Usually, we try to stay at the forefront of Grocery Shrink Ray news, letting you know when we learn that a company has reduced the size of a product while keeping the price the same. Frito-Lay has been rolling out a massive shrinkage of Sun Chips, zapping bags from 10 ounces to only 7 ounces. Removing a third of the chips by weight? Noooo! [More]
grocery shrink ray
Right Guard Shrink Rays Aerosol Can By 15%
By 3.28.14
Bob currently works in China, and stocks up on his favorite deodorant, one that he isn’t allergic to, during his visits to the United States. Historically, a can of the stuff has lasted him a year. That’s not going to be the case anymore, since each 10-ounce can has lost 1.5 ounces. [More]
Pantene Changes Anti-Frizz Rhetoric, Removes 1.7 Ounces From Conditioner Bottle
By 3.24.14
Jeremy picked up a bottle of Pantene conditioner during his recent trip to Walmart. They made some changes to the bottle and to the company’s promises about what their product does. The redesign also included trimming the bottle size just a tiny bit. [More]
Toilet Paper Started Out 4.5 Inches Square
By 3.21.14
Earlier this week we shared with you the tragic Shrink Raying of Walmart’s White Cloud toilet paper from 4.2 inches by 4 inches to 3.9 inches by 4 inches. Yes, that’s a pretty small difference, even if it does result in an obvious height difference when you set old and new rolls side by side. What you may not realize is that our modern rolls would look puny next to your grandparents’ toilet paper. [More]
Toilet Paper Shrink Ray Hits Walmart Brand Rolls
By 3.18.14
Our soft yet absorbent colleagues down the hall at Consumer Reports have great things to say about Walmart’s house-brand toilet papers, but maybe that’s because horizontal width isn’t a factor in their scoring. Reader Andrew sent along these photos comparing his previous and current packages of TP from Wally World, and found that a barely perceptible size decrease adds up to 30 fewer square feet per package of 18 rolls. [More]
This Oscar Mayer Turkey Is Spicier, And There’s Less Of It
By 3.10.14
Sure, extra spices really add something to a prepared food item. Do they add enough to justify making packages a whole ounce lighter? Well… in the case of this Oscar Mayer shaved turkey that got slightly spicier but lost an ounce, the answer is “probably not.” [More]
Laundry Shrink Ray Zaps Tide Slightly, Keeps Number Of Loads The Same
By 3.4.14
Can you shave a few milliliters off the amount of detergent that you use in every load of laundry and still get your clothes as clean? You probably can, but we’re curious after checking out this slight change in the amount of Tide detergent in a bottle while the number of loads per bottle remains unchanged. [More]
Breakfast Shrink Ray: Chobani Yogurt, Special K Shave Off Weight
By 1.7.14
When food companies need to work on their profit margin but don’t want to raise prices, they deploy the Grocery Shrink Ray. The Shrink Ray lets them charge the same amount for fractionally less food. Today, we have most of a Shrink Rayed breakfast: it’s been deployed on Kellogg’s Special K Protein cereal and Chobani yogurt cups. [More]
30 Tissues Disappear From Redesigned Kleenex Box At Costco
By 12.18.13
As we all know, Costco is the place to get the hottest deals on huge quantities of consumer goods. For example, you can buy a box of Kleenex tissues that contains 260 pieces. Which isn’t a very big quantity, come to think of it…but now it’s shrinking. [More]
Grocery Shrink Ray Shaves An Ounce Of Precious Vegetables From Reader’s Diet
By 12.6.13
Reader Jen admits that her diet is not perfect, but she does eat some vegetables. She enjoys buying Birdseye microwaveable frozen vegetables, the Steamfresh kind that cook right in the handy bag. Only the company has taken away a precious ounce of veggies by deploying the Grocery Shrink Ray on her veggie pouch of choice. [More]
Charmin Deploys Toilet Paper Sheet Shrink Ray, Slims Rolls Down
By 10.31.13
Sad news, Halloween pranksters: if you want to decorate a neighbor’s house with toilet paper (say, if they hand you a letter calling you fat instead of candy or a cheap toy) the property might seem slightly less decorated than in the past. Why’s that? The TP sheet shrink ray. [More]
Appearances Aren’t Deceptive: Axe Didn’t Shrink-Ray Hair Products
By 10.23.13
It’s probably sad that we have to go out of our way and celebrate every time that a company redesigns a product’s packaging and doesn’t reduce the amount of product in the package while keeping the same price. Yet it’s a noteworthy enough occurrence that we like to call attention to and praise the companies that aren’t shaving a little or a lot off in the name of cost-cutting. [More]
Now I Get Less Paul Mitchell Hair Styling Product For More Money
By 10.17.13
JD uses a hair product. A tea tree oil-infused styling product from Paul Mitchell, to be precise, that he picks up at Supercuts. He recently got a new supply, but noticed something terrible when he picked it up. The price was slightly higher…and there was slightly less in the jar. It’s the Manly Hair Care Product Shrink Ray! [More]
Ghirardelli Shamelessly Removes 5.5 Ounces From Hot Chocolate Can
By 10.16.13
We could feel Brian’s despair through the screen. How else should a person feel when they lose five ounces of Ghirardelli hot chocolate powder? “Downsized!” he wrote to us using the Consumerist tipster app. “Price stays same!” [More]
Grocery Shrink Ray Hits Pampers, Country Crock, Kevita
By 10.10.13
Disposable diapers, carbonated probiotic drinks, and “spreadable butter.” What do they have in common? They’re all recent victims of the Grocery Shrink Ray, spotted by our alert readers across the country. [More]
Keebler Elves Get Hold Of Grocery Shrink Ray, Remove 2.3 Ounces Of Club Crackers
By 9.27.13
You might have thought that the Keebler elves stand for all that’s good and pure in cookie and cracker making, but they’re only cartoon characters. The one-pound box of Keebler’s Club crackers has lost some weight, and now contains only 13.7 ounces. [More]
Renuzit Changes Air Freshener Design, Size, Smelly Staying Power
By 9.6.13
“As in all redesigns, you get less,” observes reader Andrew when talking about the changes in Renuzit gel air fresheners. The product is now half an ounce smaller, and looks different. Like a Glade clone, he observes, because he obviously pays a lot more attention to air fresheners than we do. [More]
Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut Loses One Ounce, Box Gets Taller
By 8.30.13
I wish I could lose 7% of my body mass and get taller at the same time, but I’m out of luck…because I’m not a box of cereal. Reader Panda discovered that this amazing change has come to Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut cereal. It was hit by the Grocery Shrink Ray, but at the same time sustained a hit from the Box Growth Ray. Which might be a thing. [More]
