The Chicago Tribune quoted me in a piece on the Grocery Shrink Ray. Paraphrasing a food science. expert, it says, "Broadly defined, packaging costs often outweigh ingredient costs, Hotchkiss said. And a penny shaved off packaging can translate into millions of dollars in savings for a high-volume consumer product." This is interesting because it means the greatest cost savings come from reducing package costs, rather than ingredient amount. Which means if they're reducing ingredient amounts, they've got to be really hurting. Maybe if I really wanted to do my part to help the economy I should have spent that stimulus check on juice, cereal, paper towels, mayonnaise and ice cream.
Here's the clip of the To The Point radio program I was on yesterday. There was a bunch of people on, you can hear me at 23:30 talking about the Grocery Shrink Ray and 37:30 talking about the customer service hotline Sprint set up for Consumerist readers. It's a great show and I love Warren Onley's voice, but I have some issues with the advice some of the other guests gave on the show that I need to address. Here's what I would have said had I been asked some of their questions...
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Latest by JustThatGuy3: @Ben Popken:
Ben, you're not understanding the note. The note shows that, if you have $15,000 today, you should just more »
I will be in a roundtable discussion guest be on KCRW's "The The Point" at 2:10 PM eastern today. You can listen here by clicking on the "LIVE" link at the top left, or tuning into your NPR affiliate station if they carry it. We'll be talking about the economy, the growing pressures on consumers, the grocery shrink ray, and what, if anything, you can do about it.
Have you been the victim of a scam? Or had someone try to scam you? I'm working on a Reader's Digest article scams and am looking for some anecdotes about specific "ripped from the headline" type scams. The scams and national trends I'm looking at are posted inside. If your story fits the trend but not necessarily the exact scam, I want to hear from you too. If you have a good story and are willing to have your picture published, please send a note with your contact info to ben@consumerist.com, subject: Scam Tales.
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20/20 is looking for a few good screwed consumers:
Have you been ripped off recently by a store, hotel, airline, repair service or other retailer? ABC 20/20 would like to help you get satisfaction. If you feel you were cheated, please let us know BRIEFLY what happened to you and what you've done so far to get a refund. If selected, you'll be asked to come our Manhattan studio where you'll tell your story on camera and we'll try to help you get your money back. Please send your name, city, email address, and daytime phone and note that you saw this post on consumerist.com
This morning, very early in the morning, we were on KTLK in Minnesota talking about, yep, you guessed it, the Grocery Shrink Ray. Clip is here. And earlier this week we were featured in an article in the UK's Observer.
TV stations looking to save money can do so by interviewing guests remotely over Skype, as WTVT in Tampa did, live, with me this morning. No more paying for car service or bottled water!
NPR's Michele Norris on "All Things Considered" did a nice interview with me about that deadly Grocery Shrink Ray sweeping supermarkets across America. It looks like it just aired, you can listen to it online here. If you want to look at previous stories in the Grocery Shrink Ray series, check 'em out here. And if you have a example of a product that is shrinking in terms of volume or net weight and you want to submit it to us for a possible post, just send it on in to tips@consumerist.com.
Media interest in The Grocery Shrink Ray sweeping across America continues, I was interviewed recently by CNNMoney.com, The Brian Lehrer Show, and Agence France-Press. Everyone knows prices are higher and manufacturers need to pass them on somehow. I don't like the method of shrinking sizes while keeping the prices the same. Or when they combine it with a package redesign, hoping we'll be so distracted by a new spigot that we won't notice we're getting less. My local pizza parlor went about it differently. They raised prices and taped up two articles explaining how rising wheat costs are driving up the cost of making pizza. They didn't, however, cut their pies into 12 slices instead of 8.
Here's the clip of yours truly, Ben Popken, on FOX 13 Tampa yesterday talking about the Grocery Shrink Ray that all the writers on the site have been doing a great job of covering. The interview was done over Skype webcam and I think it came out pretty well. "Shrinkage" and "downsizing" may be nothing new, but I think we're going to see more goods shrinking and by greater degrees in the coming months. It's practically a secret inflation. At the end of the story they say that some manufacturers are considering doing away with gallons of milk and instead selling 3/4 of a gallon, for the same price. If that happens, I think a lot more messages like the recording of the good ol' boy upset over the downsized Jimmy Dean's sausage are going to be left on customer complaint lines across America. As the guy in the New York Daily News shrinking package article (which I was also quoted in, whoo), said, "Soon people will be buying empty bags and empty boxes."
Attention Floridian Consumerists! Provided everything goes according to schedule, I will be on Fox Tampa Thursday during the 10pm newscast, talking about the mysterious Grocery Shrink Ray sweeping across America.
The editors of PC World have named Consumerist as one of the 100 best products of 2008. We're not sure exactly what we did, but the press announcement says, "Each year, PC World chooses the 100 top technology products available to consumers. Some of the products are brand new, some have been on the market for years. What they have in common is attractive and efficient design, outstanding features and performance, solid usability and smart innovation." Whoo, go us.
Latest by andys2i: Congratulations. I recently started reading this site and it is definetly interesting, though some topics are out there. Added to more »
My Reader's Digest article on getting consumer satisfaction is up online. It's chock-full of tips for being a savvy consumer, illustrated with real world success stories you first read on this site, stories like Mona "Hammer Granny" Shaw, Lona "I have a situation that you are going to fix for me today" Nicholle, Anne "Give me a reason to stick around" Braswell, and the little old lady WaMu hit with 20 overdraft fees. I break down techniques like Town Crier, Executive Email Carpet Bomb, Threaten to cancel, Dictate the Options, and Calling the Executive Suite as escalated customer service problem solving options when traditional methods fail. Check it out!
A reporter for a major national newspaper is looking for people to talk to for a story about new government guidelines that were supposed to make it easier for people to get or refinance jumbo loans (mortgage loans traditionally greater than $417,000). Under the new guidelines, some loans that are greater than $417,000 have been re-classified as "conforming" loans. This was supposed to make it easier for borrowers to qualify, but the reality, mortgage brokers say, is that very few people are. The reporter is looking to speak with consumers who have looked into the new guidelines, had hoped they would help, but discovered they are not helping after all. Email ben@consumerist.com with "jumbo" in the subject line and I'll put you in touch.
Latest by mr_pants: Also, I forgot to mention, anything $417,000 and below gets the Conforming rate, but between $417,000 and the "new" conforming more »
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I will be in a roundtable discussion guest be on KCRW's "The The Point" at 2:10 PM eastern today. You can listen 
