The incredible shrinking package.

[surge]

If you're my age or older, you remember a time when coffee came in one pound cans. That was in the days before vacuum pack bags, when you needed a can opener to get the thing open; but you got a pound of coffee. Then one day in the late 70s, because coffee was supposedly in short supply, the pound of coffee became thirteen ounces. These days I see packages that contain as little as ten ounces.

Over the years other products have followed coffee's lead and reduced the size of their packages, while reducing the price very little if any at all. I found something new to add to the list a few days before Thanksgiving, when my wife and I were at the store picking up a few last minute things. Since our boys were coming, she wanted to make sausage balls, so we got Bisquick, shredded cheese and sausage. In doing so I discovered that a pound of sausage, at least for some brands, is now actually twelve ounces. The price for this smaller size is nearly as much as the price for the full pound roll, and if broken down by the ounce it's actually more expensive than some of them.

What are some of the products that you've noticed being sold in smaller containers? Do you think it's an effort to deceive consumers, or a way for producers to avoid price increases?

http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...T1WAAAAIBAJ&sjid=-ekDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4384,3633482

 

[Debi]

I've been watching this for years. It's amazing to me that a can of green beans I used 30 years ago would serve four. Now it serves 2. I watch it all and I've seen it continuing to shrink even after it's been already shrunk once or twice before! Cereal, cheese slices, mac and cheese, Rice a Roni, Stuffing, ice cream, peanut butter, sauces, chips, toilet paper, detergent....all of it. If it's in a package, it's shrunk. This is normally ballyhoo'd with the package announcement "New packaging! Same great flavor!" Notice they don't say different amount inside.

I recently bought something that was a freezer item. Same product, but one was the old package and the other was the new. (Frozen breakfast sandwiches.) Side by side, I decided to check and see what brought about their "fabulous new packaging!" Well, the new package was 2 oz. lighter per frozen sandwich. Since there were 8 in the package, that was quite a difference. After checking my receipt, the price had remained the same. Essentially, I was paying the same price for 16 oz. less of the product, although there still remained 8 sandwiches in there. Quite the price increase, IMO.

The other little trick I look for is when something is offered in "Family Size." Many times, the cost of the Family Size is actually MORE than just buying two of the smaller size that equals or surpasses the Family Size. I've noticed this happening much more frequently of late so keep your eyeballs peeled for the deception!

http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyl...ing-package/Ti6VwQCCcg0whLdr8bHnyJ/story.html


This is the website I use to track things that shrink! Great site!

http://consumerworld.org/

 

[Naked Apple]

When I saw the Topic Title, I though this was going to be a PG Rated thread.



I have noticed the smaller sizes of everything creeping in as well. Remember when a half gallon of ice cream was a half gallon?

 

[Dar Smith]

I stopped buying Tide detergent for the same reason - Learned how to 'mix' my own with Purex, Borax, A&H washing soda, & Fels Naptha. Clorox & Dawn dish detergent went to a 'concentrated' form. I still buy the Clorox but I only buy regular Dawn. The husband used to buy pool chlorine to use at the shop. Our American made OJ is 59 oz. Guess it followed suit with the ice cream