The 1.5 has some sort of yogurt flavor while the 1.75 has no sugar. Could that be why you get more ice cream in one and not the other?

@javi0084: you would think

looks like Dreyers to me. wtf is Edy's? lol. but yeah this is getting ridiculous

I'll second javi - they're two different products: Slow Churned NSA and frozen yogurt.

If they were identical things I'd be concerned.

I recently picked up a box of Cheeze-itz Crips which have recently changed over from being packaged in a bag. It seemed like it only had about 1/2 of the amount of crips that the bag used to hold. The bag lists 7.5 oz. Anyone know what the old bag held?

@elislider:

Dreyer's and Edy's are the same company, same products but different branding across the U.S. I live up in MA and we have Edy's.

I can confirm that this applies to ALL Edy's ice cream. I work in a major grocery store, and these smaller 1.5L containers have trickled in for all of our types of ice cream this past week.

Say goodbye to 1.75L, 1.5L is here to stay. =[

I agree, you are comparing apples to oranges here . . .

man i just want ice cream now.

We have Edy's in Ohio. I went to buy some yesterday and noticed the smaller containers. All the flavors seem to have 1.5 quarts now, regardless of yogurt, slow-churned, regular, and so forth.

These are two different products but I did see last night at the grocery store that they are reducing the size of the "No Sugar Added" or "1/2 Fat" or whatever those special ones are labeled...I picked one up and thought it was kind of ridiculous to have the same price up there for clearly different sizes.

I was just going to send this in, too. My girlfriend and I encountered this last nite on an ice cream run.

She grabbed the new stubby container and proclaimed "WTF!"

Costco still sells Vanilla in 1/2 gallon containers; you do have to buy 2.

It is the BEST ice cream out there.

The picture shows two different products, but the end result is the same. I purchased French-Silk slow churned ice cream this week and it is now 1.5 when two weeks ago it was 1.75

We are in a recession! Do you want less product for the same price? Or to pay more for the same amount? This is going to keep happening and I hope Consumerist doesn't post a story everytime Lays removes one chip from their standard bag.

This is old news as products sizes have been shrinking for years.

Wake up, pay attention to what you buy & buy it by the weight, not package.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

At the grocery yesterday night, I was surprised to find that dairy had gone down in price here--milk was about 15% less than 2 wks ago, and Haagen-Dazs was 10% cheaper. Bread, on the other hand, was about 10% more.

You geeks might want to walk your ice creams over to the produce scales and weigh them. I suspect in addition to the 14% smaller packages, that more air is being added. (This is why Breyer's added gums to its 'natural' formulas, so it could pump more air in.) You might get more sweet creamy goodness for your money buying Haagen-Dazs or Ben & Jerry's ice cream (more by weight, not volume).

@GStelz:

Yea, that's about what I thought, there's two different products being compared here.

@AnderBobo & @AMetamorphosis: Posting about this alerts shoppers who might not otherwise notice. Then they can make a better-informed decision about whether or not to accept the hidden price increase or choose an alternative.

I hope we keep posting this story every single time it happens. That's why the site exists, after all. To help consumers.

I like Edy's brand and would normally just pick it up by default, without looking at other brands.

Now that I know that Edy's is reducing their content size and keeping the price the same, I'm going to take a minute the next time I shop and compare it to other brands, to see if maybe someone else is doing a better job.

I understand that it's a recession and companies are going to either raise prices or reduce quantity, but I still appreciate being aware that it's time to re-evaluate my default purchasing decisions.

Would people be happier if instead of a 15% decrease in product, there was a 15% increase in price ($6.90)?

Let's be clear.
"Slow-churned" is already a product where consumers are "getting less for more" AND WE LIKE IT.

It's in the same line as those 100 calorie packs and 8 oz cans of soda.

If the choice is between higher prices and smaller portions, honestly, most of America could stand to go with smaller portions...

OMFG they're "cheating" me out of half a bowl of ice cream!!!

Dairy prices are rising folks...

With the obese epidemic they report on the news, the health issues our country has with it's obsession with food...

It's nice to see they make healthier alternatives AFFORDABLE.

Somedays, it's cheaper to buy a container of keebler elves fudge cookies than it is to buy a lb. of carrots. pffft.

In upstate NY we have a chain called Stewarts. They make their own ice cream and yes, it's still a 1/2 gallon of great tasting reasonably priced ice cream

@katylostherart: Go grab your free Ben and Jerry's today.

This all has been going on for quite some time behind the scenes. Trucking companies started adding fuel surcharges years ago. Getting goods to the retailer was more expensive. So logistics folks in food manufacturing devised all sort of ways to create efficiencies throughout. It could only hold out for so long, though, because of the supply chain (every supplier has their own suppliers.)
So when it came down to the end of the chain, grocers didn't want to change their prices, because consumers would likely buy less, buy elsewhere, or do without. Manufacturers have been stymied by this, since their costs have been going up while having to maintain their pricing to the retailer. Their solution? keep the price the same and reduce the amount of product!

Most chain grocers out there now have cost per unit on their shelf tags (cents per ounce, etc.) This is what you should be looking for when shopping, if you don't want to spend your time doing the math for yourself.

Artificial sweeteners cost more than sugar. Not sure why the yogurt would be more expensive. Edy's no sugar added coffee ice cream rocks my world and keeps me from having to lay down to zip my jeans. Sadly, I don't think this will stop me from buying it.

I noticed that a few days ago too, when I bought ice cream. The 1.5 and 1.75 sizes are the exact same price, and it didn't seem to vary by flavor. I was disappointed. Because I love ice cream.

@Chris Walters:

Its not a hidden price increase.
Hell, the packages do not even look to be the same size.

The 1.5 package is smaller than the 1.75 package.

Simply put, buy by weight, not by volume.

@The Bambino: The problem is that shrinking packages is borderline deceptive. They know people will notice a price increase more than a size decrease.

So what if dairy prices are rising? Just increase the price of the end product.

I agree Ann. It's the deceptiveness that I disagree with. If a company has a product thats worth standing behind then it shouldn't be a problem to pass on extra costs to consumers. But then you have companies like Breyers that just put less in the same size container.

Will customers never be happy? We complain when sizes stealthily increase, because larger sizes encourage unhealthy eating, but when sizes decrease, we complain about being swindled. As long as the product is clearly labeled as to its contents and nutritional value, I think Edy's is filling its obligation to us.

I discovered this the other night (probably 2am as I apparently sleep eat) that I hit the bottom of my Bryer's mint chocolate chip ice cream a lot faster than normal. I'd say that's a good thing if this sleep eating thing continues to haunt me night after night.

If it is called "Ice Cream" by federal law it can only have 100% overrun or 50% air added. Premium brands have much less, cheap brands have a lot maybe 100% already.

Since the air added changes the consistency and mouth feel I don't think they can just add a lot more without changing their formula but I bet they will try as dairy prices rise. So we really need to start weighing the cartons to see if the manufacturers are reducing the amount of product.

What's "deceptive" about this? Does it say 1.75 but only contain 1.5? If you're deceived by something that tells you how much is in it, you've got a lot more to worry about than how much ice cream is in the bucket...

The one gallon tub of breyers, is still one gallon!

of the other breyers, seems to be a 50/50 split at the moment between the 1.75 and 1.5 containers.

This is why I ONLY buy Blue Bell. It's still 1/2 gallon. Of course it's now over $6 for a freakin' 1/2 gallon but at least I can respect the company.

My solution:

DON'T BUY 1.5 QUARTS!

@dreamcatcher2:

I, for one, have never complained about getting more for my money.

Eep, more shrinkage.

Honestly, I'd rather see the products at their previous sizes at a higher price, than deal with the smaller cartons :|

I just thought about sending this in as well. My wife and I bought a container of Edy's last night and stuck in the freezer which also contained an almost empty container of Edy's from a few weeks ago. We were like, WTF?!? I can understand having to bump prices up a bit, but thing continual shrinking is getting ridiculous. Especially if your buying it for two or more people. Is it going to eventually reach Ben & Jerry's size and you'll have to buy a container per person?

@AnderBobo: Yeah, but atleast if the price goes up, they aren't trying to scam the consumer. In this case, they are looking to reduce the amount, without notifying the consumer. If we were informed, then it would be less of an issue...

@jswilson64: It's deceptive, because they are attempting to pass off the new containers as the old ones. If they increase the size, they throw a bold "WITH 20% MORE FREE" on the label. I don't see any mention of "NOW WITH 12.5% LESS" on this container...

@JLP at AllFinancialMatters: Blue Bell is not available for all people. Too bad. I was on their website recently and I noticed that they have a specific page set up to brag about how they're keeping their size at a half gallon.

"Blue Bell has even placed a red banner across its cartons promoting the fact that consumers still get a full half gallon of ice cream with each purchase."

How clever.
[www.bluebell.com]

@rellog: Just because they're not blaring trumpets to announce their shrinking package, it's still no, not deceptive. The packaging is marked with the volume being bought. The only people fooled by product shrink are those that are either not smart enough to read the label, or not smart enough to know what they wanted to buy in the first place.

If I had never bought Edy's ice cream before, and walked into a store and bought a clearly marked 1.5 quart tub of Edy's French Vanilla, in what way have I been deceived?

Edy's is always overpriced anyway. Don't buy it. That'll learn the greedy scumbags

maybe your eyes are too fat. The extra eye weight makes the 5 look like a 7. Drop 10 pounds and it might come back.

What?

I would much rather see increased prices. There is much greater granularity in product pricing, and its easier to adjust as product costs fluctuate. It also immediately alerts the consumer to the change rather than trying to pull one over on the consumer and hope they dont check the unit price closely.

Prices are going to increase or the volume will decrease.

Fact of life.

I keep waiting for the CT AG's office to crack down on ice cream selling scoff laws but so far no redress is coming

[comedian.blogspot.com]

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