Join Early Retirement Today
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
The shrinking package
Old 11-10-2015, 12:28 PM   #1
gone traveling
 
Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 45
The shrinking package

I remember there was a organization that kept track of shrinking package sizes, and I would read the posts in the newspaper, the one I remember the best was that the certain popular size pack of m&m's had 1 or 2 less per pack. This was all pre computer days. Is there such a site? I'll start it off with what I remember, can on tuna 8 oz, now it's 5. Pound can of coffee 11-13 ounces. Jar of peanut butter forget it its down to half. 5 pounds of sugar now it's 4. Orange juice no half gallon 59 ounces, ice cream half gallon is 48 ounces . The only thing that went up was the crowd pleaser bottle of soda went from 64 ounces to 2 liter, but it doesn't have sugar corn syrup now.
I earned it is offline   Reply With Quote
Join the #1 Early Retirement and Financial Independence Forum Today - It's Totally Free!

Are you planning to be financially independent as early as possible so you can live life on your own terms? Discuss successful investing strategies, asset allocation models, tax strategies and other related topics in our online forum community. Our members range from young folks just starting their journey to financial independence, military retirees and even multimillionaires. No matter where you fit in you'll find that Early-Retirement.org is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with our members, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create a retirement blog, send private messages and so much, much more!

Old 11-10-2015, 12:44 PM   #2
Full time employment: Posting here.
 
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Dogpatch
Posts: 561
It's true. I did a quick google and found this (oh, you don't mean that package size. Need to be careful what I click on). I notice another trick is something like "five for five dollars!" What a deal! Maybe there are enough people who struggle with simple math. I do think there's an attempt to confuse shoppers. Like package sizes in fractional weights. The stores around here also show the price per unit (like price per oz), but it's in a very small font, and you have to look closely.
tfudtuckerpucker is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-10-2015, 12:48 PM   #3
gone traveling
 
Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 45
Thank you, this was a weekly article in the paper, but the article is exactly the type of stuff it printed, also a pound cake was originally called that because it had a pound of butter, my last loaf pound cake weighed in at 15 ounces, not even the size of one of the ingrediants
I earned it is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-10-2015, 01:46 PM   #4
Moderator
rodi's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: San Diego
Posts: 14,169
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.
__________________
Retired June 2014. No longer an enginerd - now I'm just a nerd.
micro pensions 6%, rental income 20%
rodi is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-10-2015, 01:55 PM   #5
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,633
I sure hope a can of beer is never reduced to 10 1/2 ounces or something similar! 😁


Sent from my iPod touch using Early Retirement Forum
__________________
friar1610
friar1610 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-10-2015, 01:57 PM   #6
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
NW-Bound's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 35,712
I believe merchants do this out of good intentions.

They cut the portion sizes so that Americans will lose weight.
__________________
"Old age is the most unexpected of all things that happen to a man" -- Leon Trotsky (1879-1940)

"Those Who Can Make You Believe Absurdities Can Make You Commit Atrocities" - Voltaire (1694-1778)
NW-Bound is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-10-2015, 02:14 PM   #7
gone traveling
 
Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 45
Can anyone add to the list of smaller packages for the same price? The weekly article was called something like "the bean counter". I'll use ur smaller items in my rant next time there is a lull in the conversation . The bride will love it haha
I earned it is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-10-2015, 02:19 PM   #8
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 8,359
Did anyone else read the title "The Shrinking Package" and think of something else?
__________________
Living well is the best revenge!
Retired @ 52 in 2005
marko is offline   Reply With Quote
Please don't kill my question
Old 11-10-2015, 02:30 PM   #9
gone traveling
 
Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 45
Please don't kill my question

Quote:
Originally Posted by marko View Post
Did anyone else read the title "The Shrinking Package" and think of something else?
I would like some more items , and a website that tracks this if you can think of a new title I'll try to rename it
I earned it is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-10-2015, 02:43 PM   #10
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 4,366
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.
Animorph is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-10-2015, 03:14 PM   #11
Recycles dryer sheets
jetpack's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 437
I noticed in the $1 dollar stores that they offer sizes so they can sell it for a dollar.
jetpack is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-10-2015, 03:16 PM   #12
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: South central PA
Posts: 3,469
Tuna fish. I don't use it often but it used to be 6 oz. Now with the water removed it weighs in at 4 oz. Same with canned clams.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum
EastWest Gal is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-10-2015, 03:17 PM   #13
gone traveling
 
Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 45
Quote:
Originally Posted by Animorph View Post
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.
Yeah I remember the big bag of wise chips actually had two separate sleeves of chips inside of it. I talked the bride into making some onion dip for us (me). I put a hurting on the family bag, but as u stated it has shrunk to 10 ounces
I earned it is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-10-2015, 03:17 PM   #14
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Amethyst's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 12,596
Some British merchants were actually touting this "benefit" of smaller packages when we lived in the UK 2004-2007.

Quote:
Originally Posted by NW-Bound View Post
I believe merchants do this out of good intentions.

They cut the portion sizes so that Americans will lose weight.
__________________
If you understood everything I say, you'd be me ~ Miles Davis
'There is only one success – to be able to spend your life in your own way.’ Christopher Morley.
Even a blind clock finds an acorn twice a day.
Amethyst is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-10-2015, 03:21 PM   #15
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Toronto
Posts: 203
And cups of coffee have been shrunk from 6 oz to a measly 20 oz!
Davis65 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-10-2015, 03:24 PM   #16
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 6,681
I bought a bag of 8 hamburger rolls recently and this brand now had a weight of only 12 ounces instead f the usual 16 ounces (1 pound). All the buns were smaller which made my 5-ounce Omaha Steaks burgers hang off the edge of them. Somewhat annoying.


But I happened to check out packages of my usual brands and to my dismay I found they are now only 15 ounces, not 16. So they, too, will not contain the burgers as well as they used to, but better than the ones I have now.


Other annoying downsizes I have spotted recently were my chocolate chip cookies (number of cookies dropped from 30 to 27 to 24 in the last few years) and my canned gravies lost nearly an ounce in their "new and improved" format.
__________________
Retired in late 2008 at age 45. Cashed in company stock, bought a lot of shares in a big bond fund and am living nicely off its dividends. IRA, SS, and a pension await me at age 60 and later. No kids, no debts.

"I want my money working for me instead of me working for my money!"
scrabbler1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-10-2015, 03:26 PM   #17
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Amethyst's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 12,596
Package Redesign is a particular annoyance of mine. It is calculated deception, and I don't like that. I would rather pay more for the same amount.

An item we love to buy in large packages - Triscuit crackers, say - will disappear from the box-store shelves, and reappear months later in a newly redesigned short, squat package that looks bulky, yet contains about the same weight as the grocery store package used to hold. Meanwhile, the grocery store package has shrunk to child-size.
__________________
If you understood everything I say, you'd be me ~ Miles Davis
'There is only one success – to be able to spend your life in your own way.’ Christopher Morley.
Even a blind clock finds an acorn twice a day.
Amethyst is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-10-2015, 03:42 PM   #18
gone traveling
 
Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 45
I'm glad you brought up the hamburger rolls, that's my latest rant. Hotdogs no more pound of hotdogs. Somewhere 11-14 ounces. They get lost in the bun. And I got only 7 hotdogs in the last pack not happy
I earned it is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-10-2015, 03:59 PM   #19
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: South central PA
Posts: 3,469
At our grocery store grapes have become HUGE.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum
EastWest Gal is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-10-2015, 04:06 PM   #20
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Seattle
Posts: 479
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...
supernova72 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Shrinking CC Points value jetpack FIRE and Money 39 07-23-2015 04:50 PM
The Incredible Shrinking Alpha (new Swedroe book) - anyone read it already? Midpack FIRE and Money 0 01-31-2015 10:43 AM
Another shrinking product - lite bourbon? Janet H Other topics 26 02-17-2013 10:39 PM
The Shrinking Market Midpack FIRE and Money 11 01-01-2012 03:59 PM
Shrinking market to drive stock prices up? REWahoo FIRE and Money 7 12-29-2006 02:15 PM

» Quick Links

 
All times are GMT -6. The time now is 04:25 AM.
 
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.