Invisible Inflation

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Anyone else catching this? I keep seeing that product prices have been stable due to low inflation. Well for starters a lot of items like gas, milk, beef and so forth appear to have gone up substantially.

But how about invisible inflation? I was looking at a six pack of guiness yesterday when I noticed that the bottles are all 11.2 oz. Not 12. When I stopped by the pet store to buy food, the cans were 13oz, not the 14 they used to be and I think they were 16oz at one point. Coffee is now sold in 12oz bags instead of 16oz.

I started thinking and looking around and LOTS of things seem to come in odd sizes and volumes now, many an oz or .1L or whatnot off of a standard measurement size.

Are we have our lunch slowly eaten without even realizing it?

[charlie]

I remember as a kid when a 10 cent Babe Ruth
was really BIG!! It made an unforgetable impression
the day I bought a downsized bar.

Have you also noticed how they put less in bigger
containers and design packaging to look bigger?

A pox on marketing with their optical confusion tricks.

Charlie

[anonapersona]

They call that "lack of pricing power" -- companies don't have the pull to make a price increase so they shrink the container. I guess it is cheaper than advertising "New and Improved" or redesigning the package to add a handy measuring spout or whatever.

[COD]

I think Guinness has always come in a smaller bottle - they have to leave room for the little nitrogen thingee. I think you point is valid though. There is an opposite but equal problem too. Sizes / quantities that are too big. We gave up the Costco membership because 10 lb boxes of pretzels are only a savings if you can actually eat all 10 lbs before they go stale. We were wasting a lot of food that came from Costco because we simply could not finish quickly enough. Well, that and my tendencay to buy crap I didn't need in the first place

My wife buys way to much food (can't resist a bargain).
Thus a lot of it spoils or is stale before we get to it.
The freezer is full. The frig. is full. The pantry is full,
etc etc. The other day she was at a supermarket and
bought a ton of ribeyes which were on sale. Then she
asked the guy behind the counter if they had more.
He siad yes. She said' I'll take them all!" Didn't even ask how many they had. We end up with a lot of weird
stuff even I won't eat, also. Fortunately, we have 4 dogs. They end up with the old leftovers and out of date stuff.

John Galt

[mickeyd]

Hey John Gault,

Just curious, where do you put a ton a ribeyes if your refigerator/freezer is full? Do you have to cook them up as soon as you get home and invite the block over to put on the feedbag?

I'll have mine medium-rare if it's not too much trouble.

[ESRBob]

I hope John's dogs aren't getting those ribeyes! I might have to come over, too!