Here is a photo I just snapped of my "New Old Stock" Ivory soap from 2009 or 2010. 3 bars out of 10 are left. 4.5 oz. bars
Posted on 08/31/2013 3:58:13 PM PDT by Rodamala
Food packaging and pricing... we all know the game... breakfast cereals, orange juice, candy bars, coffee, ice cream... they kept the price the same and shrank the packaging and reduced the amount you purchased...
The packaging now claims, "Now with two extra scoops!".
I just have to laugh... American consumers are just so stupid. I mean it would be like the 2012 elections... "Obama-Biden 2012: More liberal agenda in every executive action!"... and the voters eat it up.
Can we please get 1/2 gallon packages of ice cream? Oh and while I am asking, can we please get electable conservatives to represent us in Washington D.C.?
Anyways... blah blah blah.
</rant>
American consumers are just so stupid.
They vote also.
I love when the package says “10% more” and it’s the same ounces as the ‘smaller’ version.
It is the same mentality that puts carbon dioxide sensors in a freezer that contains dry ice...and then not understanding why the alarm goes off.
“But the salesman said...!”
I must confess you had me right up to there....
Yeah, gotta be careful that it doesn’t melt all your ice.
/ snicker.
Actual event though.
Carbon dioxide sensors in the dry ice storage.
Even better, a bunch of alarms not related to the freezer are attached to that alarm.
So a minor “nothing alarm” comes in as a serious alarm.
Insanity.
They have done the same with many products, including coffee.
I can remember a time when the ‘large’ can of coffee was 3-pounds (48 ounces). Over the years, they have removed a few ounces, while keeping the container about the same size. Now, only a few stores have a large can in the 34 ounce range, but many have their largest can at around 27 ounces.
With other foods, I have noticed significantly more liquid before getting to the actual content.
Reminds me of Crystal White dish washing soap. It came in a straight sided plastic bottle for years, then they took out almost 1/4 of it and put it in a bottle with a narrow middle, then announced, NOW IN AN EASY TO GRIP BOTTLE!
Of course, the price was the same as the larger bottle.
Try finding an actual pound of coffee. The only way to know the actual cost is to keep track of the unit price. Although I noticed CVS has a cute trick. Instead of listing the unit price for coffee by the pound , they now list it by the ounce.
I have a 10 pack bar of Ivory soap purchased three years ago. It is at least three times larger than the current 10 pack. I am keeping it around as proof.
(need to take a photo)
Here is a photo I just snapped of my "New Old Stock" Ivory soap from 2009 or 2010. 3 bars out of 10 are left. 4.5 oz. bars
Coupons used to take the edge off some of this, but the offerings in the Sunday paper (I only pick it up for the coupon inserts) are less and less worthwhile.
I’m off to the wholesale club with a list for myself and other family members next week. The “downsizing” of packaging is often evident there, too.
And wait until the “less for more” trend hits our health care system in earnest next year! Whee!
The one that actually made me angry was when I bought a new pack of toilet paper before I used up the old one, and saw that the new pack (two rolls high) was two inches shorter than the old one.
I would have my reusable bags because I was overloaded with plastic and paper grocery hags at home, my coupon and raincheck organizer, and very very important... a calculator. Best unit price with acceptable quality won my consumer dollar.
Coffee procurement was an art. Mom and I both knew the best coffee value and taste was and still is 8 O'Clock Whole Bean, Dark Italian Roast.
A&P would have BOGO sales on the large bags and so on the last day of the sale, I would make a stop at A&P. Because they didn't stock enough every time they had the sale, I could get rainchecks at the sale price... to use any time... and of course when I did buy it was with coupons on top of the sale price... and the register would spit out more coupons. I would be like Quagmire finding a bound and gagged cheerleader in a men's room bathroom stall at the high school.
I have pictures on my old phone of 8 of these 34.5 oz. bags lined up on the counter about to go into the chest freezer. It was something like $110 of coffee I would get for $48. That's $2.78/#... for the best G-d damned coffee on the planet.
Anyways... yeah... take a calculator to the store.
There is also blatantly contradictory labeling. My child’s playdoh on one side says ‘Non Toxic’ but on the other side says ‘Made In China.” Which is it?
It's toilet paper for cryin' out loud.
I stick with basic Scott in the giant packages always buying on sale with coups. Come to think of it... I do recall the rolls changing size... but it was width, not height. It changed how I would store them in a closet.
You know what is great about this country? Well one of them... is that we, as consumers are allowed to make educated choices about the products we consume or services we solicit. I mean take a look at how we have free choice in an open and fair marketplace in how we might secure health care services or insurance for care... oh, wait... nevermind.
It’s sad to consider that cases of Ding Dong Pla Doh can be loaded onto a container, trucked to a port, shipped halfway across the planet on a boat, transloaded to a flatcar... hauled across the country by rail, unloaded to a truck, taken to a warehouse facility, reloaded onto a truck and taken to a store cheaper than just making it domesticly.
Target sometimes has exceptional buys on scott tp every once in a while.
At least it has been a long time since they changed the size of the whisky bottles from the standard fifth (4/5 quart or 757 ml) to the metric fifth (750 ml). Not much else that hasn’t changed except for gas is still sold by the gallon no matter how hard they tried to push the metric system on us. They just took the lead out and raised the prices. Yea, I’m still mad about that.
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