a plastic container suitable for hot - fill food packaging applications is disclosed which is characterized by walls of proportionately decreasing thickness from the mouth of the container to a predetermined collapsible point . the wall thickness is designed such that the container walls will collapse , or deform , only at the collapsible point during cooling after hot - filling of food product or during transportation of the container between locations of varying altitudes and pressures . the container preferably collapses in the base area such that the collapse is not visible to the consumer and also the collapse does not affect stability of the container while in use or during loading and storage . the container of the invention is advantageous in that it requires less plastic material to form than other known hot - fill containers , and also can be formed out of any suitable food - grade plastic material or by any process .