WRAL just had a spot on this afternoons news... I noticed this myself a while ago on yogurt and ice cream imparticular. It was about how the size of some products has shrunk, but the prices have stayed the same or increased even. Product manufacturers know people know prices, but that most people don't know product sizes. Ex... a 1/2 gallen of ice cream is no longer a 1/2 gallon, but more like 50 oz. A Haggen Daaz pint of ice cream in no longer 16 oz., but 14 oz. Alot of yogurts have gone from 6oz, to 4 oz. They even showed Scott toilet paper, it still says 1000 sheets per role, but the actual size of the sheets is smaller. Side by side the roll is shorter, they said it was like 9% smaller now, and where a package used to be 115 sq ft. its now only 104 sq ft. BUT.. they noted that all the product manufacturers they called and complained to about this product shrinkage were more than happy to send out good coupons! Here is the actual link to the article http://www.wral.com/5onyourside/story/8960244/
Interesting to note that this also works in reverse, although not as frequently. Instead of reducing the price of an item when cost of raw materials drops they give you "10% more FREE!". You think you're getting a deal and the manufacturer doesn't have to raise the item price when commodities costs go up again. This seems to happen a lot with sugar-based products and cleaning products.
