Case of 24 sodas now 18 cans? Itsy bitsy cans of canned soup? Half gallons of ice cream that aren't?

[NNN0LHI]

And the prices for these downsized grocery items now cost more than the old larger sizes.

Anyone else been in a grocery store lately? One bag of groceries can set you back a hundred bucks.

I don't know how people with families can make it?

Don

[Nutmegger]

1. Yes I've noticed the change.

More money for less food. Damn, what are they doing to us? :grr:

[amitten]

2. I bought a Snickers bar the other day. It was definitely smaller.

So now there's like a teeny-weenie bar or else the king size bar (for those who really want two candy bars).

I liked the original middle size.

[fob]

6. I too prefer the "actual size" stuff. I blame mickey d's with there

damn super size campaign. Them and george bush*.

[EFerrari]

3. I don't think we could raise two kids on minimum wage today as we did

in the 70s. That was hard enough. This would be pretty much not possible. :shrug:

[Divine Discontent]

4. I noticed the size change on

some condiment I bought last year, it was normally like a 30 oz jar and then it became a 24 oz bottle and looked shrunk, of course, for the same price... sadly because my choices are a store that charges 30% more than wal mart, or wal mart, I have to go to walmart. lately the prices at walmart have skyrocketed also.... something's up... grapes for example have been 2-3 a pound for months here when they were half that, and they're not even any good, there's other examples but I won't bore myself or you.

I agree with ya... "the state of the union is good" yeah right bush... loved how he put it at the end so we wouldn't crack up at the beginning...


www.cafepress.com/warisprofitable

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

25. You can't really judge by produce prices.

They seriously vary day to day for the store. One bad storm or cold night can mess things up for a couple months. I used to be a produce buyer, so I had to deal with the price variability and customers.

People don't really seem to eat seasonally anymore. Stuff can get flown/trucked in from all over the world, which is fairly ecologically irresponsible, but that's beside the point. There's stuff that normally wouldn't be available year-round available year-round now. This doesn't mean that it won't be pricey half the year and cheaper the other half. If it's out-of-season, it has to travel far and that also raises the price.

[Ediacara]

57. Grapes come from Chile now

In the summer they'll come from California. Shipping them to the other side of the planet adds to the price. And also, as I'm writing this, a large part of the California citrus (and other fruits and veggies) crop was ruined by very cold weather, so look for oranges to sky-rocket in price, if they haven't already. As Haruka said, produce prices are all over the place due to seasonality and weather.

[kestrel91316]

62. Our citrus is not ALL gone. I got some really great grapefruit at the

farmer's market in Encino last Sunday. There are a lot of small farms that had minimal damage. It was spotty.

We even have some avocados still.............

[DainBramaged]

5. I noticed a while ago, and I write letters now calling them on it

The canned excuse is "our consumers want personal sizes to fit their lifestyles". They sens coupons, but coupons only work once.

Bullshit.It's the shrinking dollar syndrome.

[Lost-in-FL]

7. I went to a fast food rest. the other day...

for the first time in 2 years and I did noticed their portions are way smaller. Even the plates are smaller. It worked for me since i am trying to control my portions.

[Bitwit1234]

8. Check out a pound? of coffee

12 oz....a pound of bacon 12 oz. Five rolls in a pack instead of six. Just think of all the money they are garnering on that cut back.And the salary of the middle class is dropping like the ball on New Years Eve.

[lpbk2713]

9. And don't forget a pound of coffee is now eleven ounces.

Andy Rooney had an article about it a while back.

[lumpy]

58. When is Rush's head going to fly off?

I been waiting.

[lpbk2713]

60. Another week or two of Pelosi and the Dem Congress should do it.

(Click)

[Broken_Hero]

10. My father, had a funny saying for things like that

When they came out with those little bite sized snicker pieces....the first time he got a hold of one, he showed it to me, and said

"We haven't changed our price in 50yrs".....


They way he said it, and the real meaning behind it, had me in stitches...:D

[Bill McBlueState]

48. I don't understand why they call that "fun size"

A Snickers bar that's that small isn't fun!

[MADem]

11. Every time I go to DC I crap at the high prices in the supermarkets

It's easily half again more expensive as it is here in the northeast...not that we're bargain central, but we're better than that area.

[Shipwack]

13. I believe it...

A company might be offering me a job up there (Sterling, VA), but I've already told them I'm not going to accept it unless they give me a bit better than a 50% increase over what I make here in Florida.

[Hardrada]

12. Less popcorn in microwave popcorn packets.

I used to fill up this one bowl and not it is only up to 2/3's.

[Warpy]

21. Right, and if you use the popcorn setting on the microwave oven

you end up with very burnt popcorn.

They shorted the contents of the bag, so the old 3.5 oz. setting won't work.

[entanglement]

27. Thanks, I was wondering why the 'popcorn' setting was burning the popcorn

n/t

[msongs]

14. bread went from 1.5 lb loaf to 1 pound, yet price the same....

the store thinks it is fooling everyone but the other customers in the aisle disagreed.

Msongs
www.msongs.com

[Jakey]

24. Coca-Cola shrunk their bottle...

from 2 to 1.5 liters. Wanna bet the price didn't drop 25%?

[SoCalDem]

28. In "my" day a coke was a 6-oz glass bottle

and ONLY for a special treat. We drank iced tea or kool-aid.

Potato chips were "for picnics"

Store-bought cookies?? (instant coronary for every grandma nearby)

Pies were made from whatever fruit was cheap that day/week.

Until the late 60's "frozen" food was pretty much vegetables & turkeys :)

"Convenience food" was hot-dogs cooked on a charcoal grill.

I still marvel at the machinations of people trying to 'save time" with all those confounded mixes.

A meal from scratch is about as fast, and way cheaper (even with today's higher prices)

[Thothmes]

36. In my day

Have to agree with you on this this. A trip to the local hamburger stand was a real (and rare)treat.

[kskiska]

51. Right, and back then (mid-50s) a bottle of Coke was a nickel

and a candy bar was 5¢ - a big one! An ice cream cone with chocolate shots was a dime, and a hot dog was 20¢. An ice cream sundae at Woolworth's lunch counter was 25¢ and a banana split was 50¢. A phone call was 10¢ and there was a nice cozy, quiet phone booth with a seat. A box of spaghetti cost a quarter. Our school lunches were 35¢ a day (or $1.50 for a weekly ticket) for a good meal - not hamburgers.

Fast food was getting a hot dog or clams at a stand near the beach, and adults rarely took kids to fancy restaurants or anywhere else, for that matter. There were teenage babysitters like myself who worked for 50¢ an hour while parents went out for a good time.

Even in the 60s, I filled my VW gas tank for $4.00.

[Rosemary2205]

68. Yeah and average pay was $2.53 an hour

inflation really bites don't it?

[kskiska]

71. I made $42.50 a week in 1960

as a typist for a hat company. My mother made $60.00 as a secretary at the same time.

[SoCalDem]

74. When we were first married, my husband got a promotion

and we went out on the town to celebrate. (1971)

His big promotion meant he was making $1000 a month (I made about $350 a month).

We thought we were RICH..

our rent was $175 for a two bedroom house (the property had to be at least an acre)

we ate out at least 2 or 3 times a week

we took real vacations

we drove a new car

and we actually had a savings account too

[OneBlueSky]

15. I love the way coffee continues to be downsized . . .

the cans look the same, but first they went from 16 oz. down to 13.5, and then to 11.5, and then to 11 . . . wonder what's next? . . .

[DoYouEverWonder]

33. Tuna fish

Open a can of tuna and it's only half full, the rest is water or oil.

[I_Make_Mistakes]

16. The best is potato chips, less than 1/2 the bag has chips. Wow,

all the oxygen being wasted to fill out chip bags.

Also, what is up with the meat. I started noticing something about the water on the label. I cook a roast and it is close to 1/2 the size when finished, mom also notes the amount of fat in that cooked water. It's not just roasts, it boneless chicken breasts and boneless pork loin also.

This is how the Republics get around the consumer index price increase I guess, you buy a lb. and get a 1/2 lb.

[BeHereNow]

17. Don't worry, we can all join the "civilian reserves."

Halliburton will feed, house and clothe us all.
Welcome to the future.

BHN

[musette_sf]

73. thank you for calling that out

Thom Hartmann was on this topic this morning. Bu$hCo's BrownShirts, coming soon to a civilian mercenary encampment near you.

[Bobbie Jo]

18. Reality check

Somebody ask * how much a gallon of milk is going for these days. I'm pretty sure 41 was stumped when the same question was asked of him back in the day. :eyes:

[highplainsdem]

19. Orange juice in 1.75 liter, not half gallon, containers (59.2 ounces)

[Trajan]

20. We are lucky in the NW ... We have Winco ....

Employee owned - DEFINITELY well priced goods .... not many sale items, but most everything is cheaper .... ALWAYS my first choice ....

You have to know where to go when, as well: Boneless chicken breast from Albertson's, as well as decent seafood stuff .... Safeway ? .... Hmmmmm .... not much there .. but both can have decent weekly sale items ...

[kath]

22. The 7/16 of a gallon of ice cream instead of half-gallon pisses me off.

Amount goes down by 12.5%, but price stays the same.
Low inflation rate, my ass.

[begin_within]

23. The 16 oz. bag of Hershey's Kisses is now a 14 oz. bag, with the same price.

[lies and propaganda]

26. no shit!

i know i like a bit of a splurge and enjoy making a good meal, but i have no clue how if it costs me $60 for three days of fool how a family can feel twice as many people .

[Big Pappa]

29. Thats why

I by my food in bulk. Ten pound bag of rice cost the same as 2 boxes of minute rice. I also by whole meats that are vacuumed packed on sale and grind it myself. Saves quite a bit.

[lildreamer316]

30. Welcome to DU! and we would

welcome your input over here at the Frugal and Energy Efficient Living Group: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=353

[FreeStateDemocrat]

31. There is now a uniformed guard at the exit in some local grocery stores which amazed me.

[annabanana]

32. I face that beast every week...

TRY to find a 1 pound can of anything... (It's 14..5 now)

The three pound can of coffee is now 33.4 oz.

I'm forever adjusting my recipes to try and cram those irregular figures into the cooking.

ATTENTION all you "there is no inflation" idiots: Get your rubber to the road and test yer damn hypothesis. When you take food and energy out of the consumer price index what you get it a crap number that means nothing. Stop trying to hang anything meaningful on it, please.

[Gormy Cuss]

47. It does make older recipes a challenge.

Try finding a 1 lb can of tomatoes or other vegetables. 14 ounces is the new pound.

[conscious evolution]

34. Mayo is another good example

I was the electrical project manager for the expansion of a large food producer that makes salad dressings,BBQ Sauce and Mayo.One of the machines we installed was an aerator for the mayo.What it did was inject nitrogen into the mayo to 'whipp'it up.Without the aerating the mayo only filled up the containers to about 1/3 of the containers volume.
Those jars of mayo we buy are mostly air!!Apparently this is an industry wide practice.

Some of the other things I learned there blew me away.The one that took the cake was something they added to their products called "mouthfeel enhanser" WTF!!

[Maine-ah]

35. I don't know what you're buying, but it's got to be some

seriously expensive stuff. We spend $100 on groceries for one week. That's way more than one bag of stuff.

on edit, I would like to add that 18 packs of soda are just that. 18 packs. The beer industry started all of that. Cases of soda are still 24. It's just a way for them to make more money. Sell 18 packs at the same price as a case of 24. Now, just so you know my knowlege is not only from grocery shopping, but I used to work for a food distributor, and my husband still does.

[hyphenate]

37. I noticed this trend some years ago

when I first observed that cans of tuna went from 7 oz to 6 oz, and cat food went down .5 oz as well. Typical cans have always held a full pound--16 oz--but now they're only 15.5 or even a little less.

Poland Spring water has also gone down--its gallon sized bottle is now a little over 3 liters instead of a gallon. Switching over to the metric system gives them the opportunity to screw consumers.

Dry cat food used to be a full 20 lbs. Now it's 18+ pounds for the same price.

Since I'm single and living alone, it's not too hard for me to cope, but I'm sure some people are having a much harder problem with these shrinkages in packaging. A 7 oz can of tuna used to give almost 3 normal sandwiches (once you've made tuna salad from it) but now there seems to be only enough to make two good sized sandwiches, or two and a half normal ones.

This means that there is a lot more liquid filler in the cans, because in order to keep up the illusion that the contents are still the same, they have to use the same cans.

This is something that needs to be addressed, but I guarantee that most people aren't even noticing the difference. As I do a lot of cooking, I noticed it quite some time ago, because recipes state a specific amount of an ingredient and they weren't matching up anymore.

I don't know who might have a chance to report on this scam, but perhaps someone might find out. Most big cities have their own consumer advocate and that might help, and there is always Consumer Reports. Hey, if we really wanted to keep Ralph Nader out of the next election, perhaps we could give him a heads-up to this practice and maybe keep him busy for a significant amount of time! (After all, that was his original work through the years.)

[newportdadde]

38. But.. but you can get an Ipod that will play more songs for the same price!

There is no inflation.

[zbdent]

39. Ever measure a 2 by 4?

it ain't ...

[Broken_Hero]

67. amen to that......

I swear, I thought I was the only person who noticed that...

[Bridget Burke]

40. Blue Bell Ice Cream proclaims "Still Half a Gallon"....

On every half gallon container.

www.bluebell.com/Default.htm

So--DU'ers have a duty to buy some! (If we live in their distribution area.)

[EFerrari]

66. You had to bring up Blue Bell Ice Cream.

I wonder if they'd ship me some. . .

:)

[Bridget Burke]

72. Yes, Blue Bell does ship....

At a price of $89, for four half gallons of your favorite Blue Bell flavors, we can ship anywhere in the good ole' USA.* Most of the cost is a result of the shipping charges, but it is one way to get "the best ice cream in the country" to you or someone else who can't get it otherwise. We know it's going to be a tough decision to only pick four of your favorite flavors. To help you decide, we've created a Year Round Flavors page and a Monthly Flavors page to let you know what is currently available.

www.bluebell.com/icecream_order.htm

Blue Bell is available in Phoenix. Maybe the Empire will continue to move West....

[lonestarnot]

41. 1/2 ply TP, no shit. Heh

[Guaranteed]

70. On 2-ply, they count BOTH plys (plies?) to come up with the sq. yardage.

Two different rolls of toilet paper, same thickness. The single-ply will last you twice as long.

And they push the 2-ply HARD at the market- it's difficult to find something else.

[bullwinkle428]

42. Bottled water in cases went from 20 oz. to 16.9 oz., seemingly overnight.

Sometime within the last year or so. I was like, what the hell is this crap...I want my 20 ounces back!

[Cobalt Violet]

43. Poland Spring gallons are now 3 liters.

For the clear bottles.

[Le Taz Hot]

44. I don't know if this will help or not

but, in that I've been po' a goodly part of my life I've become pretty good at economizing. For what it's worth:

Buy as much as you can in bulk. I use Costco. Here's some examples:

Popcorn - 8 lbs. of Orville Redenbacher kernels is less than $10.00. We use about a 1/4 cup to get a large bowl of popped corn. MUCH cheaper than microwave popcorn. We use an air popper so it takes about the same amount of time to cook.

Coffee - 3 lbs. beans for less than $10.00 and the quality is at least as good as Starbucks and certainly better than Folgers, Maxwell House, etc.

I've almost completely stopped buying sodas in favor of iced tea and lemonade. I buy the Real Lemon concentrate and make lemonade from that.

Active Dry Yeast: 4 oz. jar at Von's is $4.??. 32 oz. package is $2.99 at Costco.

One 50-pound bag of flour at Costco is about as much as 10 pounds at Von's.

Bulk toilet paper, paper towels, laundry detergent, shampoo, conditioner, etc.

Milk is $3.58 (approx.) for TWO gallons.

Make as much as you can from scratch. I use the HELL out of my breadmaker -- about 4 loaves a week. Buying in bulk I can make a loaf for about 15 cents. Making from scratch also enables you to control the amount of sodium and fat AND it has the added benefit of no preservatives.

It takes awhile to build up a stock of the essentials (flour, salt, sugar, etc.) but if you're able to buy just one or two bulk items per shopping trip you'll find you are able to stock up pretty quickly.

I estimate that I spend about $200.00 a month on groceries for 4 people and we eat VERY well.

As I said, for what it's worth.

[Javaman]

45. Soon soda will be sold by the shot. nt

[hatrack]

46. Economists call this "hedonics" (no, I'm not making this up)

You see, you're really getting the same value when you pay more for fewer cans of soda. You see, the flavor of new and improved soft drinks is so much better than it used to be that you're really getting more enjoyment out of each and every drop.

And yes, that one-pound bag of potato chips is down to 14 ounces, or 13 ounces, or 12.5 ounces, but the chips are much tastier than they once were, so the satisfaction you receive when eating them more than compensates for higher cost and smaller quantities.

Sure, your cable bill continues to go up year after year, but you have lots and lots of channels. Now, it's true that about one-third of those channels are home shopping shows, or religious programming, or 24/7 Texas Hold-em tournaments or third-tier sports broadcasting, but the fact that you have so many wonderful avenues of entertainment from which to pick more than makes up for $59.95 a month as opposed to $29.95 as it was four years back.

And that's why there's NO INFLATION!!!

That was easy!

[ProfessorGAC]

52. Not The Good Economists

It's a term used to describe the marketing impact on consumer demand in both directions. But, it's not intended to be used as a good thing. In fact, anyone who doesn't determine inflation based upon actual productivity (which goes down since 18 cans of pop costs less to produce than 24), is a hack and probably works for Bear and Stearns or the Dept. of Commerce. (Or worse, AEI or Cato.)
The Professor

[hatrack]

61. IIRC, it goes back to the abandonment of the "market basket" inflation measure

That went by the boards, oh, 1970s? 19880s? I kind of lost track.

[ProfessorGAC]

63. No. It's Still Used

The market basket is still used to define baseline consumer inflation. The more accurate and mathematically valid number is still total inflation which includes the changing price of energy and then redacts the price of energy from all other goods and services. (A smoothed out average value of the overall price of a good or service for energy of production and transportation is used.)

But, the market basket is still used as the baseline value. But, the overall inflation includes EVERYTHING SOLD AND EVERYTHING MADE! So, these smaller packages are meaningless to valid statistcal analysis of econometric data. If an economist does count cases, instead of total goods produced, he or she is a hack.
The Professor

[xultar]

49. Pet food and treats same thing! It's messed up. Less for more.

[Blackhatjack]

50. History of 'funsized' candy bars and how they 'shrunk' .....

Manufacturers of candy bars realized that Halloween sized candy bars could sell year round, and began selling the large bags of individually wrapped bars along side the 'regular' sized bars.

They began to see some purchasers put off by the price of buying a large bag, and began packaging the individually wrapped Halloween sized bars in ten(10) count packages in long side by side packages, usually for a dollar each. Marketing came up with the idea to attach the name 'fun size' to these bars. In the case of Butterfinger candy bars, they intially named them 'bitty fingers.'

As the costs of chocolate went up, the first change was to reduce the 'fun sized' candy bar packs from ten(10) to eight(8) bars in the package. However, people immediately noticed, and sales went down. So manufacturers 'went back' to the ten(10) bar combination people were looking for, but with a change -- the 'fun size' bars were 'downsized.'

If you have eaten a snickers 'fun sized' bar which has been 'downsized' you immediately realize that there is a dramatic difference.

At our house, we put them in the freezer which used to mean that eating one required a bit of time for it melt and eventually break down. The new smaller bars do not last nearly as long.

I do not have a problem with the manufacturer changing the size of their product for sale. The attempt to package the product in such a way as to disguise the product change is a problem.

Think for a minute if you eliminated the opaque packaging, inflated packaging which contains lots of air, and you could see exactly what you were purchasing, how many people would be purchasing a large bag of potato chips for $3.00???

[Zynx]

53. When I worked at OfficeMax, my specialty was printers and let me tell

you that what has happened with ink costs is a scandal. The typical ink cartridge four years ago would set you back a little over 4 cents a page. The typical ink cartridge now in an average home printer sets you back 7-10 cents a page now. Sounds small, but it adds up real fast.

[BluePatriot]

54. Yeah, hidden inflation

Do we believe the cheery govt. economy reports or our own lying eyes? I go with my eyeballs, thank you very much.

[Unperson]

55. $3 bag if chips that has like four or five chips in it. n/t

[lovuian]

56. yep smaller sizes and same or higher price

thats how the consumer price index is not showing the inflation

its very devious very very malicious and devious

[jgraz]

59. Here's an idea: stop buying all that shit

Soda? Chips? Hershey's kisses? Sounds like a lot of money for a bunch of crap. Most of the families I know who have limited funds (< 20k / yr) don't buy much prepared food at all.

I realize this isn't feasible for a lot of working families, but there's gotta be some middle ground between cooking everything from scratch and buying kids any garbage they see on TV.

[Auggie]

64. There's still .750 liters in a bottle of wine.

But forget buying aything decent for under $10.00

[Buzz Clik]

65. We overconsume anyway. Maybe this will help cut back on obesity.

[barb162]

69. And I have noticed prices really going up as of Jan 1

And the downsizing of packages, oh man. Certain canned things I often buy went up about 30%.