Where's The Mayo?
"Some things always come in quarts: milk, motor oil, and mayonnaise, for example. You don't have to look at the net weight statement, because a quart is 32 ounces, and that is what you always get," writes the MousePrint blog.
That's no longer true of Hellman's Mayo, who, in response to "inflationary pressures," are reducing the size of their mayo jars from 32 to 30 ounces. Price will remain the same.
Unlike a similar downsize seen with Tide laundry detergent, mayo potency will not increase commensurately.
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Comments:
So what would have been preferable? Raising the price?
one would think that eating a couple points on profit margin instead of passing the cost to the consumer would have been better.
This is why I eat Miracle Whip. With a Spoon.
Because Miracle Whip has never raised it's price?
Can't say I care--mayo is disgusting. See www.nomayo.com.
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Who the hell pays attention to the price of mayo? They should have just raised the price. Its not like people arent going to buy it because it went up 20 cents.
Who the hell pays attention to the price of mayo? They should have just raised the price. Its not like people arent going to buy it because it went up 20 cents.
I'm with homerjay. Raising the price in response to inflationary pressures is honest. Reducing the size of the container and keeping the price the same is deceptive and petty. Yogurt and ice cream did something similarly irksome a few years back, and Hellmann's must have figured that since the world didn't come to a catastrophic end then, this would be okay now. If only shining a light on sleazy behavior made someone in some marketing department somewhere cringe and fix things.
Sorry to say, most consumers are too "busy" or too inattentive to notice the half gallons (remember 4 pints = one-half gallon) of ice cream that are now 3 pints -- and the packaging is reshaped to disguise the slight of product. Or candy bars wherein the packaging has more cardboard fill in it than candy. It's all smoke and mirrors these days -- and the gullible, buying publics. Or Hershey's 7 oz big bars of chocolate are now 5 oz. BUT the SAME PRICE as before. If packagers were HONEST -- they would JUST RAISE THE PRICE and be UPFRONT ABOUT IT!!!!!
Generally, I would rather pay a little more for the same amount so that I don't have to buy two to get at least the same amount I was getting before.
However, the real problem to me is that the label does not make note of the new size. People get used to items coming in certain sizes and to not point out that the size has changed is practically a lie by omission.
It's like when Chef Boyardee started putting pork in its products. I wouldn't have even known if I hadn't been checking the label for something else.
It's sad that they have to trick consumers into accepting price increases.
I HATE when companies do this. I really wish they'd just raise the price instead (I don't even pay attention to absolute price anyway - I always go by the unit price, which, in this case, would have gone up regardless). I don't care so much about mayonnaise, but with many products, the size is actually important, so when they change it, it screws things up. I want an 8 oz. yogurt cup, dammit, and now I can't get it from the brands I like.
Various brands do the same thing with calorie/carb/fat/etc. counts. Have you ever noticed how many "servings per container" there are to various canned beverages?
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Triteon, I've seen companies do that with their 'diet' or 'low-fat' versions of their original product. Miniscule change in the fat or calories but the serving size is smaller so they can claim there is X% less fat or calories per serving.
While working for a company that owns and runs convenience stores, I see a lot of this sort of thing. I was pretty pissed about it in the beginning, but my will has been beaten down and I am now used to it. Other notorious "size change, not price change" offenders: Tropicana 20 oz juice down to 500 mL (~16.9 oz) at the same price. Potato/corn chips gets reduced sizes at the same prices all the time. But most people don't even pay attention as long as the price doesn't change.
This baffles me since I always assumed mayo was one of those products that was so cheap to make that you're paying more for the packaging and marketing than the actual product. At least that's the only way I could rationalize how you can get a 5 gallon vat for like a buck more at a bulk store.
.....We're a Miracle Whip household, too. Hellman's has those nasty, small-mouth jars that my hand won't fit through, so I have trouble scraping the last of the mayo out. Damn them.
Charmin Ultra is changing, too. I went to buy a 12-pack of double rolls and noticed some packages were about 1/2 inch shorter. I looked at the labels. The taller package was 300 sq. ft., but the shorter was only 284 sq. ft. That's a reduction of about 5 percent.
It's a darn conspiracy!
Brant writes:
"Asshole ice cream makers have also done this, but even more sneakily. What you and I know as the 'half gallon' (64 ounces or 2 quarts) is now 56 ounces, a 12.5% decrease in net ice creamy goodness with no corresponding package size change.
Except for Blue Bell Ice Creams, which both has some of the best ice cream I've ever had and doesn't distribute to my area--causing my fat ass no small amount of pain.
Bastard shrinkers."
I'll just write a nice little email to Hellmann's right now to see what they have to say about this...