An anonymous Walmart shopper stopped by to show us how a nice-looking redesign of the mega-retailer’s house-brand mashed potato flakes masks some shrinkage. Wally World took advantage of the packaging change to shave off 5.3 ounces of dehydrated potato goodness. Of course, the box looks the same size from the outside. It’s still a great value. Just a little less great than before, perhaps. [More]
grocery shrink ray
Walmart Redesigns 5.3 Ounces Right Out Of Great Value Mashed Potato Box
By 11.8.12 — Updated: 11.9.12
Ronzoni Shrink Rays Pasta Packages, Or Maybe Wants Us To Cut Back On Carbs
By 11.5.12
Chris brought home a box of Ronzoni’s enriched Smart Taste pasta, then noticed something interesting: the box was smaller than the previous one of the same brands. That’s pretty ordinary around here. What stands out, though, is that the portion guide on the back divides the smaller box up into more servings. Is Ronzoni employing the Grocery Shrink Ray, or trying to get us all to cut back on carbs? [More]
Grocery Shrink Ray Slurps Up Hunt’s Meat (Flavored) Spaghetti Sauce
By 11.1.12
Zap! David’s family got a few cans of spaghetti sauce out of the pantry when they noticed that they were different sizes. Different brands? No, both cans were Hunt’s meat (flavored) sauce. One was older than the other. One was two and a half ounces smaller than the other. Can you guess which is which? [More]
Arm & Hammer Adds 33% More Peroxide, Subtracts .3 Ounces Of Toothpaste
By 10.26.12
The good news is that PeroxiCare toothpaste comes with slightly more peroxide than it did before. The bad news is that this supposed improvement comes with a .3 ounce reduction in the total amount of toothpaste in the tube. [More]
A 15-Ounce Pound Cake Isn’t A Case Of Grocery Shrink Ray
By 10.24.12
Readers keep sending us pictures of pound cakes that weigh less than one pound, complaining that they’re exhibits of the Grocery Shrink Ray in action. There’s a problem with that, though: it’s based on the incorrect assumption that a pound cake is supposed to weigh a pound. [More]
Kashi GoLean Cereal Boxes Get A Bit Leaner
By 10.19.12
Kashi GoLean cereal is supposed to help breakfasters “stay fuller longer,” which might help them slim down a bit, or to keep a slim figure. Clearly it’s working very well for Kashi, because the box has slimmed down by an entire ounce, to only 13.1 ounces from 14.1 ounces. [More]
Sunbelt Granola Bars Class Things Up, Shrink Bars Along The Way
By 10.17.12
Brad is a daily eater of Sunbelt brand granola bars, so he’s someone who would notice when something changes. As part of a recent rebranding, Sunbelt shrank their bars by quite a bit, increasing the total price per ounce. Reader Brad noticed this and was disappointed. He complained, and got a refund for his trouble. What’s interesting, though, is how the packaging changed in other ways. It’s like the brand got a makeover before it seeks out a classier upscale clientele. [More]
Sunbelt Brags About Adding More Granola Bars Per Box, Hits Said Bars With Grocery Shrink Ray
By 8.17.12
The bane of loyal customers everywhere has struck again, and this time the Grocery Shrink Ray fixed its beady glare on reader Chuck’s favorite granola bars — Sunbelt chocolate chip. At first, he was pleased about the “new” number of bars in a bigger box. There were now 10 bars to be enjoyed instead of the previous eight. Hurray! But all was not as it seemed, as Chuck soon found out. [More]
Researcher Unearths Proof Of Grocery Shrink Ray From 1977
By 7.19.12
Lest you think the Grocery Shrink Ray, which reduces the size of a food product but leaves the price intact (or even makes that price increase), is a product of the Internet Age, here is evidence showing the Shrink Ray’s pernicious effects from 35 years ago. [More]
Grocery Shrink Ray Scoops Two Ounces Out Of Kellogg’s Raisin Bran
By 7.10.12
Kellogg’s may still market its Raisin Bran as having “two scoops” of raisins, but those scoops just got a little smaller. A Raisin Bran lover who uses the name Gordon Comstock here at Consumerist noticed the difference, and was lucky enough to still have the old box sitting in his recycling bin so he could prove the difference. [More]
Not Only Are Mike & Ike Splitting Up, But The Grocery Shrink Ray Has Them In Its Sights
By 6.29.12
Consumerist reader Eric has a long abiding love of Mike and Ike’s candy, so he’s a little bit bummed that Mike and his pal Ike are divorcing in a recent ad campaign by the company. But why does this break-up have to also involve the unfortunate smallifying rays of the Grocery Shrink Ray? [More]
Shrink Ray Zaps Aussie Shampoos, Somehow Makes Them Look Bigger
By 6.26.12
Procter & Gamble’s Aussie brand of hair care products have been redesigned, and with that came a shrink raying of their larger pump shampoo bottles, from 33.8 fluid ounces to merely 29.2. Only notice how the elegant curves and narrower bottle make the new version look larger, not smaller. [More]
Kashi Heart To Heart Hit By Ever-So-Tiny Shrink Ray
By 6.20.12
Scott was buying three boxes of Kashi Heart to Heart, because it was on sale and apparently time to stock up. He wouldn’t have noticed the difference if he had only one box, but he realized that the three boxes weren’t the same size. [More]
Orville Redenbacher Is The Latest Victim Of The Grocery Shrink Ray
By 6.15.12
Popcorn, as its name implies, tends to expand when you cook it (otherwise, you’re just eating “corn”). But while Orville Redenbacher’s caramel popcorn presumably still gets larger when you pop it into the microwave, you are now getting less food for your popcorn-buying dollar. [More]
Plastic Hanger Shrink Ray Costs You 4 Cents Per Hanger
By 6.5.12
Jeff needed some plastic hangers, and found some at Kmart that cost just a little more than he wanted to pay. But the odd thing was that the signage wasn’t quite right: the price given was for ten hangers, and the packages actually on the shelf contained eight hangers each. Okay, it’s not a big deal. And broken down, only a few cents’ difference per hanger. That doesn’t mean it isn’t annoying. [More]
Has Gatorade Been Slimmed Down By The Grocery Shrink Ray?
By 6.1.12
For years, Gatorade drinkers have grown familiar with the hard lines of the sports drink’s 32 oz. plastic bottle. Now we’re hearing that the beverage might be shifting over to a slimmer, easier-to-grip bottle — that is also 12.5% smaller. [More]
Jennie-O Reverses Grocery Shrink Ray To Add 10% More Fat Back In To Turkey Franks
By 5.31.12
Here we thought the grocery shrink ray only worked one way, but Jennie-O is blowing our minds with a subtle reversal of the ray, turning it into a zapper that adds 10% of the fat back in to its turkey franks. [More]
Kraft: We'd Rather You Go 23% Hungrier Than Pay A Few Cents More
By 5.31.12
Yesterday, we showed you photographic evidence of how the Grocery Shrink Ray had zapped one reader’s Oscar Mayer Lunchables packages from 4.4 oz. to 3.3 oz. Turns out he wasn’t the only reader who was less than thrilled about the change. [More]
