Northern Hopes You Don't Notice Your Shrinking Toilet Paper
Many readers have reported the Grocery Shrink Ray strike on Northern toilet paper, but today Jack and Richard sent us photographic evidence, and even calculations of exactly how much paper consumers are losing out on.
At left is a side-by-side roll comparison sent in by Richard. The width of each roll has been decreased from 4.5 inches to 4 inches.
Jack notes:
Both say "24 Double Rolls = 48 Regular Rolls" but the previously purchased rolls have 300 sheets each that are 4.5 inches by 4 inches. The new packages have rolls that contain only 286 4 inch by 4 inch rolls. The older rolls had 900 square feet, while the new ones only 762.6 square feet.
So let's see - on each roll I get 137.4 fewer square feet, 14 fewer sheets, and each sheet is half an inch narrower(!), yet the price is approximately the same (about $10 a package on sale, if you have a coupon). Good job, Northern, you've just convinced me to start buying the store brand, or at least some other brand that doesn't try to short me on the size of the rolls.
Apparently, the difference is fairly obvious once the new roll is placed on a spool, so we're not sure who Georgia-Pacific, maker of Northern, thinks they're kidding.
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Comments:
I always try to calculate the cost per square foot based on the fine print that's on the bottom of the package. But, uh, am I the only one who brings a calculator to the grocery store?
@bellecat: It is a huge waste of time. At Target we have someone whose job it is to rearrange product and shelving, sometimes to do the Grocery Shrink Ray.
Damn, that's 15.3% less paper.
Ack! At a time when American's asses are getting bigger this is doubly troubling!
Advil puts a small bottle of Gel caps in a HUGE box. Sure, the package says what's inside, so why make the box 25% larger than necessary? Oh, is it to deceive consumers? Oh, let me guess, the old bottle boxing equipment just hasn't been re-tooled. Oh, that's better. So you're wasting trees because you're too lazy to retool the boxing equipment. Got it!
Maybe they shrunk it because there are fewer assholes in the world. Or just less s__t. There could be a method to their madness.
You think that's bad. The folks at Scott Tissue still scream "1000 sheets" on their package, but as "sheets" is not a standard value like gallon, they can play fast and loose with the size of each sheet. A couple of years ago they did the sneaky thing and shrunk the length of a sheet, so you don't notice it as much as you would if they had shrunk the width. The height (width) is still the 4.5 inches, but the length went from 4.0 inches to 3.7 inches.
The soft stuff clogs the low flush toilet! I keep having to remind myself.
@summerbee: I don't go anywhere without my TI-86. But more for using the IR to change TV channels, turn off closed circuit tvs, blind cameras, and otherwise be a jerk in stores.
Since cell phones have calcs now, I'm never w/o one!
(I like doing it my head though - it's fun!)
I sure as heck noticed this! >:(
I was hoping for a post like this to assure I wasn't going crazy.
@Michael Belisle: Your stores display cost per sq.ft? Those in my area do per roll and per 100 sheets.
@summerbee: Calculator on my cell phone is required to buy anything in the drugstore department, grocery or home cleaning section at Target.
Dammit - I wasn't crazy, I just didn't have the older larger size to compare it too. I doubt this is big enough to get any points from the wife, but sometimes even a small victory is important. (see honey I was right - next time don't question my sizing skills) ;o)~
@vastrightwing: I picked up a bag of chips at the store. Same size, still inflated with air but 2oz fewer chips inside. There was maybe 1/3 of the bag with chips, most of them pulverized chip pieces.
Gotta love quality!
ALWAYS buy store brand for TP. Everything else is a rip off. Buy the 1000 sheet roll. Lasts a long time and works great. You'll save about $200 every year.
@yasth: See, I'm smart-phoneless & doing math on my phone is painful. I usually a fan of the price-per-unit label on the shelf tags, but I've found instances where it's been wrong.
i really don't buy toilet paper that often.
i prefer to go @ work.
however, i won't not go @ home just to save on TP.
i just get satisfaction knowing i am getting paid to use the restroom.
@AllanG54:
Any observer would tell you if TP were sized-adjusted for the number of assholes in the world and the amount of $h!t then a single roll would be the size of an oil drum by now.
I don't see the big deal. I would argue that my ass-wiping experience will be unaffected by this shrinkage. However, a commensurate price increase if they left the roll the old size would be more noticed.
In reality, I like Charmin Freshwipes, so I don't really care :)
I KNEW it! I've noticed at my workplace and other public places that the TP doesn't fit and is falling out of the holders. Is it on the business owners then to buy narrower holders?
@bohemian: A lot of times they have a unit price listed, too...I check that when I'm feeling lazy, although some stuff doesn't have it. Tricky.
I get my TP at COSTCO, Their Kirkland's Best is a good value and it even passes my wife's quality standards.
Who uses an entire sheet to wipe their ass? Unlike a good PBnJ sandwich, toilet paper should not be covered from edge to edge...
Perhaps we should offer kudos to Northern for saving 15% more trees with their "greensized" toilet paper?
Narrow toilet paper is standard in Europe.
And I rarely use the inch on each side.
I've noticed this on just about every toilet paper brand...either that or a massive price increase. Have you ever noticed the price on Charmin? It's insane! I always stock up when TP goes cheap...for example, this week at Shop Rite, 12 rolls of Angel Soft (another Georgia Pacific brand) for 2.24...found a 50 cent coupon on their website which doubles....so $1.24 for 12 rolls, and I bought several. (Now, the rolls are almost microscopic, but still great for the price).
If it gets THAT bad with the toilet paper, I may have to to my ass-wiping with my tax forms instead.
I just make sure that I only shit at work. Problem solved.
One day we will remember back to when we had toilet paper, and lament the 3 shells.
"unscented bathroom tissue"... do they still make scented toilet paper?
I like the stores that put the cost per square feet and other product unit prices. Of course, they can put the number at any amount they want. Considering what it is used for, I always buy the cheapest.
Is it really the fault of the company for not coming out and saying they packaging is smaller? Can you think of a single example where a company has said "we're going to make the product smaller but still charge the same price."
This kind of stuff just isn't publicized.
This might actually work better for me - the bigger rolls get stuck in our roller until they're about 1/4 of the way used. The wife has started putting the TP on top of the sink instead of on the roll, which causes me to knock it off into the damn toilet, wasting a roll! :(
$200 a year? Pretty sure you can buy a bidet for less than that!
(Next post: Use a watering jug)
@aparsons: Unless you work somewhere that buys the really cheap TP that's about as soft as cardboard. That creates a whole new set of problems!
@Xerloq speaks Portuguese, too...:
Yup! Because everyone I know buys toilet paper made from redwoods rather than toilet paper made from forests specifically planted to make toilet paper trees.
@MostlyHarmless: I'm not sure. Something about motion in the ocean?
Sounds like a sham if you ask me.
@summerbee: I do too, has come in very handy teaching dear Hubby and Son how to find the truly lowest cost items
So what if it has 14 less sheets, big deal, who the hell cares, toilet paper is toilet paper.
I wonder how much time and effort is spent by the store employees trying to rework the shelving layout so stuff doesn't look smaller than it used to be.