shrinking packages

Which Package Of $3.88 Bottled Water Would You Choose?

Which Package Of $3.88 Bottled Water Would You Choose?

By 4.14.08

I’m was browsing my local HyVee (supermarket) and found one interesting deal. You can either buy their 15 pack “Best Seller” spring water for $3.88 or if you look down you will notice that the same exact 24 pack of spring water can be bought for $3.88. I know it might get confusing to compare unit prices or price per oz, but this is just ridiculous. I like how the box for the 15 pack says “NOW” right next to it, as if getting less for the same price is actually a good thing. I guess it is harder to carry 24 bottles vs 15 bottles, so you are actually paying for the convenience.

We’re going to guess that HyVee is in the process of raising the price of their bottled water. 15 is the new 24, don’t you know?

Readers Write In With Examples Of More Shrinking Products

Readers Write In With Examples Of More Shrinking Products

By cwalters 3.20.08

Brawny’s not the only product skimping on size to sneakily increase profits. Here are two more items readers have noticed recently.
 
Henry writes:

Our house uses Skippy Peanut Butter, but i just found out they changed their jars from 18 ounces to 16.2 ounces for the same price. I know 2 ounces is not a huge amount of peanut better, but still.

And Matt writes:

I have noticed this same thing with Quilted Northern. I don’t know what the price used to be but i noticed while shopping at sams club now you get less quilted northern than you used to.

If you know of another company that’s downsized a product without passing along the savings, let us know. Maybe we can put together a single reference post so shoppers will see which products are the worst offenders.

Brawny Paper Towels Shrink By 20% While Price Goes up 6%

Brawny Paper Towels Shrink By 20% While Price Goes up 6%

By cwalters 3.19.08

Yet another common product has been hit with the shrinking ray—this time it’s Brawny paper towels, which Jason noticed recently received a new package design, apparently to disguise that there are now fewer sheets and a higher price.

Dial Full Force Soap Bars Now 10% Smaller

Dial Full Force Soap Bars Now 10% Smaller

By consumeristcarey 11.11.07

The latest installment of quietly shrinking packages arrives care of Dial’s Full Force Soap Bar. Once 4.5 ounces per bar, Dial now packs a mere 4 ounces of sudsy splendor.

Downsizing is a sneaky way to pass on a price increase because you are getting less for your money but may not catch the change. As is typical for many downsized products, the manufacturer diverts your attention from the net weight statement to something else “new”. In this case, they are calling it a “new grip bar” because ridges have been carved into it.

Soap bars are supposed to shrink in the shower, not on the shelf.

New, Taller Honey Nut Cheerios Box Is 1.5 Oz Lighter

New, Taller Honey Nut Cheerios Box Is 1.5 Oz Lighter

By consumeristcarey 10.13.07

Frugal Frugalson over at Picking up Nickles made a side-by-side comparison of General Mills’ newer “Right Size, Right Price” cereal boxes. Apparently, the right size is 1.5 oz less, and the right price is about 9% more.

Donning my detective’s cap, I found that the 14oz box of General Mills Honey Nut Cheerios at my local market had been replaced by a 12.5oz box for the same $2.99 price. That works out to a 8.9% price increase, which is a bit larger than the average price increase of 2.9% claimed in this New York Times article.

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