Mary bought a new bottle of Heinz mustard, but noticed something when she got the bottle of the condiment home. The bottle had been redesigned, which masked a strike from the Grocery Shrink Ray. Even worse, she thinks that the flavor is now worse. Or does it just seem that way because the jar is smaller?

Here are the two mustard containers: her old jar, the 9-ounce one, is on the right. The taller and more slender 8-ounce version is on the left. While it’s smaller, it seems larger than the old bottle. Funny how that works.

Meanwhile, noticing her first Shrink Rayed product in person has changed how Mary sees the world. “I just noticed my Kraft mayonnaise is no longer in a 32oz. jar, it’s 30 ounces!” she writes. “How often do we really save empty containers to compare?” Not very often, and when we do, we often notice the redesign without noticing the difference. That’s what makes shrink rayage such an effective way for companies to avoid raising prices.

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