Okay I’m not savvy enough to admit to not noticing the secret food increase, but apparently others are not! This article in USA today warns consumer to beware. I have been noticing things are seeming to be smaller, since Nickel @ Five Cent Nickel brought it up in his post “Size Matters“. He mentions the shrinking ice cream containers from half gallons to 1.5 quarts! Eek, but the price has stayed the same.
Well in this new article mentions the exact same example for ice cream. Also in a market survey it appears 10% of items are shrinking in size as well while pricing the same as before. Some of these changes are subtle and others more drastic.
But I can honestly say I haven’t really been observant enough for this change. But curiousity got the better of me and I started to pull through my cabinets. And Bounty did decrease the roll size. I can say that because I have some from last summer.
But the article states that some consumers are noticing (better than me!) and they are complaining. Thousands of customers complained about the size change in Dreyer’s ice cream. And the company responded that it was shrinking the package or increasing the rate from $5.99 to $7. So what did consumers do? They switch brands and were no longer loyal.
Thus it was suggested that manufactorer’s make products smaller but charge slightly less. This way the consumer doesn’t feel “ripped off” even if price per oz or size is more expensive. It’s a mental wall that needs to be breached that they are getting a smaller package for less money, even though it really still costs more.
Well I guess I’ll be more aware now of the size of goods I am buying even when on “sale”.
13 responses so far ↓
4 Value For Your Life // Jun 26, 2008 at 10:19 pm
I noticed this a couple of months ago. I usually incorporate what’s on sale anyway into my weekly meal planning, so I’m still paying much less, but the savings aren’t exactly what they’re used to be. Just as an example, here in my part of Canada, No Frills is one of the discount grocery stores I frequent. They had bunches of asparagus on sale for a dollar each–which is good, but I would say they were 30-50% smaller than normal. People noticed this, and were buying 2 or 3 bunches at a time (almost the regular price)!
Amanda
8 kevin // Jun 27, 2008 at 2:10 pm
I noticed it 5-6 years ago with 5 grothers alfredo sauce , the jar used to be 32 oz , then shrunk to 28 oz, we had an old jar and compared and realize there the price actualy went up within 1 year, hmmm
9 Denise W., Las Vegas // Jun 28, 2008 at 11:10 am
Food Prices have increased 300% in the last 10 years. Gas has done the same….and the food and the energy needed to produce and get it to the consumer are linked….
My question is this - do you think smaller portions at larger prices will cause any of the obese Americans to eat less; like what many other people in the world do?
I doubt it!
10 Livingalmostlarge // Jun 28, 2008 at 11:52 am
No, we’ll eat and use as much and end up paying more.
11 Briana // Jul 21, 2008 at 10:22 am
Arggggg….I hadn’t noticed but sometimes it is hard enough to just remember what the price was previously than to look at box sizes. I have heard other bloggers mention this. Lots easier/less noticeable to shrink the oz. of the product than to give a price increase…
13 roxanne // Jul 23, 2008 at 3:42 pm
certainly noticed that Tostitos brand chips have gone way up in price and waaay down in size of bag. Thats the 1st thing I noticed when all the prices shot up in the last few months. I switched brands as well!
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