They've Ruined Tropicana Orange Juice (Again)

[Koolau]

... Which makes you part of the problem.

But what can you do? Insist they sell 64 oz bottles? Good luck.

It's not easy, but the public CAN have an effect. Recent issues with beer prove the point though it's more of an outlier in marketing vs public opinion. YMMV

 

[Car-Guy]

I've noticed lot's of shrinkage as time goes on. For me I prefer Simply Orange Juice and their various products but Tropicana is my second choice.

I could not tell you what either cost, before or after any shrinkage.

 

[CaptTom]

...it just doesn’t work in practice. Lots of consumers have a mental limit on what they’ll pay for a product...

There's a lot of truth in that. Which I guess is my real problem; people are so gullible. Maybe that's too harsh. Maybe they're just too lazy to bother thinking about value and price. BTD mentality, if you will.

I'm a proponent of voting with our wallets. If one company did something dastardly like shrinking the package size, and customers then started buying from the competitors who didn't, this whole shrinkflation thing would die immediately.

Instead we let them get away with it, so other companies jump on the bandwagon.

Consumers can have an effect. One product I buy regularly came out with a "New! Improved!" formulation. A quick comparison of the label showed that the "improvement" was a huge increase in the amount of water. What today we'd call "shitification." Customers like me wrote letters and stopped buying. Within a few months the company switched back to the "classic" formula, and sent me some coupons to get me to try it again. Hopefully they also fired the bean-counter who came up with that idea in the first place.

 

[MarieIG]

I recall way back in college - in a marketing class - the professor taught us about JND (Just Noticeable Difference). The aim of companies being to reduce what the customer was being provided without the difference being noticeable.

I still believe however, that "you can't fool all of the people all of the time."

 

[disneysteve]

I'm thinking even if you don't have a salt shaker at the table, the cook is putting in a LOT of salt when cooking.

I've cut down on the salt added to food when cooking, so we think the regular v-8 is awfully salty.

The vast majority of salt in our diet comes from processed foods, not the salt shaker on the table. Salt is a flavor enhancer so cooks and companies add a lot of it because it simply makes the food taste better. It also plays a role in the processing and preserving end.

I used to have a patient who worked in the R&D department for Campbell's Soup. I asked her why their low salt soups taste so awful when I can make great soup at home with zero salt. She said it had something to do with the high temperature processing and the canning process. As hard as they've tried, if they use less than a certain amount of soup, the end result just isn't palatable.

If you really want to cut down on your salt intake, keep the salt shaker but eliminate as much processed food as possible. Buy fresh meats, fresh produce, bake your own bread, etc. Adding a pinch of salt when you're cooking or a quick shake at the table is nominal compared to what would be in the ready-to-eat highly processed foods.

 

[audreyh1]

If you really want to cut down on your salt intake, keep the salt shaker but eliminate as much processed food as possible. Buy fresh meats, fresh produce, bake your own bread, etc. Adding a pinch of salt when you're cooking or a quick shake at the table is nominal compared to what would be in the ready-to-eat highly processed foods.

Definitely this! Getting rid of as much commercially processed food as you can will do wonders for your health in general.

And really, for most people salt is not a problem if you avoid processed foods. Most people are not salt sensitive. More radical thoughts: You can lower your blood pressure going on a low carb diet and the kidneys easily flush sodium if insulin is not chronically high. Us no processed foods low-carbers sometimes need to add salt!

 

[Texas Proud]

There's a lot of truth in that. Which I guess is my real problem; people are so gullible. Maybe that's too harsh. Maybe they're just too lazy to bother thinking about value and price. BTD mentality, if you will.

I'm a proponent of voting with our wallets. If one company did something dastardly like shrinking the package size, and customers then started buying from the competitors who didn't, this whole shrinkflation thing would die immediately.

Instead we let them get away with it, so other companies jump on the bandwagon.

Consumers can have an effect. One product I buy regularly came out with a "New! Improved!" formulation. A quick comparison of the label showed that the "improvement" was a huge increase in the amount of water. What today we'd call "shitification." Customers like me wrote letters and stopped buying. Within a few months the company switched back to the "classic" formula, and sent me some coupons to get me to try it again. Hopefully they also fired the bean-counter who came up with that idea in the first place.

A few comments on this...

First, it probably is NOT bean counters that make those decisions..... I was one and all we do is record what is happening... it is management that wants to make more profits that make them... now, they might have an MBA (or not) but and MBA is not a bean counter...

Also, they get away with it because most people just do not see it happening... the coffee can is classic but I know more about a candy bag... it was 16 ozs... a full pound... then want to 14... after a few years 13... then 12... now 10.5 and some on special holiday versions 9 oz... the size of the package is the same!! Same with the coffee can (at least for awhile, not sure how big they are now... and DW buys bags so...)...



By the time they notice it is too late... everybody else has also shrunk...

 

[surprising]

I noticed my whole bean coffee bags haven't changed price (around $16) yet the bag is getting smaller and smaller. Used to be 16oz bags, now they are 10-12oz.

 

[MC Rider]

Get smaller coffee cups.

 

[tulak]

I see this often with ice cream. Lots of companies stopped selling pints and have reduced their size, usually from 16 to 14oz.

When I see this, I refuse to buy their product. Fortunately, there’s a lot of alternatives that deserve support. The other companies, they deserve to fail, even though I’m under no illusion that they will change.

 

[Texas Proud]

I see this often with ice cream. Lots of companies stopped selling pints and have reduced their size, usually from 16 to 14oz.

When I see this, I refuse to buy their product. Fortunately, there’s a lot of alternatives that deserve support. The other companies, they deserve to fail, even though I’m under no illusion that they will change.

And no more half gallon!!! Now 1 1/2 qts...

EXCEPT for Blue Bell!!! A great Texas ice cream (which I do not buy BTW... buy the HEB brand)...

 

[CaptTom]

By the time they notice it is too late... everybody else has also shrunk...

... Which is exactly the problem. Too many people can't be bothered to comparison shop, know the products they're buying, make value judgements, etc.

 

[audreyh1]

I just don’t think a customer strike would ever work because it would never happen. Customers do vote with their wallets, they will eventually switch to a better deal. But the whole process is much more subtle.

 

[Koolau]

I just don’t think a customer strike would ever work because it would never happen. Customers do vote with their wallets, they will eventually switch to a better deal. But the whole process is much more subtle.

The beer "issue" seemed to be organic in nature. Such things feed on themselves and the publicity. They may be once in a decade and very specific.

Not so with "general" shrinkflation. That's been around for almost 50 years now and we've all just become used to it and accept it (for the most part.) I don't see it going away and I don't see any mass resistance on the horizon. Lots of moaning and complaining, then it's off to the next thing to complain about.

Having said that, we DO have the power (as consumers) but I don't see us ever really digging in and exercising that power. I did give up coffee (but not my Diet Pepsi!) YMMV

 

[audreyh1]

I guess a benefit of buying very little prepackaged in “standard” package sizes I don’t really don’t see this kind of shrinkflation. Meat/seafood/poultry/cheese and produce is by weight. Milk still comes in gallons, pints and quarts. Eggs still come in 6, 12, and 18. I buy coffee beans by the pound.

It’s seems to be things like crisps, ice cream, cookies etc, where this stunt is pulled.

 

[Koolau]

I guess a benefit of buying very little prepackaged in “standard” package sizes I don’t really don’t see this kind of shrinkflation. Meat/seafood/poultry/cheese and produce is by weight. Milk still comes in gallons, pints and quarts. Eggs still come in 6, 12, and 18. I buy coffee beans by the pound.

It’s seems to be things like crisps, ice cream, cookies etc, where this stunt is pulled.

All the stuff you don't really need to survive seems more vulnerable to shrinkflation. I would have thought it would have been the other way around. But, I guess it makes sense. Chips and candy and "treats" of all kinds are "known luxuries" which we'll still buy at inflated prices. "Staples" and meat (protein) we're willing to adjust (from beef to pork or chicken etc.) when prices go up. But what are you going to substitute for Oreo cookies??

 

[audreyh1]

Well sweets are completely off the table for me except for my 90% chocolate Lindt bar 100g. I guess I’ll have to keep an eye out.

I’m guessing that if they tried to reduce the standard sizes of milk and eggs the outcry would be enormous.

 

[FlaMariner]

Native Floridian here.....

We ditched Tropicana many years ago.....Was once a great Florida company based in Bradenton and was then sold to Pepsi Cola and now some other investment company.....Their "orange blossom special" freight train could be seen leaving Bradenton and heading up the east coast....bringing that Florida juice to the Yankees.

Florida's Natural is our brand.....Look it up. Better company (farmer's co-op) and it's Florida OJ and it is delicious and is a morning requirement.

Enjoy......

 

[Qs Laptop]

Native Floridian here.....

We ditched Tropicana many years ago.....Was once a great Florida company based in Bradenton and was then sold to Pepsi Cola and now some other investment company.....Their "orange blossom special" freight train could be seen leaving Bradenton and heading up the east coast....bringing that Florida juice to the Yankees.

Florida's Natural is our brand.....Look it up. Better company (farmer's co-op) and it's Florida OJ and it is delicious and is a morning requirement.

Enjoy......

Yes, Florida's Natural is now my current OJ.

 

[jollystomper]

We are sticking to real oranges to get our orange juice .

 

[Texas Proud]

Well sweets are completely off the table for me except for my 90% chocolate Lindt bar 100g. I guess I’ll have to keep an eye out.

I’m guessing that if they tried to reduce the standard sizes of milk and eggs the outcry would be enormous.

Maybe just my opinion but I think that 'large' eggs are not as large as they used to be...

I have been buying Jumbo off and on... but large seem to be on sale more often than jumbo...

 

[gwill1010]

I'm not hating, I'm preaching to myself as much as anything. Isn't it wonderful, isn't it a blessing that we have the time and something like an OJ container size is at the top of our gripe list? Again, I'm guilty too. What a great time to be alive.

 

[tulak]

Maybe just my opinion but I think that 'large' eggs are not as large as they used to be...

I have been buying Jumbo off and on... but large seem to be on sale more often than jumbo…

Oh no, even the chickens are shrinking!

 

[JoeWras]

Oh no, even the chickens are shrinking!

Well, it is has base in truth. Smaller chicken, less feed, and so on. These characteristics can produced by selective breeding.

I remember sometime in the late 70s my parents bitterly complaining that the Kentucky Fried Chicken pieces all shrunk.

BTW: on our recent trip to Greece, I was struck by the deep orange color of the yolks in the eggs. We were on an island where eggs were something they got from one of the locals. Almost everyone has chickens. We were awakened every morning by roosters. Anyway, it was both good and bad. The good was these were fresh eggs. The bad, to me, was the more gamey taste. Others would call it an authentic rich taste. I guess I'm used to our chicken-line-factory tasteless eggs.

 

[audreyh1]

Oh no, even the chickens are shrinking!

My experience is that the chickens are growing! They seem crazy big to me. Especially at Costco.

Maybe just my opinion but I think that 'large' eggs are not as large as they used to be...

I have been buying Jumbo off and on... but large seem to be on sale more often than jumbo...

What qualifies as a large egg is a USDA egg sorting standard so don’t think they are shrinking. It’s based on weight per dozen eggs but it also looks like there is a minimum mass per egg. Chicken egg sizes - Wikipedia