Grocery Shrink Ray Gives Softsoap Some Slimming New Curves
Putting elegant curves on your packaging doesn't just make a bottle of hand soap look nice on the side of your sink. It also lets you drastically reduce the amount of product that you sell in a container that looks approximately the same size.
Dan says:
I recently bought a replacement for the soap in my bathroom. It is the same brand and scent. My old soap, pictured on the left, contains 11.25 ounces. The new container on the right, while smaller and more stylish, contains only 8.5 ounces. While the prices have changed little at least I will now have a more attractive sink.... at least as soon as I finish the first one.
Now, we don't want to accuse the good people at Softsoap of making their bottles easily shrinkable by design, but it is an awfully handy feature. The new bottle is, at least, pretty aerodynamic. Maybe Dan should keep the one he finds more aesthetically pleasing... and buy refills? (Thanks Dan!)
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Comments:
@I_have_something_to_say: Well, to give them some credit, their bottle redesign last year increased the bottle size with no cost increase (well, at least where I live).
The poster mentioned a price drop to go along with the reduced size. I'd like to know how much the price decreased before rushing to judgment. Though I have no faith that the price decrease matched the volume decrease even if you account for inflation and change in cost of ingredients, you never know.
I am really pissed about canned tuna, now it is down to 5 oz. and it makes 1 1/2 sandwiches now instead of 2. I don't buy more cans I just have one smaller sandwich, they would have sold one more ounces if they just raised the price!
It also screws up recipes.
I think all of them have done it, but I am going to check Trader Joe's. The cans used to have 6 1/2, then 6oz, now 5oz. It is not economical to lower it to the point you need to buy multiple units. How low can they go?
@italianscallion33: Even cheaper, buy the bottles for the foaming hand soap. When they run out, put about 1 tablespoon of dish soap, or 2 tablespoons handsoap, and fill the rest with water. More foaming soap, and one bottle of dish soap will refill it a ton of times. Never pay for the fancy foaming refills, they are just watered down soap they charge more for.
Also, SoftSoap is not Soap, it is detergent (made from petroleum based chemicals). To call it soap is a lie.
If you would like to learn about the difference between Real Soap and Fake Soap (which softsoap is), check out this awesome YouTube Video (It's about how the Drummer from the Germs was arrested for posession of GHB because Dr. Bronner's soap gives a false positive on drug tests. Dr. Bronner's came to his defense. They demonstrate how real soap triggers a false positive, and any detergent based fake soap will not.)
It is a pretty interesting video..
@Kogenta:
You're right, I should have considered that. I always assume that we're still getting short changed in the end. I hate refilling small containers so this irks me ;)
@SagarikaLumos: I also agree. My last soap bottle fell into my sink constantly. There just wasn't enough bottom to it. This new design looks more sturdy.
And it does look nicer, actually. Refilling more often is a pain, but at least there's some upsides to it.
@italianscallion33: There's one at the grocery store I like to get for a dollar a pop. It's generic and comes in a large bottle that lasts a long time. There aren't any refills, but it's so cheap and lasts so long it's worth it to get a few when I stop by.
@frank64: Ick, I don't buy canned anymore because it's shredded so much that it looks like someone already ate it. That is NOT a value because I end up not eating it, it's so gross.
I get the packets now instead. Dillon's has Kroger brand ones that are huge and on sale all the time.
@gStein: You forgot the comment about the home done tummy tucks in order to procure the necessary fat to make the soap ;)
@K-Bo: Smart move. I've been doing the same for years. Can't remember the last time I bought hand soap.
@HogwartsAlum: There are a few that have good solid tuna. Bumble Bee Solid White Albacore and a similar Geisha product- they are all better than the packets I have tried, but I don't have a Kroger or Dillards around me. Your right most is like baby food, even the other Bumble Bee and Geisha products.
mmm I like the sexy new bottle. I enjoy cluttering my bathroom sink with random bottles of hand soap. Typically I just buy the gargantuan bottles of refill, (generic brand thank you very much), but once in awhile if I am extra lazy, I just buy a new small bottle.
I'm going to be on the lookout for this hot LITTLE number.
@italianscallion33: I buy this size instead of refills because I get them for free or almost free. My local grocery store regularly puts them on sale for 99 cents. I can easily find coupons for either 30 or 35 cents off. The store triples coupons up to 35 cents. So I never pay more than 10 cents for a package of SoftSoap.
@frank64: I haven't bought a can of tuna since they went from 6.50 (or was it 6.25?) to 6.00 ounces. I think that was the first time I noticed what we now lovingly refer to as the GSR. They didn't just reduce the tuna quantity, but they left the same amount of water in the can, so it just looks like a pile of I-don't-know-what-it-is.
In the interest of eating healthier, just last week, I bought not only 'fresh' salmon to broil, but also the canned stuff. Here's hoping the canned stuff tastes good.
@suburbancowboy: Again, I learn something new everyday. Thank you.
I especially like the phrase "'organics' is not 'organic'".
@nybiker: I would like to know if the canned salmon is any good too. Do you add mayonnaise(I use low-fat)like tuna?
I am going to try to get fresh salmon more often.
Here's a tip for those of you (like me) who buy the big, economical bottles of Softsoap (or whatever brand you buy) to refill the small dispensers:
Did you know the antibacterial ingredient(s) in these soaps have expiration dates? I didn't. My husband pointed out the already-expired date on a half-used jug of Softsoap clear refill under our sink. I'm sure it will still clean your hands OK, but killing bacteria -- maybe not so much. Use hot water and you may be OK. And check those expiry dates!
@TexasMama37: Exactly. Softsoap is the coupon bonanza. It's one of those things you're always getting for less than a quarter. I can't get to worked up over the shrink ray...of course I also have 10 of them under the sink right now. Old size.
@frank64: The canned salmon with the bones and skin in it wouldn't make good salmon salad, I wouldn't think. That's better for salmon patties and the like.
You can buy it in small or larger pouches by Chicken of the Sea and it's more like the canned tuna you might be familiar with.
Yes, I do that, add a little Miracle whip and some dill and make salmon salad sammishes. It's the yums! :)
@HogwartsAlum: Also frozen salmon fillets are yummy. ALDIs has those quite often and they are very reasonably priced.
@H3ion: Check that paint again--if it's custom tinted, they do under-fill the cans of paint by a couple ounces because that's how much colorant they put in at the paint store to tint it. If they didn't then the can would overflow when they tint it! Also, even if it only "needs" like one 1/32 oz of color added (say a very light off white) they still fill it up to 1 gal. total (the formula just balances it out with white colorant, for example). No matter what color it is, when you take it home, it's the full 128 ounces.
Now, If the main paint can label (on the side of the can) is actually factory printed "White" or "Sea Foam Green" or something (a pre-mixed color) and not "Tint Base" or anything else with the word "Base" ... Then it's you can come back and complain that about the Paint Shrink Ray. There was a story on here a while ago on that very topic and they had to post an update when someone set them straight about how tinting works. So far (cross your fingers) the Shrink Ray has not ever struck paint.
The reason I knew about this piece of trivia is because my dad has sold paint his whole life. :)
@West Coast Secessionist: Thanks. I stand corrected. The can I bought was a base paint to which tint was added and it clearly says on the label 126 oz. before tint is added. There was very little tint added but your explanation is reasonable and I apologize for the criticism.
@frank64: This was actually a subject in a recent Costco magazine. Yes, Costco has a magazine (it's very short and sent to members). They kept the Costco brand tun at 7 oz and after the magazine article, all of a sudden the other brands they carry went back to 7 oz cans.
They also pointed the same liquid filler problem & gave a tip: look at the protein content in the nutritional info. The more grams of protein, the more tuna actually in the can.
So it's not just you! I was thrilled when I saw the normal size cans at Costco. Maybe it's something worth writing to the tuna manufacturers and your supermarket.


















Costco jugs of Softsoap ftw!