The Grocery Shrink Ray is what happens when a company wants to cut their expenses, but not raise their prices. Pepsodent is a bargain-brand toothpaste that you can pick up in most stores for $1, but reader Tony noticed something when he bought his last tube: it was half an ounce smaller than the previous one, which he still had handy. [More]
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Blue Bunny Shrink Rays Ice Cream And Frozen Yogurt Half-Gallons To 1.44 Quarts
By 3.14.16
It wasn’t all that long ago that ice cream was sold in actual half gallons, instead of containers of 1.5 to 1.75 quarts… or even smaller. Blue Bunny, a brand that has generally stayed at the higher end of the range, used a recent package redesign to mask shrinkage down to 46 ounces, or 1.44 quarts. [More]
Sargento Shortchanges Customers Who Prefer Sharp Cheddar Cheese
By 2.23.16
Megan was shopping for cheese at Target over the weekend, as many sensible people do, and she noticed something strange about the pre-sliced packages of Sargento cheddar. It came in two different sizes, which had the same price. Yes, it turns out that one of them was the victim of the Grocery Shrink Ray, taking the total from 20 slices to 18, depriving customers of enough slices to make an entire grilled cheese sandwich. UPDATE: The different sizes may represent different package sizes between cheddar types, which is confusing. [More]
No, Pepperidge Farm’s Milano Cookies Aren’t Victims Of The Grocery Shrink Ray
By 2.18.16
Chris wrote to Consumerist upset about one of his favorite desserts, Pepperidge Farm’s Milano cookies. The cookies seemed smaller, he said, estimating that they had “reduced the size of the cookies by about 25%.” Was that true? We took his question to the brand’s headquarters, which is not in a farmhouse in Maine. [More]
Starbucks Shrinks A Whole Serving From Iced Espresso Classics
By 2.1.16
Good morning! It’s time to stumble to your kitchen and make something caffeinated to aim at your mouth. One handy way to do that when you’re especially sleepy is to buy pre-mixed iced coffee or espresso and milk drinks at a grocery or discount store. Only Starbucks, a popular maker of those drinks, has shrink rayed an entire serving out of their iced espresso drinks. [More]
Justin’s Almond Butter Hit With Shrink Ray, But Only At Walmart
By 1.29.16
One of the nice things about Justin’s brand nut butters is that they come in a jar that’s a full 16 ounces. Except, reader EC learned recently, at Walmart. Since his last purchase of a nut butter jar last year, the packaging has changed… and so has the volume of almond butter in the jar. [More]
Walmart Closing 154 Stores In U.S., Ending “Walmart Express” Experiment
By 1.15.16
Walmart’s five-year dalliance with trying to go small through new “Walmart Express” stores is apparently over. This morning, the company announced that it will shutter 154 locations in the U.S., including all 102 Express locations, in an effort to focus on its larger outlets. [More]
Gift-Wrap Shrink Ray: Walmart’s Labels Are A Little Smaller
By 12.18.15
It’s not just food that the Grocery Shrink Ray hits: we’ve seen it strike everything from grooming products to warranties. We haven’t ever seen a Christmas label shrink ray, though, until Dave sent these pictures comparing labels purchased at Walmart during different years. [More]
Charmin Shaves A Fraction Of An Inch Off Wet Wipes For Adults
By 11.5.15
There’s still disagreement between wet wipes manufacturers and plumbers and sewage workers about whether “flushable” wet wipes should actually be flushed. What we do know is that one brand of adult wipes, Charmin, has shrunk their product slightly so there’s slightly less in each square to flush. Or not flush. You probably shouldn’t flush them. [More]
Exotic SpaghettiO Flavors Render Recent Shrink Rayage Less Logical
By 10.27.15
We were under the impression that when SpaghettiOs Shrink Rayed their standard-size cans to 14 ounces across all flavors to celebrate the product’s 50th birthday, this was done to harmonize the package size across the whole brand. Plain pasta in tomato-ish sauce, sliced hot dogs, meatballs: across the board, they would all be 14 ounces. That made sense. Then we saw the pizza flavor. [More]
SodaStream Dilutes And Shrinks Flavor Syrup Bottles
By 10.21.15
A lot of Consumerist readers are Sodastream fans, and a number of you wrote in with some sad news: as part of a redesign of its proprietary line of flavoring syrups, the bottles are now smaller. How much smaller? The old version made 50 servings of flavored drink, and the new versions make only 29. Why 29? Why not 30? Such are the mysteries of the Grocery Shrink Ray. [More]
Rare Grocery Growth Ray Sighting At Costco: Detergent Grows By 10 Pods
By 10.19.15
While detergent pods still have some safety issues and still sort of look a little bit like candy, here’s one inspiring piece of news about them. A few weeks ago, we wrote about Costco’s Kirkland Signature pods shrinking, losing 10 pods from a 130-pod package. Costco contacted us to point out that our reader actually got this backwards: they had recently made the packages bigger, not smaller. [More]
Mustard Shrink Ray Squeezes Out An Ounce From Redesigned Bottle
By 10.8.15
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? [More]
Costco Shrink Rays Bins Of Detergent Pods Ever So Slightly
By 10.5.15
The Grocery Shrink Ray stealthily takes away small portions of all kinds of consumer products: food, beverages, personal care items, and cleaning supplies. Even the super-sized containers at Costco aren’t immune: 130 loads of laundry since his last purchase, Ed noticed that his newest container has fewer detergent pods in it than the last one. Update: Actually, Costco increased the quantity of pods! [More]
Grocery Shrink Ray Strikes Aldi Bread, Gillette Anti-Perspirant
By 9.29.15
The Grocery Shrink Ray quietly removes almost imperceptible bits of our packaged goods, gradually shrinking some products over time so manufacturers can avoid raising prices. Once you’re aware of it, you begin to notice it every time you buy a slightly smaller replacement for a product that you use regularly. Two readers who bought bread and deodorant noticed exactly that. [More]
Slack Fill: The Grocery Shrink Ray’s Sneakier Twin
By 9.28.15
What does it mean to under-fill a consumer product package? We’ve all opened boxes and bags that seemed more full before we saw what was inside, or a few tiny over-the-counter pills in a bottle stuffed with cotton. When is this considered “misleading,” and when is it just a normal thing that protects products? [More]
2 Ounces Quietly Shrink Rayed From Economy-Size Bottles Of Shout
By 9.14.15
Jarrod was shopping at Target when he noticed something: there were two different designs of Shout bottles on the shelf. Since redesigns often mask strikes of the Grocery Shrink Ray, he checked the labels, even though the bottles appeared to be the same size. Indeed, the 32-ounce “economy size” bottle shrank down to 30 ounces, but at least the price came down, too. [More]
Sears Hires Experienced Consumer Appliance Executive To Run Hardlines, Maybe Sell Stuff
By 8.25.15
In a department or discount store, “hardlines” refers to tools, appliances, and furniture: the items that your parents still shop at Sears for, but that you don’t. Sears has hired a new executive in charge of their hardlines departments, which include the company’s three most important house brands: Kenmore appliances, Diehard automobile batteries, and Craftsman tools. [More]
