Ooh, look at that! A value pack of toothpaste that has not two, but three tubes of Colgate Total! What a steal. Or so Abie thought when she bought into the advertised deal, until she got home and actually opened the package.

Although the package is the shape of three Colgate Total toothpaste tube boxes, a bit of empty cardboard makes it easy to trick the eye, she writes.

When I got home, I realized that the “Value 3 Pack” contains two full size tubes, and one tiny tube exactly half the weight of the other two.

It’s not until you look closely that you realize that the yellow part of the top tube is a little empty box, designed to make this “3 Pack” look like three large tubes.

Although looking closely at where the logos and such are on the smaller toothpaste box shows that it’s probably not the same size as the ones below it, customers lured in by the bright “Value 3 Pack!” advertising might not realize the difference. Apparently “Value 2.5 Pack!” just doesn’t have the same ring to it.

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