Package comprising multiple containers, such as beverage cans, and method of forming packages

A method of forming packages from substantially identical containers having cylindrical side walls and from carrier stock formed from a single sheet of resilient polymeric material and having two opposite edges, the carrier stock being severable transversely to form individual carriers, each carrier having band segments defining container-receiving apertures in a rectangular array with longitudinal rows and transverse ranks, each carrier also having additional apertures, said band segments including terminal cross segments at opposite ends of successive carriers, each terminal cross segment having a transverse midline, said band segments also including medial cross segments separating the container-receiving apertures in each longitudinal row along the opposite edges of each carrier, each medial cross segment having a transverse midline and extending between one of the opposite edges and one of the additional apertures, the containers being arranged in a rectangular array comprising longitudinal rows and transverse ranks and being applied to the containers so that the containers are received in the container-receiving apertures and so that the band segments engage the cylindrical side walls of the containers, the method comprising steps of

• (a) severing each terminal cross segment at one end of one such carrier completely along its transverse midline,
• (b) severing each medial cross segment of the same carrier partially along its transverse midline, from one of the opposite edges, so as to form a tear-initiating slit extending for a substantial distance along the transverse midline of such medial cross segment, and
• (c) severing each terminal cross segment at the other end of the same carrier completely along its transverse midline.