The shrinking package

[I earned it]

Yeah I mentioned soda

I was thinking the opposite is true for some snack groups? I recall as a kid that a 12oz soda was "normal" size. Then 16oz was the normal size. Then 20oz. Now 22oz?


Basically what David65 says about coffee (I live in coffee central Seattle WA). Beer too sort of...

The corn syrup instead of sugar soda got bigger. Have u priced soda made with sugar? It's a fortune.

 

[I earned it]

I'm the guy that started that thread too

Stop complaining, people. Everything shrinks nowadays, and it is not just because of the cold weather.

A concurrent thread talks about SS means testing. Yep, your future SS check may be shrinking soon. You'd better get used to it.

.

 

[I earned it]

At the grocery store the other day and noticed a bottle of bleach about about 2 quarts instead of the usual gallon.

I went to the store got a bottle of bleach , thought I was getting stronger, when I got home my gallon of bleach was 96 ounces, I got shorted

 

[RockyMtn]

I thought this was about the Seinfeld episode where George experiences package shrinkage!!

 

[I earned it]

Omg how did I forget!? Toilet paper. They shrunk that in every dimension and if it's possible it's even thinner, I'm really working myself up into a lather now, lol

 

[bclover]

FWIW - the Kirkland branded vanilla Ice Cream (Costco) is still 1/2 gallon. I think it's the last ice cream brand that this is true for.

I just checked our peanut butter (again, Kirkland brand - natural, so nothing but peanuts and salt) - 40 oz. - so 2.5 lbs. I remember when my mom used to by 3 lb jars of peanut butter when my brother was a teen - she let him have unlimited PB sandwiches - in an attempt to keep him OUT of the dinner ingredients. We're repeating this with our boys - PB sandwiches and apples are allowed in unlimited quantities.... but stay away from what we plan to use for dinner.

I actually wouldn't mind the smaller size if it was actual ice cream, so much of the stuff is "frozen dairy dessert". yuck

 

[bclover]

I thought this was about the Seinfeld episode where George experiences package shrinkage!!

 

[MRG]

They shrunk my airline seat.

 

[Animorph]

Just working it all down into pill form.

 

[2HOTinPHX]

They shrunk my pension...I said pension.....froze it...........all the while CEO cashing in his stock options like a kid in a candy store..... ..there should be a law against......

 

[Telly]

The shrinking package has hit the building materials, too.

Remember the ever-present 5 gallon drywall bucket, that was later repurposed as a bucket for anything? It's 4.5 gallons now.
And a 1 gallon pail of reduced-dust drywall compound is now 3.5 quarts instead.
The bags of setting-type compound used to be 20-25 pounds, they've drifted down to 18 pounds.

I think the ultimate trick is to reduce packages of whatever to the point that the buyer has to buy TWO to do it, but only use a small amount from the second package. So rest of the second package gets thrown away. Then next time, they have to buy two packages...

Which reminded me...
Many decades ago, there was a story in Mad Magazine (What, me worry?) about product sizing and marketing. One was to package flashlight batteries in a 3-pack, when flashlights used two.
The "reporter" said "oh, so that you'll have a spare battery, what a great idea!"
And the product marketer said "Dead! By the time you need it, hopelessly dead!"

 

[Ronnieboy]

Consumer Reports would put stuff like that on the inside back cover. I think it was called 'selling it' or something like that. The funny thing is they would follow up with the manufacturer and ask why? 95% of them would say it was a price increase with out raising prices and 5% would actually come up with something like "Our consumers prefer the smaller package" (for the same price).

And yes, when I read the title I thought of the Seinfeld episode


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

 

[travelover]

And has anyone measured a 2x4 lately? Only 1.5x3.5!

 

[Pajaro]

I think the ultimate trick is to reduce packages of whatever to the point that the buyer has to buy TWO to do it, but only use a small amount from the second package. So rest of the second package gets thrown away. Then next time, they have to buy two packages...
[/I]"

This is what happened to paper towels. They have made the individual sheets smaller and marketed it as consumer flexibility: "you can select 1, 2, or 3 sheets depending on the size of your job." The problem is that 1 sheet is normally too small, and 2 sheets is way bigger than the size of a 1-size-fits-all sheet. In the end you end up using more paper towel per job than you used to.

 

[ziggy29]

FWIW - the Kirkland branded vanilla Ice Cream (Costco) is still 1/2 gallon. I think it's the last ice cream brand that this is true for.

Blue Bell, too, at least once we can start getting it again....

My problem with this "shrinking package" stuff (euphemisms aside) is twofold -- first, the intended deception to the consumer by making them think you aren't raising prices when you really are, per ounce; secondly, it distorts and possibly wrecks a lot of recipes which call for a jar of this or a can of that, when the size of the "this" and "that" keep shrinking. Remember the 32 ounce jars of pasta sauce which went from 32 to 30 to 28 to 26 to 24? Or the 7- to 8-ounce can of tuna?

 

[NW-Bound]

The problem with recipe can be remedied, if everything gets shrunken proportionally. This means all measuring cups and scales must change to match.

To coordinate all this effort between all vendors, we need to have Congress in the loop. Ah, finally, the American waistline will get shrunken.

PS. By shortening the mile, we can also reduce speeding and traffic accidents. Your speedometer will read 80 mph when you are going only 60. There are all kinds of benefits that can be realized.

Another example: Stepping on a new scale, you suddenly find yourself weighting 30 lbs more. What's a better incentive to diet? And your wife suddenly has to buy a dress size 10, whereas she used to wear size 8. See what I mean?

One more example: A tiny home is suddenly 1500 sq.ft, and sounds more appealing to people to entice them to downsize.

 

[MRG]

Love this thread, I'm making quaker steel cut oats. The container says it has 30 oz. of oats as the prior 24 oz. container for the same MSRP! Finally something bucked the trend.

 

[zedd]

And has anyone measured a 2x4 lately? Only 1.5x3.5!

Where you shop matters. Needed 2"x8"x16' (real not nominal) floor joists for an old house we're refurbishing. I went directly to the mill and bought rough sawn for substantially less than the big box stores. Pay less, get more!

Know your sawyer

 

[MRG]

Where you shop matters. Needed 2"x8"x16' (real not nominal) floor joists for an old house we're refurbishing. I went directly to the mill and bought rough sawn for substantially less than the big box stores. Pay less, get more!

Know your sawyer

+1

Dried? Does make a big difference.

When I was still in the industry we sawed grade hardwoods 1 1/8", after drying they would be 1", two sided planing would remove the last 3/16" which at that time was the standard 13/16" (you were allowed 10% of the required cuttings to be scant 1/8") for standard hardwood.

As best as I can tell, the standard 2x4 has been shrinking for about 100 years! It does pay to know your sawyer for price, quality, and some very unique cuts. We used to saw a lot of custom cuts for folks, mainly farmers. I recall just hating 26' 2x6", dog gone things took about a half mile to turn around.

 

[travelover]

.........As best as I can tell, the standard 2x4 has been shrinking for about 100 years! .........

When I was in engineering school, I recall an assistant prof who was originally from India doing a structures calculation on the black board using 2"x4" as the actual lumber size. It was then that I learned the difference between experience and theory.

 

[athena53]

When I was in engineering school, I recall an assistant prof who was originally from India doing a structures calculation on the black board using 2"x4" as the actual lumber size. It was then that I learned the difference between experience and theory.

I learned it when I bought a house built just before 1900 and we ripped out the bathroom to the studs. I was surprised when the guy who owned it with me told me that we'd have to shim a few new 2 X 4's we put in because they weren't really 2" X 4", and the original studs were.

I've seen discussions on this topic on other boards and people have pointed out that manufacturers will reduce package size, then print recipes on the label that require the old quantity- so your 13.5-ounce can of tomato sauce has a recipe calling for 14 oz. of tomato sauce.

My pet peeve is with the "concentrated" detergent and other cleaning solutions. I get that it's cheaper to package and ship the concentrate because they use smaller containers, but I don't think they passed on much of that savings to us and I also wonder how many people actually reduce the quantity they use. Win-win for the manufacturers.

 

[growing_older]

The problem with recipe can be remedied, if everything gets shrunken proportionally. This means all measuring cups and scales must change to match.

But only if all the packages used have shrunk by the same amounts. I've got great old recipes that call for a can of this (used to be 16oz, now 13.5oz) and a can of that (used to be 8oz, now 6oz) and the like. Usually the recipe is flexible enough I can just use the current sizes and scale everything down roughly, but it's not the same. Old recipes that call for actual measurements (use 2lbs of this) usually end up needing weird partial packages (2 and a third boxes) of ingredients, so either the recipe isn't the same or the leftover bits are likely wasted.

 

[karen1972]

Since I buy so much online, I actually have to track per ounce, per sheet, per unit type pricing to compare across sites, at to it the rebate sites, it makes no sense to shop in store... its sometimes pretty amazing the difference in packaging

When food prices started sky rocketing years ago, that's when the packages started shrinking as consumers bought the smaller packages and didn't complain so then every food company followed. Most people don't look at the stickers EVER. I see all the time where the larger size package is often more per unit price, which is completely backwards.

 

[NW-Bound]

But only if all the packages used have shrunk by the same amounts...

If you read the rest of my post, you will see that it was a joke.

 

[tmm99]

Potato chips are my current favorite. Used to be 16 oz, now it's like 10 oz. Actually, I don't think we can get through a 16 oz bag of chips any more anyway, but the price still looks the same.

We never finish our big bags of chips so we can totally relate!