Our Groceries Are Quietly Shrinking
At the grocery store, the purchasing power of our dollars isn't the only thing that's shrinking. Manufacturers are quietly downsizing the quantities in packaged food, often while holding prices steady, all in response to the rise in commodity and fuel costs. A few examples:
- Kellogg's cereals have an average of 2.4 fewer ounces per box
- Tropicana orange juice containers decreased from 96 ounces to 89 ounces
- Wrigley's 17-stick PlenTPak has been replaced by the 15-stick Slim Pack
- Spreads (butter, mayo) and ice cream containers have decreased in size overall
The story, in Time magazine, says that people are more sensitive to price than they are quantity, which explains why manufacturers are trying to slip the changes by us.
"Most people can tell you how much a box of cereal costs, but they have no clue how much is actually in it," says Harvard Business School professor John Gourville, who studies consumer decision-making.
Sure, many shoppers probably don't know how many ounces are in a box of Apple Jacks, but I think most people can eyeball it and figure out when they're getting ripped off. (I, for one, feel there's been considerably less cereal packed into the boxes these days.)
Some manufacturers say the shrinkage is in response to customers' needs (Tropicana claimed its new container redesign and attendant downsizing was the result of complaints about spillage), but most manufacturers aren't fessing up to the reductions, says Chris Waldrop, director of the Food Policy Institute at the Consumer Federal of America:
Waldrop says he doesn't blame manufacturers for taking the step to protect their bottom lines, but says the food companies should be honest with their customers about it. "If they're transparent and open, consumers are less willing to think [manufacturers] are trying to pull one over on them."
The story recommends doing what savvy shoppers already do: Check the per-unit price on the shelf tags.
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18 Comments:
I was just thinking about this! The whole strawberry ice cream thread inspired me to go out and buy a half gallon of Breyers, and it was NOT a half gallon any more. I'd heard about diminishing food quantities, but still, for a second I thought I was going crazy when I was holding the container.
OneWallKitchen at 11:20AM on 07/01/08
The items that bug me the most are one I use frequently in recipes: cans of beans and tomatoes and bags of chocolate chips. Also, ice cream.
Smaller packages means more packaging means more stuff that needs to be manufactured and then thrown out or recycled. I'm not happy about that.
While I don't go so far as to call the practice dishonest, I do think food companies are hoping few consumers notice.
Wally East at 11:24AM on 07/01/08
Another good reason to buy in bulk, and to buy whole, unprocessed ingredients.
simon at 11:33AM on 07/01/08
I've noticed the difference for quite a while, especially when the cans and packages started changing shape. Some older recipes are based on the original sizing which is irritating. After being the primary grocery shopper and cook in our household for 45 years, the companies aren't fooling me in the least.
judi0044 at 12:24PM on 07/01/08
I've been noticing this for years, starting with graham crackers which are much narrower than they used to be.
And when your well worn recipe for mac & cheese calls for 8 oz of pasta and you had already used 8 oz from the box of 13.5 oz it is quite exasperating.
mcmvoices at 1:04PM on 07/01/08
They've been doing this for a few years with ice cream. I wonder what they will do when sizes collide and what we think of as a half gallon actually contains a quart..maybe a "supersized" vat for twice the price that restores the half gallon and the cycle begins again?
sloppy at 2:10PM on 07/01/08
I thought I was losing it. For years, I've told people that I "swear yogurt came in bigger cups 25 years ago." I still can't prove it, and everyone around me has told me that I'm just imagining it because I was smaller then. I stopped growing in the 4th grade, and 25 years ago I was in high school.
I've been really lazy to calculate the cost/weight in my head ever since stores started putting that on their shelf. That's been the way I've shopped for certain ingredients when I don't care which brand I get since I've lived away from home. Otherwise, I just grab what I really want.
Cassaendra at 2:32PM on 07/01/08
My mom taught me from a very young age to read the per ounce cost on the little labels in front of the food. It definitely had stuck with me over the years, especially in these trying food times.
swaaaan at 3:01PM on 07/01/08
Cassaendra:
Columbo just finished an ad campaign that sang the praises of their 8-ounce container about a year ago. Guess what company now has 6-ounce containers just like every other company?
Wally East at 3:45PM on 07/01/08
Check out the Chewy Chips Ahoy cookies in the red package. The packaging is much more flimsy than a year ago, and the cookies have noticeably shrunk in diameter. Boo!
cdsamford at 4:38PM on 07/01/08
This has been going on for a long time. I noticed it more than ten years ago with cans going from 16 oz. to 15 oz. Most bags of sugar went from 5 lbs. to 4 lbs. around that same time.
The cereal makers raised prices a couple of months ago, citing increased prices for wheat, energy, etc. They got consumers used to the higher price and then reduced the amount that you get. So...in some cases you pay more AND get less. The justification that they use (we don't want to see higher prices so they're reducing the size instead) is ridiculous. Do they think we haven't noticed all the times that product prices have increased over the years?
General Mills has decreased the size of their boxes in addition to reducing the amount of cereal, so at least there's less packaging in some instances.
holdthemayo at 5:15PM on 07/01/08
I ran into this yesterday at the local Shaw's. When reaching in for some Edy's Vanilla, I noticed a smaller container (1.5) mixed in with a few of the (1.75) and they were all priced the same. Someone forgot to remove the "older" version while stocking the case. Lucky me. I bought all 4 of them!
Boscompb at 5:40PM on 07/01/08
I noticed this at the store the other day, too, when I grabbed an ice cream container that was decidedly wee. Farewell half gallon (and apparently 1.75 gallon). It's interesting to read about the other shrinking products.
BrooklynBrownie at 6:19PM on 07/01/08
Check the label on your Edy's . Their "Edy's Loaded" product and some of the other other new offerings are not ice cream. Check the label carefully and you'll find the phrase "frozen dairy dessert" but nowhere does it say ice cream - because it's not. The Edy's Light Slow Churned and the Edy's Grand flavors are still real ice cream however.
phaelon56 at 8:47AM on 07/02/08
Smaller sizes in 'ready to eat' and 'single serving' sizes is probably a good thing, bar the packaging issues. It could cut down on calories consumed, although it could backfire, if people decide they now need to eat 2 containers rather than one since they're smaller. (The contents of the package, not the person consuming them...the consumers themselves are getting much bigger these days).
Carolina de Witte at 8:58AM on 07/02/08
The thing that has always bothered me more is the reverse: when they enlarge the container and claim 15% more FREE! I often don't want or need more of the product and I hate wasting it.
smallblondemom at 2:57PM on 07/02/08
I wondered why I no longer get 2 rounds of homemade mac-n-cheese out of a box of elbows...now I know. =P
akk328 at 4:06PM on 07/02/08
I've also noticed a similar trend with our bakeries around town: cookies and muffins remain the same price but are much smaller than they were a few months ago. So it's not just limited to grocery stores....many local food merchants are feeling the pinch of food prices and passing that along to consumers.
jenberger at 9:13PM on 07/02/08