Ways Retailers Give You Less Product for Same Price

[raccoon]

Smaller boxes/packages (example, 4 lb bag of sugar instead of 5 lb)

Recessed bottom on plastic container (Hummus and other stuff)

Larger cardboard rolls with less toilet paper

[blue_onyx]

1. I noticed this with the french onion dip I buy

They made the container about a 1/3 smaller. It's annoying but I like the dip and still buy it.

[bluebellbaby]

2. Yeah...I noticed this a couple of years ago...

I think there was a report too about how General Mills was making their cereal boxes smaller but charging the same price to the customer...

[old mark]

3. Such as the traditional 12 oz. package of macaroni formerly a pound,

the 6 oz can of tuna, formerly 8 oz, the smaller and yet more expensive Hershey products, now made in Mexico rather than here in the US and putting thousands out of work.
Hershey announced a huge profit last week because of these stragegies, proving that people will buy anything without thinking about it.

mark

[lamp_shade]

4. Tuna fish. Remember when you squeezed the oil out you still had about 3/4 left? Not any more.

It's half oil now.

[Wapsie B]

5. I wish they'd list the slotting fees they got for each particular product.

[Rabrrrrrr]

6. Well, the other option is the same amount for more money

as prices increase, people need to learn that that means the price of item is going to go up, or the amount in that item is going to go down.

People probably bitch and moan a lot more when the price goes up, so the manufacturers prefer to downsize.

All one has to do is look at the label.

Yeah, the manufacturer's sometimes do it a little shiftily and not very noticeably, and they could be a better about being more plain that they've changed the normal size.

But, really, all you have to do is look at the label.

[cali]

7. best way to deal with this: don't buy prepared foods

buy bulk products at the co-op.

[Captain Hilts]

8. Check the bottom of the plastic container of hummus at Trader Joe's. nt

[xchrom]

9. manufacturers -- not retailers.

unless retailers are the manufacturer.

retailers buy what's available and present it to the consumer.

consumers have to put the pressure on -- not just the retailer{that certainly helps} but also the manufacturer.

dvds and cds used to be my fav thing to write about.

[marketcrazy1]

10. here is a fun site

for "down sizing" and other useful info, it has been posted before, I found it here and copied it to my favorites... http://www.mouseprint.org/

[xchrom]

16. yeah -- i love that. nt

[raccoon]

12. right, the manufacturers. nt

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

11. I love the way they all shrink simultaneously

Just yesterday I notice almost all the ice cream in the case was in a new re-sized container - smaller of course.

[woodsprite]

13. I bought Albacore tuna last night - it used to be 3oz packs,

now it's 2.6oz packs. Same size packages, but the tuna isn't packed in as tightly.

We've already gone to buying vanilla yogurt in the really large containers since you can dish out 6-8 oz. instead of eating 2 of the 3-4oz. containers.

[MorningGlow]

14. Let me tell you the saga of the pigeons

Our local supermarket chain is supposed to be one of the best in existence. They do pride themselves on service, I'll give them that, although they annoy me by pushing their store-brand merchandise, which is crap (pasta turns to mush, canned fruit and veggies are very low quality, etc.) They're also big on their prepared foods--subs, heat-and-eat entrees, etc. I don't usually buy their prepared food, but I've been known to buy their $4.99 rotisserie chicken if I need to put dinner on the table fast.

It used to be that one of their rotisserie chickens would have enough meat for two adult and one toddler dinner, plus leftovers for a couple of plates of chicken nachos or a couple of chicken wrap sandwiches the next day. But then one day I bought a chicken, looked at it in the domed package, and thought, "Nice pigeon."

Seriously, that damned thing had shrunk considerably. But I bought it anyway ("still at our low price of $4.99!"), and sure enough, there was barely enough meat on it for one family dinner. There were NO leftovers.

I complained to the company via e-mail and received an apology...and a coupon for $5 to use at the prepared food/deli station. I bought some deli turkey, but it didn't come to $5...and the cashier took the coupon and said I was SOL on the remaining couple of dollars. I complained via e-mail AGAIN...and received another $5 coupon. I didn't even bother using it--it wasn't worth it.

In my original e-mail I had suggested that they offer two sizes of chicken--one low-cost one, maybe even cheaper than $4.99, and one "family size" for a little more, perhaps $5.99 or even $6.99. That would still be a deal, IF the chicken was a decent size. But so far they're still sticking with the pigeons.

I no longer buy their rotisserie chicken; now I buy a regular raw chicken (organic if I can find one) and budget my time appropriately to get the thing cooked in time for dinner. The supermarket lost me as a pigeon-purchaser.

[Bigmack]

19. Costco rotisserie chicken... huge! nt

[MorningGlow]

21. *Sigh* I wish we had Costco 'round these parts

I keep reading on DU about how great it is. x(

[TahitiNut]

15. How long has a 1/2 gallon of ice cream been 1 1/2 quarts?

Annoying. (Obviously, I don't buy ice cream very often.)

I'm also noticing more air in squeeze-tube products ... from toothpaste to Preparation H.

[marketcrazy1]

17. my favorite ice cream has been

downsized and up priced!! used to be i could get it on sale 1/2 gallon @ 2 for five. then it went 1.75qrts still @ 2 for 5 NOW it`s 1.5qrts at 2 for 6!!

[dysfunctional press]

24. when breyer's first started with their product downsizing, they called it "space-saver packaging"...

like they were doing the consumer a FAVOUR, by taking up less space in the freezer...:grr:

[TahitiNut]

26. Breyer's is the one that really annoyed me for some reason.

:grr: It's all rounded corners and tapered ... not a brick and not the cylinder. "Space-saving"? Hardly.

[ejpoeta]

22. i found one ice cream that is still 1/2 gallon. it's byrne dairy and it's good ice cream

and only 3.35 for a half a gallong. a TRUE half gallon. don't know for how long, but it's what i buy.

[hootinholler]

23. I noticed it in 2006.

Hershey's has a sign up that they still sell by the 1/2 gallon.

-Hoot

[dysfunctional press]

25. and a lot of times, they still call it "half-gallon" in their sale-flyers...

a couple weeks ago, the in-store signage for the breyer's sale specified "64 oz." size.

apparently the graphics dept. hasn't updated their files in awhile.

[kentuck]

18. Cereal boxes are same heighth but not the same width...

I guess it works for them?

[Badgerman]

20. You missed one of the BIGGEST rip-offs...

Read the labels of all meats, that includes the lunch meats. You will find that up to 15% water may be added in accordance with USDA regulations. In other words that 1 lb of meat you pay $3 for is actually only about 14oz. To make matters worse several large food chains make a standard practice of exceeding even those guidelines.

Another 'water' trick is in the vegetable depts. All that cold water they are spraying is not for freshness or sanitation(at least not the excessive amounts used) it is so that all the nooks and crannies and surface areas are covered...you pay by the lb generally. This one you can do something about. Shake the vegetables thoroughly removing as much water as possible before bagging them. The meat? Well all you can do is mentally add about the cost per lb. and increase the amount you purchase so that serving proportions are correct, as well as cooking times etc.

Humans are thieves, it seems to be one of the basic instincts mother nature endowed or saddled us with.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

27. I don't buy cheap ice cream -- it's nothing but air.

I buy Blue Bell which is expensive but worth it.