Anyone else notice cost-cutting changes in food products we buy?

[Orchidflower]

My sister worked as a researcher for the food industry, and the horror stories she told me would give you chills............

Having an interest in the bizarre, I'd sure love to hear some of those stories, FinanceDude.

 

[Koolau]

Can cigarettes and booze be far behind?

Seriously, I've been noticing this trend for quite some time now. It seems to be accelerating as most ice cream went to the 1.75 qt. and then quickly to 1.5 qts. in many brands. No lower pries either, locally.

I DO wonder if the gummint office that calculates inflation is at all independent or if they are totally in cahoots with the policy makers (or someplace in between).

 

[Zero]

I just noticed that Lays put the Doritos in a new taller but more slender package and same price. I believe they reduced it by 1/2 oz but the sneaky folks there were smart enough to make all the snacks slightly different weights.

AND, the package container 80% by volume of a substance known as air. Very healthy component.

 

[Leonidas]

We spend a lot less of our disposable income on food than we have for most of the last century. It's up slightly now than it was a few years ago, but the number is less than 10% of disposable income as compared to 25% and more in the 1930's. Food has become big business and the producers are giving us what we asked for - cheaper food.

The problem of course is what shortcuts have been taken to get us that cheap food. And if we're dumb enough to eat the stuff, then why shouldn't they believe we are dumb enough to not notice other manipulations - like package size.

I hope we figure it out soon. We can eat cheaply and continue to see our CVD, diabetes II, etc., all grow with our waist sizes, or we can demand there be some quality put back into the system. Said demand being expressed by consumer preferences as exhibited by how they spend their food dollars.

What was it Winston Churchill said about us? You can always count on Americans to do the right thing, after they've tried everything else?

 

[harley]

As has been pointed out, these changes won't show up in the CPI calculations. That's the part that pisses me off.

My pet peeve is the cost comparison numbers on the pricing labels that were created so we could find bargains. Now I'm noticeing (for example) sodas. One brand will list at $.xx per oz, the next brand at $.xx per quart, and the next at $.xx each. This would totally defeat the purpose if my cell phone didn't have a calculator.

 

[Khan]

I recall an article in MAD Magazine in the 1960s mentioning this very topic (shrinkage).

 

[Keim]

I recall an article in MAD Magazine in the 1960s mentioning this very topic (shrinkage).

Maybe our food had just gotten out of a cold pool.

YouTube - The Best of Seinfeld - The Shrinkage

 

[BigMoneyJim]

These are just hedonic adjustments.

 

[nphx]

Did you notice the 20 pack cans of soda that used to be 24?

 

[bbbamI]

To tell you the truth, I haven't noticed smaller quantities...yeah I know, my bad. But I hate to shop...especially for groceries, so I grab what I need, fling it in the cart and get out as quickly as possible.

 

[thefed]

im pretty confident kfc has been using buttery spread and sugar-honey for quite some time

 

[chinaco]

Yes companies cycle through the shrink (and charge the same)... one day they will increase the size and label it as 25% more for free (as a sale item).... then reset the price for the 25% more package to the price they want... and the cycle starts over.

Someone mentioned this... a common trick in consumer products is for manufacturers to substitute lower cost alternatives in the ingredients (or formula).... happens in food, soap, on and on. This is very common and has been going on for years.

 

[Orchidflower]

im pretty confident kfc has been using buttery spread and sugar-honey for quite some time

In all honesty, I probably hadn't eaten at KFC in a year and try not to eat the biscuit with honey (part of my fantasy that this will help me drop 20 lbs.). But, the last time I ate the honey it was real honey. Do you have any idea when they made this change with the honey? It looks like water with some yellow honey in it and not even mixed well--or, at least, my packets looked like that. Ick!

 

[Leonidas]

A few parts of a penny saved here and there on an item, spread across a full menu and multiplied by chain of thousands of restaurants can add up to real money for an entity like KFC or McDonalds. I watched a documentary sometime back that showed how one of the chains routinely does garbology - an examination of the trash from a restaurant. They look to see what the employees are wasting, but they also examine what we customers waste. The result is that more chains pass out condiments at the counter rather than allowing us to just grab what we want, napkin dispensers are like little vaults that do their damndest to make it impossible to get more than one napkin at a time. It's all designed to keep us from wasting the stuff.

The substitutions in their food items are just more of the same - save a few pennies here to make millions.

You can go to all of these places websites to see what is in their food. I'm pleased to say that McDondald's honey is still just 100% honey. But their ketchup is loaded with HFCS. And KFC's "buttery spread" is some nasty stuff.

If you eat at a restaurant you have zero control of what goes into your food. And some of the chains, like KFC, are abusing the ignorance of their customers with products like Honey sauce and buttery spread. But, there are so many of their customers who want to get filled up for cheap it pays off.

 

[bright eyed]

The other day Kroger put the 40 count Melitta #4 coffee filters on sale 2 for $3.99.
The 100 count box was on the next lower shelf at the regular price of $3.99.

They must think we are stupid.

Haha, I'm sure they had plenty of takers on the 2 for 1 deal!

I overhead two girls debating a purchase in the beauty supply store - by a 5 pack of replacement razors (to cut hair with) for $5 or buy "a whole new one" for $4 (the holder and one razor - she already has the holder @ home)...uh honey - you're getting 5 new razors... but she kept saying "whole new one" as if that was better somehow...

 

[Orchidflower]

Haha, I'm sure they had plenty of takers on the 2 for 1 deal!

I overhead two girls debating a purchase in the beauty supply store - by a 5 pack or replacement razors (to cut hair with) for $5 or buy "a whole new one" for $4 (the holder and one razor - she already has the holder @ home)...uh honey - you're getting 5 new razors... but she kept saying "whole new one" as if that was better somehow...

Good point on America's education system...not. Don't you wonder how people like that can chew gum and walk at the same time?