Maybe it's just my imagination, but it seems lately food products are getting smaller in size while in the original size packaging. Bought a DiGiorno Pizza this week and out of the big carboard box came a pretty small pizza-much smaller than they used to be. Also noticed that the slices of bread in a loaf seem much smaller-doesn't make a very big sandwich. I'd rather pay a higher price and get the size product I need than open something up and realize it's not enough.
Yes! I opened a jar of Classico Pesto last night and noticed the lid was different, then I got an old jar out of the fridge (to throw away) and the new jar was considerably smaller. The old jar's label had worn off, so couldn't compare oz to oz, but it was probably at least a serving size less than it was a few months ago! :banghead:
Not your imagination at all! I remember they changed the amount of product going into canned foods a few years back. A recipe would call for ...say a 16 oz can of tomatoes. They (and other canned food items) come in 14.5oz cans now.
Have noticed the same thing,for example with a can of Pringles chips the container still looks like the same size but the content sure doesn't. Bought a 5lb. of red potatoes but by the time I got done peeling them and cut away the way too many bad spots I most likely only had 3.5lb. left :x and I don't want to hear that I could take them back since that's not the point!
It's the way of making more money. Same price as former packaging, less product = higher profit. Popcorn button on many microwaves is set for a 3.5 oz. bag, as years ago, practically all bags contained 3.5 oz, unpopped corn. Microwave manufacturers set the timer for the popcorn button based on the energy applied and the time needed for those 3.5 bags. Now, one gets 2.75 oz bags, which pops faster. But, if you don't listen to the bag, and wait for it to complete the popcorn cycle, you end up with a charred brick of smelly burnt popcorn. I do recall the boxes listing the contents as 12 bags (3.5 oz,) formerly. Now, contents are in the total weight of the box, usually 33 oz per box. Depending on where you buy your popcorn, you may get new boxes and old boxes.
paying full price for a half bag of chips!!! gggrrrr!! also.....razors went up a dollar from last week! :evil:
Yeah, and I've also noticed more folks reaching for the Great Value brand at Walmart over the namebrand manufacturers. Plus, Walmart is starting to give themselves the best shelf space. They'll eventually cut most of the leading brands out (as the prices for those items increase) and push their brand more, fattening their coffers in the process.
I went to the 4042 Walmart last Thursday,they only had walmart brand icecream in the coolers the rest was empty.
Worked at a OJ plant in FL. We'd run 100 thousand gallons of juice per day. When it came time to change from one brand to another, believe me, we didn;t stop the line to change juice. We changed containers. USDA has a minimum specification for orange juice, whether from concentrate or not. FL Dept of Citrus has a max allowable specification ( and in house QA wouldn't allow profit to be wasted, so you'd get barely above the minimum USDA standard) I'd tell you to do as I do. Buy the cheapest juice in the juice counter. All we did was change cartons. I'm sure for the GV packaged stuff, it's the same as the dominant or # 2 name manufacturer putting the stuff in GV packaging. I can't imagine that WM has a plant in Italy that also presses olive oil, so I'm betting that the olive oil folks change bottle labels.
I read that article some time ago. They've been doing that with cereal for the last few months too. Less in the boxes (they think we won't notice). Several stores have also now begun to carry only the Swifter brand of dusters. Walmart use to offer 3 choices but now only the one & I refuse to pay the high price ($1.00 per duster) so the hunt is on now to find the usual offbrands I normally use. I use to alternate my grocery shopping between Walmart & Food Lion but have given up on Walmart as their selections of brands have shrunk but their prices have risen. I've found that I save a lot more money by purchasing on sale at Food Lion & their store brand items on a lot of things are just as good as name brand.
I'm not sure if its that they think we won't notice, but that given the alternative of major price increase, they feel that we will take less to keep th same prices. Problem with that, however is that they'll still go up and we'll get less. You know, Hat, I'm not a bit surprised to hear that about OJ. I've heard the same thing about bread bakeries. They change the bread wrappers and keep the line moving.
I know that to be true about breads. When the Merita Bread Outlet was on Hwy 70 we used to shop there. You could buy "day old" bread and it was different store brands but all made by Merita.
