Grocery Shrink Ray Is Reversed, Called A Bonus
CCM just sent us a photo she snapped of these Mission Soft Flour Tortillas. It's kind of cool to see that in this age of the shrink ray, a company is actually giving you more bang for your buck. Except that in this case, the two added tortillas used to be there until a year or so ago.
This is a picture of Mission Soft Flour Tortillas (Medium size), which are the tortillas my husband has used for years for his Doggos. About a year ago, they were hit by the Grocery Shrink Ray - we were still paying for the 10-tortilla package, but it now came with only eight tortillas. It actually made my husband mad enough to try to find another brand, but none of them were exactly what he wanted - so we went back to them, grudgingly.
And look! Now they are generously providing us with *TWO* extra tortillas, bringing the total back up to 10! It's kind of like daylight savings, I guess - you're so happy to get the hour back you don't notice it was the same one that was stolen from you back in the Spring.
Oh well, at least they didn't call it a "super size" package and raise the price.
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Comments:
Getting extra Mission tortillas is not a bonus but a punishment. Paper towels have more flavor and are more pliable than mission tortillas.
Let's discuss the fact that they are being used for "doggos". What ever happened to just eating cold hot dogs out of the package?
@sir_pantsalot: Generally the food you put IN the torilla has the flavor. Most tortillas have little flavor.
I remember Fritos had a similar thing. "Now 20% more Free!"
@jklug80: Real tortillas are awesome. I was just about to ask for some mail order or good suggestions.
I have a favorite restaurant in the San Diego Mission District that I love hitting up on business trips. I could eat nothing but tortillas.
@sir_pantsalot: What actually is a good brand of Tortilla, I have just been going to the Hispanic section, and grabbing whatever was cheap, with as much Spanish as possible.
Eh? They're among the softest, most pliable tortillas you can buy in a supermarket. (Won't contest the flavorless part, though...they are pretty bland)
Try heating them in the microwave for 15-20 seconds.
On an off-topic but a meta note, is Consumerist getting the new comments upgrade that Lifehacker and Gizmodo are getting? Would be cool if they did.
What say you?
Maybe they did raise the price when it used to be smaller. I was looking at cookies the other day (for my mom to feed the grandkids). Now they are selling a TINY quarter of a full long plastic package for $1 for the generic walmart store brand, and a full sized package of cookies is like, $2.36. They used to be about a buck or a buck twenty-five for a huge pack of cookies. I refuse to pay inflated creme cookie prices!
@yasth: exquisita tortillas or don pedro tortillas. i dont know if they are available in your area as they seem to be local companys even tho walmart and heb carry them.
those are the closest i can find to "homemade" but they still pale in comaparison to moms or grandmas
@MostlyHarmless: They were still linked by tech support which is hy when gawker's code went wonky and you couldn't reply, consumerist got it too. It was all part of some software update hullabaloo or whatsit.
I need coffee.
Good thing there was a hyperlink on "Doggos" - since I had never heard of them before! (But, now, I want to go make myself some!)
Question: do Doggos get ketchup and mustard on them like regular hot dogs, or taco sauce like tacos?
The best way to get tortillas is to find a local shop that makes their own. They'll be cheaper and better tasting.
Mission brand tortillas are not that good.
And I've had a "doggo" but I boil the hot dog instead of microwaving it.
Doritos have been doing this for a while. Their bags say "20% more!" after months of the size going down, and the price going up.
I don't think there's anything wrong with raising prices or reducing the size to match a previous price point. It's necessary as costs rise. The problem is when businesses try to hide the reduction by keeping the same package size.
People understand that prices rise over time, but will always be offended by attempts to trick them.
@MostlyHarmless: I doubt it, since we still get that nice preview button which mysteriously disappeared on other Gawker sites.
@sir_pantsalot: Now with 20% more bonus hydrogenated oils!
You can get good flour tortillas at costco in the freezer. You just cook them yourself and they are great tasting. Or, even better, learn how to make your own corn tortillas out of masa. It's easy although it takes some time.
Still not as bad as the ice cream companies. A "half gallon" of ice cream has shrunk to 1.5 quarts on some packages while the price has remained the same or even gone up. Just last week I saw one advertised as "bonus" because it's "half gallon" now had 1.75 quarts instead of 1.5
@Yoko Broke Up The Beatles: I guess it depends on if you want to have a fiesta in your mouth... or not.
Argh, I hate these grocery shrink ray articles. The value of goods in our society is way off, we demand cheaper prices for things that are already priced a too low, and we're frankly spoiled by it. The prices of clothing, and food, shouldn't be this cheap - it causes a breakdown along the entire production line, forces people into below-minimum-wage labour, produces sub-par food and contributes (unshockingly) to lax standards that can lead to food poisoning breakouts.
In order for things to get a little better, like people demand, we need to pay more. This is also ignoring that many companies are struggling to still exist in this economy, and in order to still make profit they have two choices: sacrifice quality, or quanitity. I'll take that latter. But I'm getting sick of people getting pissed that yes, they may have to pay more for less if they still want the items they know & love to even exist (especially since they were being spoiled with a great bounty of cheap food before).
@MostlyHarmless: I hope not, after the upgrade my work pc now blocks comments on Deadspin. I don't want to lose another productivity hampering site.
@wrjohnston91283: I learned of cold hot dogs as an awesome 'snack' at my friend's house. When my mom saw me doing it once, she had such a cow that I was convinced I was going to die of hepatitis. I now prefer my hotdogs super burnt on the grill.
Ten is the standard package for all the brands of tortillas, so obviously their shrink ray ploy didn't take. Now if only we could get ice cream 'half gallons' back up from 1.5 to 1.75 quarts.
@calquist: We used to eat plain cold hotdogs when I was a kid, until my sister got one lodged in her windpipe. A chunk of hot dog makes a highly effective airway plug. After that mom always cut them up before giving them to us.
@yasth: We're far from being experts in mexican cuisine, but my friends and I really like the Guerrero "Tortillas de Harina Fresqui-Ricas". They're 'fresh' style tortillas that are like half-baked, and require a quick pan-fry, or possibly a steam, to bring to life and eat. These might be in the refrigerated section in some grocery stores.
We also like them because they say "Fresqui-Ricas" on them, which we enjoy saying even though we don't know what it means. I usually get the mission brand 'paper towel' variety because they last forever in the fridge, but a "Fresqui-Ricas" tortilla quesadilla is hard to beat!
@yasth: If your local store carries it, you should try the "Diana's" brand. Their plant is here in my home city, so we get their stuff really fresh. Aside from my mother's, grandmother's and a few restaurants, these are some of the best I've ever tasted.
[www.dianasnet.superpageshosting.com]
Also, the Costcos around here (LA area) carry a "cook-it-yourself" tortilla. When my mom is feeling lazy, she uses those, and they taste really good.
Wow... how did this delicacy elude me for so many years?? I love hot dogs and manwich... this could be the start of a wonderful, weight-gaining friendship. (with sour cream, of course....)
So basically, a couple years ago they responded to increases in fuel and commodity prices by reducing the amount of product per package, instead of increasing the price of their product. Now that the prices of fuel/commodities have stabilized somewhat, they're increasing the amount of product rather than decreasing their price. And they're advertising that on the packaging. How dare them...
@SexCpotatoes: It's just their new marketing deal - they send coupons all the time through their newsletter and this was the message today:
Now there's even more to love about some of your favorite Mission tortillas. We've added two extra tortillas to each package of Medium Flour Tortillas, while packages of Small Flour Tortillas now include four extra tortillas. Customers in the North Central U.S. can also enjoy two extra tortillas in packages of Mission Caseras. These are just a few more ways we're helping you stretch your food dollar a little further.
@MostlyHarmless: The comments are broken on Jezebel right now, so since these are working, I'm guessing no.
If this reverse shrink ray catches on, maybe Kibbles and Bits will add a 20% bonus to the bag of dog food, bringing the weight back up to 50lbs. Oh, and drop the price $6, back to what it was a year ago.
Of all the things I'm paying more for than a year ago, the % increase in dog food price, plus the 20% product shrinkage, is the most outrageous.
@MostlyHarmless: Because the internet needs more popularity contests!
Seriously, though, it's horribly clunky and the greyed-out comments of non-cool-kids makes things amazingly difficult for myopic me to read. I like to read the comments more than the articles sometimes, and I know this will lead to fewer pageviews from me.
Ummm...hooray for getting the amount that we're actually paying for?