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So does that box of cereal seem a little slimmer, that can of tuna a little lighter? Does it feel like you just bought that jar of peanut butter that you're now scraping the bottom of?
Well, at least you can take comfort in the fact that you're not going crazy. As the New York Times reports, we can say so long to the era of "supersizing": Meet the incredible shrinking carton of ice cream.
No doubt you've heard that the cost of, well, just about everything is going up. But what you may have only had an inkling of until now is that one sneaky way food makers are passing those costs onto you is not to raise prices; it's to get you to shell out the same amount for just a little bit less in return.
The list goes on and on: pasta, canned vegetables, crackers, candy. Where once you could get a 64-oz. jug of Tropicana orange juice, now you have to settle for 59 oz. Bags of Doritos and Fritos today contain 20 percent fewer chips than they did two years ago.
Now, this isn't an entirely new. We've all heard from our grandparents how much bubblegum you could get back in the day for a nickel.
But what is new is how manufacturers are trying to trick customers into thinking that these dwindling portions are a good thing: good for you; good for the planet. They're touting their smaller packages as eco-friendly (because they use less raw materials) and advertising them as "healthier" (while neglecting to trumpet the fact that the only reason they're healthier is because they're forcing you to eat less).
And then there's this gem from Kraft. It's promoting its new "Fresh Stacks" packaging for its Premium saltines and Honey Maid graham crackers. Each sleeve contains 15 percent fewer crackers for the same price.
"The packaging format offers the benefit of added freshness," a Kraft spokesman told the Times.
Yeah, "fresh" is one word for it.
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3-29-2011 @1:11PM Becky Briscione said... This isn't the first time I've heard this actually. Http://Bit.Ly/SavingArticles talked about this months ago in their 'Saving Strategies'. Not only are companies shrinking packages, but sometimes competitive brands [such as name brand vs. store version] are trying to trick you out with BOGO or low-value cou pons that simply are just to make you think you're getting the deal and not even consider their possibly better priced competitor. Those Saving Strategies are worth a read if you didn't see them before.
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3-29-2011 @1:19PM Guido said... Its almost as if food has increased in cost causing processed food production to cost more and the new expense is being mitigated by reduction in quantity!
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3-29-2011 @6:45PM jordan said... So, don't spit on my cupcake and call it frosting
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3-31-2011 @7:08PM Yankeereb said... This plays havoc with recipes, too, if you're not watchful. It is aggravating to have to adjust the recipe's ingredient quantities or buy two of an ingredient when you only need a small amount of the second package. I would much rather have manufacturers raise the price and keep the packaging the same size, especially on canned goods.
One ice cream maker -- Blue Bell -- is using consumer unhappiness over these size subterfuges to its advantage. They advertise that they sell full half gallons, not half gallons that are a pint low.
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3-30-2011 @9:22PM Lakawak said... Why talk about this now when it has been going on for over a decade? And i isn't as if it is happening more often now than it was 5 years ago at he height of the bubble that caused a bgood economy.
I guess you are a blog and need to write SOMETHING...even if you hve nothing new to offer.
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3-30-2011 @9:32PM Eric said... why do we need a 64-oz. jug of Tropicana orange juice or a 59 oz. Bags of Doritos.
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3-30-2011 @9:42PM Ron Yatteau said... The last few years I have started growing my own garden to teach my children about it, as a hobby, and now to off set food cost. The first year it went poorly because I did not know what I was doing. I went to my local hardware store and they told me everything I needed to know to get started. The last 2 years have been great.
I highly recommend gardening as a way to get fresh vegetables and control your food cost .
Ron
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3-30-2011 @9:46PM Doug said... I saw this comming years ago, when potato chips went from 16 oz bags for one dollar to 14 oz bags for the same price. I remambering telling my wife that the consumer back then was getting raped, it was about 20 years ago. Now it coast $1.75 to $2.50 for a 11 to 12 oz bag.
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4-01-2011 @11:23AM JoPi said... In my house, a box of crackers never gets past the "fresh" stage.
There isn't enough ice cream in a container. 64oz. is now 48 oz. That's a big difference. I'm not fooled by the pricing. You make it look like the same size package from the front, but it's not. Once you pick it up, you could probably fit it into that cracker box.
Tuna used to come in a 7 oz can. Now it's 5 oz. Guess what? Now they sell a 5 oz at the old 7oz price. And now there is a "new" 7 oz can at double the price.
How small are the packages going to get before you get nothing for your $$$$$$?
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3-30-2011 @11:39PM TomE said... Another trick used is to run a sale on a product for a week, when the sale ends, the regular
presale price is 10 cents higher than it was before the sale. Few people notice this.
I have seen it happen several times.
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3-31-2011 @8:04PM Bruce Dearborn Walker said... The increase in regulations combined with the QE2 money printing is reflected in inflation. But don't worry, tax thralls, the Obama administration will take care of you as long as they need you.
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3-31-2011 @11:57AM tito said... This is a good article, but it misses one vital fact. Supermarkets only control the prices on some goods, and even then they are fairly limited on what they can do while staying competitive and making a profit. As a matter of fact, the revenue generated by goods sold in a Supermarket is averagely between 2-3%. Supermarkets make their money by renting aisle space to whoever produces the goods that they sell. So, that said, it basically means that they are getting ripped off by the change in package sizing too.
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3-31-2011 @2:02PM AvangionQ said... This is the end result of Peak Oil -- considering petroleum based fertilizers and pesticides, machinery for processing and thousand plus miles for shipping food, oil is food. As global petroleum production slowly dwindles and demand rapidly increases, energy costs will go up and that will affect prices across the board -- over the next decade, the era of cheap food is coming to a close.
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3-31-2011 @2:27PM Bob H said... It's no doubt true that some of this is caused by increased costs. More likely is that those increased costs are being used as an excuse by mfrs to write themselves some big fat raises after several years when they had no pricing power. Now that it's become so common, I think we'll see a lot more of it. Everyone needs to improve their year-over-year profits to maintain their stock price, even if that means ripping off loyal customers. Greed is good.
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4-06-2011 @1:16PM Steven Ruza said... I never told them they could post a picture of me! I didnt even get paid :0) - Steven Ruza
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4-18-2011 @2:12PM Rebel said... It's not just food. This morning when I changed my toilet paper roll, the old roll cylinder fit very comfortably inside the new roll cylinder. I wondered how much less paper I had purchased for a higher price.
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