Jacob doesn’t buy soap very often, since his preferred brand is available in a 6-bar bulk pack. He discovered the last time he stocked up that the bars have considerably less bulk in them than they used to, though: each bar is now one quarter of an ounce lighter, for a total of one and a half ounces less soap in the bulk pack.

This is a clear case of the Grocery Shrink Ray, but it really annoyed Jacob “I called their 800 number and the person said when they make changes like this, ‘it’s usually due to customer or company demand.'” Yes, that’s how it works. Now, it’s possible that customers wanted a bar that was slightly smaller in their hands, but we’ve never heard of anyone calling up a company and clamoring to be given less soap. No, that’s as detailed information as anyone is going to get.

One reason often given for shrinking down products is to harmonize product sizes in all markets: selling a 500 milliliter bottle instead of a 16-ounce one, for example. In this case, Procter & Gamble performs the opposite trick: they take a product that weighs nice, even 120 grams and takes it down to 113.

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