breyers ice cream 1.75 quart has recently shrunk to 1.5 quarts. anyone notice? i noticed the new, slimmer design, but it didn't dawn on me that the price was the same but the container was smaller until i was making black cows today.
reese's peanut butter cups are smaller.
hostess snack muffins (comes in individual pouches all in one box) has gone from five mini muffins down to 4 in each little package.
US manufacturers beat inflation by selling less for same price
Jun 26, 2008
WASHINGTON (AFP) — As Americans struggle with soaring fuel and food prices, it must come as a relief that the cost of some items in their shopping baskets are staying the same. Or are they?
While the price of some processed food may be staying put, the amount Americans get for their money is surreptitiously shrinking as manufacturers shrink quantity sizes.
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Hellmann's mayonnaise -- a vital ingredient in the egg- or tuna-salad sandwiches that feature prominently in US bag lunches -- has seen its jar trimmed from 32 ounces to 30 ounces, Dean Mastrojohn, the US spokesman for Unilever, the global conglomerate that makes Hellmann's, told AFP.
Country Crock margarine tubs were reduced by around six percent, from three pounds to two pounds 13 ounces, and Breyers ice cream by 14 percent from 56 ounces to 48 ounces, Mastrojohn said.
"Package size reduction is mainly focused on the US, and is only one of our responses to dramatic input cost increases," he said.
"It's a last resort, with several other approaches coming first," Mastrojohn added.
Package-trimming is thinly disguised price-boosting, not to mention underhanded, said Deirdre Cummings, legislative director at consumer advocacy group MASSPIRG.
"They want to increase the price without the consumer realizing. The way they do that is with a smaller package, but when they put that package out, they don't advertise that it's smaller," Cummings said.
"So many times, they put 'new improved package' on the label but they would never put 'new, improved and smaller'," she said.
Popken said manufacturers are "hoping you won't notice".
"Some of them do it at the same time as they change the package design. They're hoping to distract you with a new feature, but fail to tell you that, oops, by the way, it happens to be smaller," he said.
Breakfast cereal boxes have become smaller; orange juice jugs have shrunk.
Consumer advocacy website Mouseprint.org has posted photos of the new, sleek, smaller Tropicana orange juice jug alongside the older jug to illustrate how some manufacturers try to sneak what is effectively a price hike past the consumer.
"While (consumers) may notice the shape is different, they may not realize they are getting almost a cup less of OJ. According to one supermarket dairy manager, the price has stayed the same," Mouseprint, which was founded by consumer lawyer Edgar Dworsky in 2006, wrote.
Tropicana defended the shrinkage, saying on Mouseprint.org: "Oil costs have skyrocketed. Oil is used to make plastic bottles, fuel our factories, and ship our juice across the country in refrigerated trains and trucks.
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The price of navel oranges increased from around 90 cents in January to nearly 1.01 dollars in May, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
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Meanwhile, Consumerist reported that some restaurants and bars are using thick-bottomed glasses to serve beer -- shaving two fluid ounces off the usual 16-ounce serving size.
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5i8puexdqqL1MR3mRhcq5agpzAYsQAs ice cream manufacturers try to keep pace with rising ingredient costs, some containers — the sort so well-suited to the skinny freezer side of a side-by-side fridge — are getting smaller.
The thinking: Although you might forgo $6 or $8 ice cream, a slightly smaller container priced around $4 might still be in your budget. That's why, some companies acknowledge, they have reduced the amount of ice cream per package but have kept prices roughly the same.
One Omaha shopper noticed the change recently at the Wal-Mart near Interstate 680 and Blair High Road. Her favorite Edy's Slow-Churned cost the same, but the cylindrical container was about an inch shorter than it used to be. It now contains 1.5 quarts, when the taller container contained 1.75 quarts.
Breyers also has scaled back its 1.75-quart rectangular tubs. The bottoms of the new containers are narrower, and they contain 1.5 quarts.
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=1219&u_sid=10373496and finally
Companies said the food price increases are to blame. The price of milk has risen about 26 percent in the last year and the cost of eggs is up 40 percent. When dairy products cost more to produce, they cost more for shoppers.
Food companies are also dealing with the rising cost of fuel. Some manufacturers said they have a choice: shrink the product or increase the price. One estimate showed that about one-third of packaged goods have lost content over the last year.
http://www.click2houston.com/money/16629050/detail.htmlapparently i just haven't been paying attention. this one article goes back to june 17. (i've been too busy sticking my head in the ground i suppose.)
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and on a less pissy note--hello everyone. how are you today?
:hi: