Another container downsizing

[Alpo 2,800]

I suppose everyone has noticed that a 1 lb can of corn is now 15 oz, that a 1 lb bag of coffee is now 13 Oz, that a half gallon of orange juice is 60 oz, that a half gallon of ice cream is only 3 pints.

 

Today a church group, from New York of all places, was cleaning up all the downed trees from the vacant house across the street. After they had finished, and piled all the cut up trees at the street, I noticed some new to me containers with the trash. Gallon cans of "50-to-1" oil/gas mix for chainsaws. You don't have to mix your oil and gas for your two stroke engine. They now sell it already mixed.

 

And I thought, "couple of gallon gas cans might come in handy", so I took them out of the trash. I was just reading the can, and I noticed it said it held 111 fluid ounces. That didn't sound right. Did the math. 32 oz in a quart. 4 quarts in a gallon. That's 128 fluid ounces. Short gallon.

[Alpo 2,800]

Wowzers. I just looked that stuff up. Home Depot. $6 a quart. And $20 for that short gallon.

 

The quart is actually a quart. Hmmm.

 

[Pat Riot, SASS #13748 10,780]

Isn’t it getting ridiculous?

 

I started paying attention to the trend of manipulating the customer some time ago. It all started with boxes of Triscuits. They started at 16oz in weight. Then they went to 14, then 13, then 12.5. Now they are at 9 Oz for the same price, or thereabouts. 

Next was the one that really pizzed me off. Half gallons of ice cream went to 1.5 quarts or 14oz “pints”.

Coffee went from 1 pound to 12 Oz with no slow step down in size or price. One day a pound of premium coffee was $7 a pound, the next it was 12 Oz at $7.

A couple of months ago I was in a store and saw some weird coffee brand on one shelf at $8.99 for a 12oz bag and right below it were bags of 10.5oz bags for the same price.

 

It’s getting ridiculous. 

 

Has as anyone else noticed the higher prices for nearly everything? Butter st $5 and $6 a pound? I really noticed a price jump at Safeway and Von’s a short time  after our president announced tariffs. It was as if certain stores didn’t agree with the policy so they increased prices to make a point. Then there is the reports that unemployment is down ( around 3%) and profits are rolling in so someone somewhere said “Hey, we can’t have people thinking ‘all is well’. Let’s raise prices!” Or perhaps it’s just plain greed...

 

Sorry... started going off on a rant. 

 

[Charlie Plasters, SASS#60943 258]

One of my favorite late night snacks, graham crackers and milk, has suffered the size reduction magic. What used to be packages of lots of nice big fat crackers is now thin smaller and fewer . When they started the downsizing they didn't even try to hide it apparently using up existing packaging that resulted in the fewer crackers dwarfed in large wrappings!

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 3,955]

4 hours ago, Alpo said:

Wowzers. I just looked that stuff up. Home Depot. $6 a quart. And $20 for that short gallon.

 

The quart is actually a quart. Hmmm.

 

If they call it a quart, it must be a quart.

[Forty Rod SASS 3935 3,456]

2 hours ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

Isn’t it getting ridiculous?

 

I started paying attention to the trend of manipulating the customer some time ago. It all started with boxes of Triscuits. They started at 16oz in weight. Then they went to 14, then 13, then 12.5. Now they are at 9 Oz for the same price, or thereabouts. 

Next was the one that really pizzed me off. Half gallons of ice cream went to 1.5 quarts or 14oz “pints”.

Coffee went from 1 pound to 12 Oz with no slow step down in size or price. One day a pound of premium coffee was $7 a pound, the next it was 12 Oz at $7.

A couple of months ago I was in a store and saw some weird coffee brand on one shelf at $8.99 for a 12oz bag and right below it were bags of 10.5oz bags for the same price.

 

It’s getting ridiculous. 

 

Has as anyone else noticed the higher prices for nearly everything? Butter st $5 and $6 a pound? I really noticed a price jump at Safeway and Von’s a short time  after our president announced tariffs. It was as if certain stores didn’t agree with the policy so they increased prices to make a point. Then there is the reports that unemployment is down ( around 3%) and profits are rolling in so someone somewhere said “Hey, we can’t have people thinking ‘all is well’. Let’s raise prices!” Or perhaps it’s just plain greed...

 

Sorry... started going off on a rant. 

 

Rant away.  Most of us feel the same way.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 3,955]

I buy butter at 4#/$11

[Springfield Slim SASS #24733 278]

Fig Newtons went from 16oz package to 12 oz a few years ago, so it isn't anything new,  just getting more rampant.

[Chantry 346]

Not just containers.  I have seen the same thing at non-chain restaurants, the meat portions are either getting smaller or decreasing in quality or both.

 

I think some companies and restaurants are in a bind, they can continue to offer the correct or previous size/portion and raise the price and drive away customers who can not or will not accept the higher price or keep the price the same and find a way to lower their costs but making the containers/portions smaller.

[Sedalia Dave 5,214]

Part of this is driven by the calories per serving gestapo.  A lot of snack foods had too many calories in a serving. The manufacturers decided that the easiest way to comply was to reduce the size of the product. On paper it complies with the regulations and by reducing the size slowly over time most consumers are unaware that they are paying the same amount for less product.

 

Fast food is another example. I would love to have a bigmac, mcmuffin, sausage biscut ect from 30 years ago.  Bet the difference in size and weight would be easily noticable

.

[grenadier 140]

You guys sound like a bunch of old men sitting aro.... wait a minute! 

 

;)

[Blackwater 53393 2,756]

I like peanut butter and graham crackers.  I hadn't indulged in this treat for over a year, (diet changes during my foot issue).  I bought a box of Nabisco Honey Made Graham crackers the other day.  Imagine my surprise when I opened the box and discovered that instead of the expected three packs of ten crackers, there were three packs of NINE crackers!!  Nine crackers?? That means that you can't build sandwiches without having a cracker left over in the pack, or you have to open a second pack to complete the fifth sandwich.  

 

To add to my displeasure, (and this was the first negative aspect of the change) Nabisco opted to use the same box that once held thirty crackers, resulting in there being extra space in the box which allowed the crackers to flop around and break!!  EVERY CRACKER IN THE BOX WAS BROKEN!!! 

 

As a final insult, the crackers were over baked and tasteless!! The little kid in me was TOTALLY demoralized and the adult was furious!!  Nabisco got a smoking E-mail that I haven't received a reply to!!!  

[Pat Riot, SASS #13748 10,780]

2 hours ago, Sedalia Dave said:

Part of this is driven by the calories per serving gestapo.  A lot of snack foods had too many calories in a serving. The manufacturers decided that the easiest way to comply was to reduce the size of the product. On paper it complies with the regulations and by reducing the size slowly over time most consumers are unaware that they are paying the same amount for less product.

 

Fast food is another example. I would love to have a bigmac, mcmuffin, sausage biscut ect from 30 years ago.  Bet the difference in size and weight would be easily noticable

.

You know, I don't doubt that is part of it.

[Pat Riot, SASS #13748 10,780]

5 minutes ago, grenadier said:

You guys sound like a bunch of old men sitting aro.... wait a minute! 

 

 

I will have you know, Sir, that I am 25 years old....until I look in the mirror 

[Allie Mo, SASS No. 25217 3,710]

Me too, Pat!

 

[Arkansas Jim 107095 43]

I’ve been trying to downsize my container for sometime, not going so well. I just like to eat 

[Guest Texas jack Black SASS#9362]

Sort of like my bank account each time I look at it.

[MizPete 562]

I have old cookbooks with recipes that require a #10 can of something.  Takes a current can and a half to comply.

[Ramblin Gambler 682]

You'd think it wou'd help me to eat less.  But now I eat more because I just eat 2 packages of whatever it was. 

 

 

[Sedalia Dave 5,214]

2 hours ago, Arkansas Jim 107095 said:

I’ve been trying to downsize my container for sometime, not going so well. I just like to eat 

 

I resemble that remark.  

[Black Angus McPherson 228]

18 hours ago, MizPete said:

I have old cookbooks with recipes that require a #10 can of something.  Takes a current can and a half to comply.

 

That reminds me of an old recipe from my (Great?) grandmother that began:  "Start with .50 cents of beef roast..." and ended with:  "Feeds 6 to 8"

 

Angus

[Widder, SASS #59054 4,171]

Its part of the Russian conspiracy..... 

 

Won't be long before you can buy a dozen eggs at the grocery store and it'll only have one egg in the box.

 

The company that sells you the egg will be named 'DOZEN', and therefore, be able to defraud the customer

legally..... 

 

..........Widder

 

[Widder, SASS #59054 4,171]

Remember the feller what sued Subway recently over their advertised "foot long" sandwiches?

 

They weren't 12" long.  I don't remember the outcome of the lawsuit, but I think it ended in his favor.

 

..........Widder

 

[Major E A Sterner #12916 152]

One other thing that has been downsized is toilet paper, I was cleaning out a closet at a friends house and found some real old TP, the size of the roll that it's wrapped on was a lot smaller than the rolls they use now, the width was wider as well. Now that is something that should never be made smaller.

[Widder, SASS #59054 4,171]

18 minutes ago, Major E A Sterner #12916 said:

One other thing that has been downsized is toilet paper, I was cleaning out a closet at a friends house and found some real old TP, the size of the roll that it's wrapped on was a lot smaller than the rolls they use now, the width was wider as well. Now that is something that should never be made smaller.

 

Some of the real old toilet paper was the size of a Sears & Roebuck Catalog..... 

 

..........Widder

 

[Sixgun Sheridan 2,432]

Don't know how many of you buy Toblerone chocolate bars, but they recently began making the spaces between the triangles larger, so in each package you're now buying less chocolate and more thin air.

[Allie Mo, SASS No. 25217 3,710]

6 hours ago, Widder, SASS #59054 said:

Remember the feller what sued Subway recently over their advertised "foot long" sandwiches?

 

They weren't 12" long.  I don't remember the outcome of the lawsuit, but I think it ended in his favor.

 

..........Widder

 

Dang! Who could eat a 12 incher anyway!

1 hour ago, Sixgun Sheridan said:

Don't know how many of you buy Toblerone chocolate bars, but they recently began making the spaces between the triangles larger, so in each package you're now buying less chocolate and more thin air.

Definitely a criminal offence.

[Birdgun Quail, SASS #63663 1,558]

On 3/21/2019 at 6:24 AM, Charlie Plasters, SASS#60943 said:

One of my favorite late night snacks, graham crackers and milk, has suffered the size reduction magic. What used to be packages of lots of nice big fat crackers is now thin smaller and fewer . When they started the downsizing they didn't even try to hide it apparently using up existing packaging that resulted in the fewer crackers dwarfed in large wrappings!

Charlie, I too like my graham crackers and milk.  I crumble mine up into a cereal bowl and add the milk.  Now one of the large wrapping packets in the box don't give me enough.  Used to be I couldn't get a whole packet in the bowl.

 

 

 

.

[Birdgun Quail, SASS #63663 1,558]

Speaking of smaller container sizes....want to talk about the size of airline seats? 

[Pat Riot, SASS #13748 10,780]

29 minutes ago, Birdgun Quail, SASS #63663 said:

Speaking of smaller container sizes....want to talk about the size of airline seats? 

Nah...the seats are the same size...

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 3,955]

They are smaller on some airlines, and the legroom is often different too.

[Michigan Slim 1,929]

1 hour ago, Allie Mo, SASS No. 25217 said:

Dang! Who could eat a 12 incher anyway!

 

Not sure how to take that, Allie! When I stop laughing I'll answer! 

 

 

I sat with my son one time and we are four full subs. Went home and ate a supper my wife fixed. She never knew we stopped at Subway.

[Hillbilly Drifter 738]

22 minutes ago, Michigan Slim said:

Not sure how to take that, Allie! When I stop laughing I'll answer! 

 

 

I sat with my son one time and we are four full subs. Went home and ate a supper my wife fixed. She never knew we stopped at Subway.

Keep doing that and you will need to change your alias:)

[Charlie Plasters, SASS#60943 258]

14 hours ago, Birdgun Quail, SASS #63663 said:

Charlie, I too like my graham crackers and milk.  I crumble mine up into a cereal bowl and add the milk.  Now one of the large wrapping packets in the box don't give me enough.  Used to be I couldn't get a whole packet in the bowl.

 

 

 

.

Well, I'm a dunker. I only dunk once not like a three dunk baptist would be. Got to be careful how long it's in the milk or it may just break away and end up in the bottom of the cup!