Since moving, I've become a loyal Safeway customer - there's one less than a block from my current residence, and I need all the free exercise I can get. I wandered in on Saturday to pick up my favourite on-the-go snack, SunRype's new, thicker Fruit to Go bars. You can get a package of 30 bars for about $14.99....
Or I thought you could, until I walked into the store and was greeted not by packages of 30 bars for $14.99, but packages of 12 bars for the confusing price of $12.99. What happened? I wondered to myself. Maybe there's been a mistake?
When I mentioned this to my mother, she shook her head. Nope, no mistake, she told me. Companies are shrinking the size of their product and charging a very similar price. Whether your toilet paper square got 0.004 of an inch smaller, or your 'variety pack' suddenly holds fewer of each variety, many food product manufacturers are making you pay the same amount for less product.
For more of a lowdown, check out the excellent article on the Free Press's website.
Ahh, all too common these days. The folks over at the Consumerist have a tag devoted to the grocery shrink ray, and it's really quite common. Consumers would rather pay the same price for less than pay more for the same product, so companies oblige. The worst happens when they boast "NEW! Enviro-friendly packaging! Uses 25% less plastic!" and then you realize it's because there's 30% less product.
ReplyDeletePew pew!