Getting less for the same price

A few years ago, a poster started a thread about half-gallon containers of ice cream changing to 1.75 quarts. Since that time, 1.75 quart containers have since become 1.5 quarts. At some fast food places, you used to receive a sandwich with a medium or large fries and drink for the same price that you now receive a sandwich and small fries and small drink.

I purchased some diapers at Walmart this afternoon, and the 100 pack I used to buy is now a 96 pack.

Personally, I would rather have them keep the packaging the same and just increase the price, rather than trying to deceive me into thinking nothing has changed.

AndyM said:

Personally, I would rather have them keep the packaging the same and just increase the price, rather than trying to deceive me into thinking nothing has changed.

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Andy they don't deceive you, they only deceive the stupid people

ON THE OTHER HAND, as I was involved with selling candy for about 20 years I can tell you that with candy items the size of bars actually moved up and down as sugar and cocoa prices changed. So when sugar went down, bar sized increased and when sugar went up the bar size decreased. The manufacturers did this because it kept the price per bar the same at retail stores across all (most) brands. It made for a much less confusing situation for consumers and for retailers.

Now when you consider something like Pampers, there are really only a couple brands that compete (Luvs, Huggies, Private Label/House Brands) and that is only at the large stores. So line pricing should not be much of an issue for something like diapers, where with a couple hundred candy items for a dozen or two manufacturers, at tens of thousands of independent retailers line pricing can become confusing.

B_Skurka said:

ON THE OTHER HAND, as I was involved with selling candy for about 20 years I can tell you that with candy items the size of bars actually moved up and down as sugar and cocoa prices changed. So when sugar went down, bar sized increased and when sugar went up the bar size decreased.

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And the candy bars always print something like "NEW BIGGER SIZE" on the label when it goes up. Obviously no markings when the size goes down.

I'm with you Andy. I hate when they change sizes. I was at the store the other day for Mrs. Zoom who wanted some bleach that was on sale. Well, I pick it up and said to myself this doesn't look or feel right. It wasn't a gallon... It was 3-quarts. At that point, I had no idea if it was a good price or not so I just walked out (empty handed).

Bleach has been three quarts for quite some time.

Just like everything else, everything has gotten smaller and the price stays the same. I notice that pop still comes in a case, but a lot of the cases only have twenty cans not twenty four. Sugar now comes in four pound bags not five pounds.

I would think that the packaging costs would be the same or just minimally less for the smaller packages. You just have to buy it more often and thus waste more natural resources for the same amount of product. It is all in the perception of the product and the dumbing down of America.

The department of weights and measures has now determined that a quart is only thirty ounces and a pound is only fifteen ounces. This is to conform with the way items are now manufactured. It is part of the new stimulus bill that will be signed on Tuesday. If you want to check the validity of this, it is on page 792.

Canned tuna has gone from 6 ounce cans to 5 ounce cans...no difference in the price though.