Author Topic: Retail products (food, consumables) qty shrinking, price THE SAME! (no surprise)  (Read 7649 times)

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Offline etiTopic starter

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So, this is a programme we have, here in England, called "Good Morning". This segment is showing something I knew I hadn't imagined, over the years; is this the same in Aus/USA too? Have a gander...

I am not gonna rant, I'm just baffled as to how we soft-touch English allow them to get away with this crock:



« Last Edit: November 21, 2019, 02:59:19 am by eti »
 
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Online ataradov

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Yep, sizes do shrink. I especially like it when the package size is the same, but on the bottom there is a huge bump taking up volume.

I really like Russian processed cheese and this year when I was on vacation I've eaten quite a bit of it. One thing I noticed is that some vendors package it in 90 gram packs, but others in 80 gram packs. While in the Soviet Union times the standard was 100 grams. I wonder how long they can go on like that.
« Last Edit: November 21, 2019, 03:30:00 am by ataradov »
Alex
 

Online oPossum

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Nothing new here. Has been happening for at least 30 years.
 
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Offline wilfred

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I found the Toblerone weight change the most devious. They kept the package dimensions the same but made the peaks further apart.
 
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Online ataradov

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Also, here is a picture of 9-egg carton, as opposed to a more traditional 10 egg pack.

This was ridiculed so hard, that they actually quickly stopped doing that. But you can see their thinking here.
Alex
 

Offline etiTopic starter

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I found the Toblerone weight change the most devious. They kept the package dimensions the same but made the peaks further apart.

They got their inspiration from PWM  ;)
 

Offline ebclr

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I bought 100 dual inline Ne 555 10 years ago, and one dozen, last week, The size still the same  :-DD
 

Offline Someone

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Thankfully the UK and Australia have unit pricing on the tags in supermarkets, so its quick to check the relative value.
 

Online ataradov

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So does the US. The issue is that one day you have a can of the same product that has less stuff in it. And unless you actually switch brands you like a lot, you will not be able to compare with the previous price/volume.
Alex
 

Offline etiTopic starter

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Thankfully the UK and Australia have unit pricing on the tags in supermarkets, so its quick to check the relative value.

"Quick" ...LOL. Watch the video, you'll see how confusing they make it in the UK.
 

Offline I wanted a rude username

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You can't really blame companies for this. They are just responding to consumer behaviour. Inflation is inevitable, but people hate prices rising. Shrinking packages is a rational course of action to deal with this psychological quirk.

Blame stupid consumers.
 
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Offline Someone

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Thankfully the UK and Australia have unit pricing on the tags in supermarkets, so its quick to check the relative value.

"Quick" ...LOL. Watch the video, you'll see how confusing they make it in the UK.
So I did just waste time watching the full video and there doesn't appear to be anything about the ways in which unit pricing is made confusing. Instead their expert guest said:
Quote
...you're gonna have to start doing what most people find very boring, looking at unit prices. On every shelf there is a unit price...
So how is it made confusing?
 

Online Ian.M

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Shelf-edge unit prices are often in different units even for adjacent similar products, and almost invariably don't reflect special offers in force.  If you can't do long division rapidly by mental arithmetic, you *will* need a calculator.
 
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Online ataradov

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The big issue here is not even comparative price. If you like Nutella, you won't just go to some other brand simply because their cans are bigger. And if tomorrow Nutella drops the size of the package, there is no point in calculating anything. You will still get the smaller package.

This works for generic products available from many vendors, but even there, the prices tend to change more or less simultaneously.

So unless you want to buy off-brand stuff, you are locked into buying whatever they are selling and have to accept the overall price increase.
Alex
 
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Offline OwO

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In Europe I always looked at the "price per kg" small text on the sticker (which is probably mandated by regulation). Unfortunately doesn't seem to be a thing in most parts of North America so I was always seen using the calculator on my phone.
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Offline Someone

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Shelf-edge unit prices are often in different units even for adjacent similar products, and almost invariably don't reflect special offers in force.  If you can't do long division rapidly by mental arithmetic, you *will* need a calculator.
They're so common you'd be able to show some examples of these then? Using the metic units it is trivial if a package jumps from using g to kg. Promotions do still need to be clearly marked. If you have such big problems with it the UK has legislation to protect the consumer:
https://www.eradar.eu/the-price-marking-order-2004/
So you'd be able to make various formal complaints if its really not working. Australia is relying on the industry to self-regulate:
https://www.accc.gov.au/business/industry-codes/unit-pricing-code#promotional-offers
But it just seems to work.
 
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Offline Someone

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The big issue here is not even comparative price. If you like Nutella, you won't just go to some other brand simply because their cans are bigger.
Ok, you might only want a very specific brand of a product... but
And if tomorrow Nutella drops the size of the package, there is no point in calculating anything. You will still get the smaller package.
Um? Pick the size of package that is the cheapest unit price?

Thats the change in thinking so many people here seem to be missing. The price of the packaged product is largely irrelevant if its something relatively non-perishable you are buying regularly, all that matters at that point is the per unit pricing. If you never pay attention to per unit pricing, you cant complain when they keep the per package pricing the same and reduce the contents, it was there all along.
 

Offline SerieZ

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I have been hearing about this phenomena since my early childhood... by now I've figured we would be buying Ant size packages.  :-//
Seems more like Companies do this is cycles... rather than just downwards.

As with everything in life... I blame marketing.
As easy as paint by number.
 
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Offline I wanted a rude username

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Yes, the cycle culminates with the introduction of a "new, larger size!". It's the opposite of cars, which tend to grow with every generation, forcing manufacturers to introduce smaller ones at the bottom end.
 
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Offline Keicar

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Reminds me of Stephen Jay Gould's essay "Phyletic Size Decrease in Hershey Bars" written back in 1979 - where, in a bit of tongue-in-cheek extrapolation, he concludes that by December 1998 a Hershey Bar will weigh nothing, and will cost 47.5 cents...
 

Offline wilfred

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Thats the change in thinking so many people here seem to be missing. The price of the packaged product is largely irrelevant if its something relatively non-perishable you are buying regularly, all that matters at that point is the per unit pricing. If you never pay attention to per unit pricing, you cant complain when they keep the per package pricing the same and reduce the contents, it was there all along.

I buy dishwashing liquid in 900ml bottles. It used to be 1000ml. It used to be available in 1250ml sizes. It is the same liquid and the 1250ml size was cheaper/ml because it was marketed as economy size.

However buying 9000ml in 1000ml bottles is 9 bottles and 10 bottles in the 900ml size. It might cost the same per ml. I don't think it does because they can reflate the price up nearer the threshold they were avoiding crossing.  For a supermarket that proudly stops single use plastic bags they conveniently ignore the additional plastic in the extra bottle. Don't get me started.

 

Offline Someone

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Thats the change in thinking so many people here seem to be missing. The price of the packaged product is largely irrelevant if its something relatively non-perishable you are buying regularly, all that matters at that point is the per unit pricing. If you never pay attention to per unit pricing, you cant complain when they keep the per package pricing the same and reduce the contents, it was there all along.

I buy dishwashing liquid in 900ml bottles. It used to be 1000ml. It used to be available in 1250ml sizes. It is the same liquid and the 1250ml size was cheaper/ml because it was marketed as economy size.
Assuming this is the popular "Morning Fresh" brand it has also been available in 1250ml, 750ml, 500ml, and 400ml bottles (probably many other sizes) through history, the 1.25l is still available but not in the major supermarkets. The big supermarkets have a very large say in what appears on their shelves and will push for whatever package size they want, you can find products with a dozen or more different sizes with subsets of them available at any given retailer, per unit cost can be bumpy and not monotonically reducing proportional to size ("The Checkout" did a recurring "Skit" on this). Factor in sales cutting prices down erratically and the only metric that need be considered is per unit pricing. Thats before getting to "premium variants" that sell at the same package price, look to be the same size with a uniform presentation, but have less product in them (Tim Tam biscuits do this in their range).

However buying 9000ml in 1000ml bottles is 9 bottles and 10 bottles in the 900ml size. It might cost the same per ml. I don't think it does because they can reflate the price up nearer the threshold they were avoiding crossing.  For a supermarket that proudly stops single use plastic bags they conveniently ignore the additional plastic in the extra bottle. Don't get me started.
So you are exactly the person who didn't and doesn't pay attention to per unit pricing, otherwise you would have noticed the the cost going up with the package getting smaller. Enjoy overpaying for your daily consumables.
 

Offline Yansi

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In Europe I always looked at the "price per kg" small text on the sticker (which is probably mandated by regulation). Unfortunately doesn't seem to be a thing in most parts of North America so I was always seen using the calculator on my phone.

Yup, this is indeed mandated by regulations round here. At least one good practical rule from the EU.
 

Offline Halcyon

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In Europe I always looked at the "price per kg" small text on the sticker (which is probably mandated by regulation). Unfortunately doesn't seem to be a thing in most parts of North America so I was always seen using the calculator on my phone.

Yup, this is indeed mandated by regulations round here. At least one good practical rule from the EU.

Likewise, I almost exclusively shop based on unit price, regardless of any "specials" you might see. You save money in the long-run. Savings aren't always in the larger quantities either. Sometimes it's cheaper to buy two of something, than one larger "value pack".

The only time I'll buy the cheapest of something is if I only need a smaller amount than what is in the package, it's perishable and not something I use regularly.
 

Online tggzzz

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Another eti thread.

Googling for "shrinkflation" will show it isn't a new phenomenon, nor is it localised.

Infamous example:
There are lies, damned lies, statistics - and ADC/DAC specs.
Glider pilot's aphorism: "there is no substitute for span". Retort: "There is a substitute: skill+imagination. But you can buy span".
Having fun doing more, with less
 
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