to resolve this problem: Courageous activist fights to rectify the hot dog/bun imbalance!

In the course of my research, I discovered that there really isn't a standard for the number of buns either. A few bakeries allegedly sell ten buns to a pack. However, they are shy and avoid all publicity on the internet. However, I did find a one place that sells eight hot dogs in a package and surprise, surprise they also sell their buns to match. I suppose it would have been too cruel to sell ten buns with only eight franks:

Park East Kosher - 8 buns to a package

Or another place which will sell some of their products in packages of sixteen: 

Piantedosi - 3 products come in packages of 16

The term "hot dog" is credited to the American cartoonist Tad Dorgan, (Tad Dorgan's colorful expressions) mainly because he did not know how to spell dachshund. The story, along with other hot dog facts may be found at: Hot Dog FAQ

 St Louis argues that it invented the modern hot dog in 1893 at the St Louis Browns baseball park. However, sausages with that suggestive shape date all the way back to the 15th century and some European village known as Frankfurt has given its name to the "frank" or "frankfurter". Not sure I would brag...unless my name was Anthony Wiener.

The 1904 World's Fair in St Louis was the place where hot dogs met the modern hot dog bun. That magical place also saw the birth of the ice cream cone, ice tea, the hamburger in a bun and cotton candy. Thus the habit of walking around and eating at the same time was born. The 1904 fair also witnessed  the debut of peanut butter, chili and Dr. Pepper. 

In one of those transcendental karmic coincidences, yellow mustard was introduced in 1904 by the R. T. French Co. Just when the world had a hot dog on a bun and wondered what to put on it, the answer was given. Just as I have done for you, lovely Elizabeth...