The incredible shrinking food
In the news this week: McDonald’s struggle to decide, amid concerns that the dollar value menu is not generating enough income, whether the double cheeseburger should go up in price or become the double burger, sans cheese.
Obviously, they face a considerable dilemma. Customers are going to notice if the price goes up and they are most assuredly going to notice if the burger comes without cheese. I know I would! Cheese me!
But they certainly aren’t the only restaurant chain or food producer that’s feeling the heat from the puttering economy. TIME magazine reports: “Soaring commodity and fuel prices are driving up costs for manufacturers; faced with a choice between raising prices (which consumers would surely notice) or quietly putting fewer ounces in the bag, carton or cup (which they generally don’t) manufacturers are choosing the latter.”
For example, TIME says, some Kellogg’s cereal boxes have shrunk by 2.4 percent, the Wrigley’s 17-stick PlenTPak is now the 15-stick Slim Pack and Tropicana’s OJ containers are going from 96 ounces to 89.
I haven’t really noticed any smaller containers at the grocery store, but then again I have not specifically been looking for them. Maybe that goes to show that a lot of consumers aren’t going to raise a stink if the boxes or bags are a couple of ounces shy. On the other hand, I sure as heck have noticed the prices creeping up.
What do you all think? Have you noticed any shrinking food, and do you think smaller containers are fairer than higher prices?
August 8, 2008 - 12:09 PM
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I’ve noticed that NutriGrain bars are smaller, Breyers Ice Cream is smaller and several cereals are smaller.
To me, a smaller product at regular price is equal to the same product at a higher price. Either way – it’s a rip-off!!
YES! I buy Kroger brand granola bars every week. About 4 months ago I noticed that the actual bars were smaller and didn’t fill up the pouch any more. I wrote to Kroger about it and they sent back a terse reply saying that there is no way that the weight listed on the box wouldn’t jibe with the weight of the actual product. I wrote back and said I understand that, but that the size of the bars was smaller and I was willing to pay a bit more for the amount I used to receive. I’m still waiting for their reply.
Yes, on the cereal issue. However, let me play Devil’s advocate and wonder if the cereal companies haven’t just cut down the waste on the actual box size and possibly not changed the weight of the product. I know some kids’ cereals boxes were a lot roomier inside with a full pouch once you get the air out, than they are now. Though I haven’t really compared. I did appreciate the smaller size box since my cabinet door would actually close, and I guess I just hoped I was getting the same amount of cereal. Naive I know. Smaller content on other things I have noticed: frozen ravioli, chips, ground coffee, sliced cheese. It’s all just a game like putting the kids’ cereals at kids’ eye level.
While I’m certainly no fan of higher food prices, I think there’s definitely some good in shrinking the portion sizes of food products. Our burgers and bagels have been steadily getting larger over the past few decades–and so have we! Maybe the reversal of this trend will be the silver lining in all of this?
The extra room in products like cereal boxes and chip bags is actually there for a practical reason: it provides a cushion to help keep the product intact during shipping.
That said, maybe some of the manufacturers have figured out they didn’t need that much cushion. Slight changes can make a big difference in the cost of goods.
Just like individuals, companies have to find ways to pinch pennies when the cost of shipping rises so dramatically and so quickly.
http://consumerist.com/tag/grocery-shrink-ray/
It’s real.
Roanokefound – did anyone ever get to the bottom of that? I would love to hear what the Folger’s customer service team has to say.
Wow, more coffee from a smaller container. Interesting math!
Emma, you make a good point. Many of our portion sizes in America could be smaller. But I think TGIFridays recently shrank their portions AND their prices. Too bad that can’t be the norm.
i think food producers should leave the products the way they are
Here is the clincher folks. I bought chicken noodle soup and it had no noodles. What the? Ask my kids. We had grilled cheese with noodleless chicken noodle soup.
I bought a 10 pack of flour tortillas and it contained 8. There were not enough to go round for what I had planned for dinner!
Kroger roses by the dozen, I bought them for guests. Long stem red roses. I put them in a vase there are 11. The guests will think I swiped one! (Of course they stood by it when I called, so yeah come on back to the store and waste $5 in gas to get another rose! LOL)
Pet Ritz brand pie crusts that do not reach the edge of the pie tin. I know I know I should be hand rolling our pie crusts but I don’t have time. They look wonderful – a pie with no crusts!
I can go on and on. This has happened many times to me this year. Oh I began to write to the companies on this wasting valuable time and they never respond.
What they are doing is slipping one less item or less of an ingredient into their product and saving millions. Not to mention shrinkage – smaller items. I bought a Butterfinger bar and it was teensy, didn’t they used to be a bit larger than the other candy bars? Or is it I who is a bit larger? Anyhow, now it is smaller. Have a look for yourself.
We are trying to stretch our dollars as EVERYTHING has gone up and we are getting shafted. I for one don’t appreciate it.
Question – with the big tomato scare – did McDee’s and the rest charge us LESS for the burgers which normally had a tomato on it? OF COURSE NOT.
Well while this isn’t food it’s what I recently noticed had shrunk. Zest soap. The multiple pack I just purchased the bars were narrow in the center. The pack before that was the same size all around. Seem to have more of a horizontal curve to them too. Now that I think of it they shrunk from when I was a kid too. Remember them being fatter in the center and narrow on the ends. Twice the size they are now. Will keep a eye on other things in the next few weeks.
I’ve noticed changes with a lot of cereal, cracker, and cookie boxes getting smaller and the prices staying the same. For some of those things, it’s not necessarily a bad thing since they often go stale in my house before they’re finished…so I don’t really lose anything by not having that last ounce or two. But the higher prices are tough to watch, because everything is going up. I’ve even noticed the prices on freezers, plumbing parts, and other supplies at Lowe’s going up pretty significantly. A freezer i bought a month ago for 178 started the year at 158, and now is 188.
A couple years ago Dannon changed their yogurt containers from 8 oz. to 6 oz. sizes.
I noticed immediately because when I bought some that week they still had a few of the older, 8 oz. containers left sitting alongside the newer, 6 oz. containers.
Same price of course.
No explanation, just a smaller portion for the same price.
Also noticed recently that the Sunbelt brand granola bars,on the cereal aisle, are smaller (thinner and shorter) than they used to be.
This has been going on for years. Products that have been around for a while tend to shrink in size over a long period of time, while the price stays the same (or goes up for inflation). People lately have been blaming just about everything on global warming and rising fuel costs, but this phenomena is nothing new.
My mom has been coming over for lunch since I’ve been on maternity leave. Today she brought a Diet Coke for us to share. I noticed that the bottle looked different and inspected the label. Sure enough, what used to be a 16.9 ounce bottle is now a 16 ounce bottle!
Some shrinkage isn’t bad. I think it’s becoming trendy for restaurants to serve smaller desserts. They’re smaller and cheaper… making them harder to refrain from. Metro has some great ones on their menu.