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Yes, you've gotten bigger since your first carton of Häagen-Dazs but the carton's actually getting smaller. Or at least its bottom is caving in and air is being whipped in, dropping the contents by 2 oz. (a 12.5% reduction from 16 oz. to 14 oz.) with no change in price.
In the latest issue of Consumer Reports, senior editor Tod Marks found a list of products that are shrinking to raise company revenues in tough times, including Hebrew National hot dogs, Kirkland Signature (Costco) paper towels, Tropicana orange juice and Kraft American cheese packs, which now contain two fewer slices. And are none cheaper. It all started with a roll of toilet paper that claimed to be the "thickest ever," when in fact it was short 52 sheets.
"They've got a point," writes Marks. "Higher commodity and fuel costs are expected to spike in food prices by as much as 3 percent in 2011. But if manufacturers are skimping when costs go up, why aren't they more generous when costs hold steady or fall?" Companies claim they wanted to prevent sticker shock, so they decided to keep prices the same and instead charge us more for less product and hope we wouldn't notice.
Consumers are advised to check a product's unit price, which appears next to the list price on a shelf and will tell you the cost in size (per ounce, per pound, etc). Then, buy in bulk when prices are low. The magazine also advices contacting these downsizing companies themselves, who have been known to offer coupons as an apology.
Call us hard-up investigative cranks, but we kinda just want what we paid for.
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1-07-2011 @3:52PM Brendan said... I noticed the same thing with tuna fish over the years. A can of tuna used to be 6 7/8 ounces, then it was 6.5 oz, then lower, and now I believe it is right at 6 oz even.
I used to be able to get 2 decent sandwiches out of one can, but now I generally make one sandwich and just eat the rest, its hardly worth it to save and put in the fridge.
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1-07-2011 @4:07PM S. Hastings said... Haven't seen a half gallon of ice cream lately, either.
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1-07-2011 @5:42PM newsy1 said... Also, Dove ice cream bars have done the incredible shrink over the years. They used to be huge. Now, not so much. http://newsy1.wordpress.com
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1-07-2011 @9:03PM stevie B said... tuna 6.5 oz became 5 oz
graham crackers - was 16 oz now 14.4 oz,
yogurt was 8 oz now 6 oz -- or even 4 oz
pack spaghetti, was 16 oz, then 12 oz, then 10 oz.
TV dinners were 11-12 oz, now 8-10, meatball count fell from 5 to 4
Jar peanut butter was 18oz, then 16oz, now 15 oz
many other products shrink also - even cordial-cherries candies from full layers to half-layers.....
and, of course, the currency is also debased
1964 dime 0.072 ounce silver ($2 melt value now), now nickel-clad copper
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1-08-2011 @12:56AM Christian Stella said... I design and edit cookbooks for a living. This shrinking of products is an absolute nightmare for me, as I must constantly be on top of what size products are. Many people create their recipes using convenient amounts like 16 ounces (1 box) of pasta. Now, that so many products are downsizing, there really is no set standard for things like a box of pasta anymore.
It is also making many cookbooks published before 2009 (when this really hit full swing) less accurate. I am sure it has ruined the integrity of many home cooks' personal recipes as well. Like the person was saying about tuna... They had a way they always prepared it, but now it isn't enough. Maybe most people out there have no idea why their tuna casserole isn't enough to feed the whole family anymore, etc...
What's really scaring me right now is shredded cheese. I saw a 7 ounce bag of shredded cheese that proclaimed that it was 1 3/4 cups the other day. An ordinary bag has always been 8 ounces or about 2 cups. If this is the next thing to shrink and everyone goes down to 7 ounces like I saw, it will surely mess up a LOT of recipes out there.
These companies just need to raise their prices and leave everything else alone. Or save a few pennies by removing some of the added sugars from their products.
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1-09-2011 @12:09AM James said... A gallon of milk is still a gallon of milk.
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1-13-2011 @12:45AM Del said... Many months ago I noticed that Quilted Northern TP rolls are about 1/2" shorter/narrower than they used to be. I suppose they shrunk the "squares" both directions.
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