The grocery shrink ray is a phenomenon that you may have noticed, where companies make their packaged products slightly smaller, charge the same price, and hope that no one notices. It’s not a new phenomenon, but the Office for National Statistics in the United Kingdom recently tallied up shrunken products in the last five years. [More]
toilet paper
United Kingdom Discovers 2,529 Products Hit By Grocery Shrink Ray, Calls It ‘Shrinkflation’
By 7.28.17
Class Action Lawsuit Accuses Costco Of Illegally Charging Tax On Toilet Paper
By 10.20.16
Under New Jersey tax laws, it’s illegal to charge sales tax on disposable household paper products. But, according to a recently filed lawsuit, Costco hasn’t been following that rule, allegedly tacking on sales tax for toilet paper. [More]
Cottonelle Shrink Rays Toilet Paper Squares
By 6.4.15
When you need to use some Cottonelle toilet paper, do you find that the sheets feel just a bit narrower in your hand? Probably not: that’s the sneaky nature of the Grocery Shrink Ray. Rolls of Cottonelle Ultra toilet paper lost just a fraction of an inch from each square, but that adds up to a big loss in square footage in a whole package. [More]
Ryanair Flight Takes Off Without Toilet Paper, Civilization Somehow Continues
By 5.4.15
European discount airline Ryanair has made headlines for reasons related to their bathrooms in the past: five years ago, we took note of their plan to charge customers to use the toilets, and to remove some toilets from the plane altogether. Yet some passengers on a flight from Murcia, Spain to London, England were horrified to learn that there would be no toilet paper or milk on board their flight. [More]
Original Patent For Perforated Toilet Paper On A Roll Solves Over Vs. Under Debate Once And For All
By 3.17.15
After pitting loved ones and enemies alike against each other for what feels like all of human existence, it seems we may finally have a definitive winner in the “over vs. under” toilet paper draping debate. [More]
Teenager Tweeting For TP Help In Bathroom Rescued By Virgin Trains Staff
By 1.6.15
Just because you don’t think you’ll receive any help doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. Because you never know who’s listening on Twitter, with the power to bring you your heart’s desire. In the case of a British teen stuck in a train lavatory without any much needed toilet paper, his tweeted please for help were heard by Virgin Trains’ social media team, and answered with real life customer service. [More]
Dutch Supermarket Invites Shoppers To Pop A Squat And Try Out Different Brands Of Toilet Paper
By 6.12.14
I know, I know — we’ve all got our favorite brand of toilet paper, the only one you want coming in contact with your precious rumps. But maybe you don’t really know what the difference feels like between different brands — because really, how often do you buy multiple kinds of TP and test them all out? More often if you live near one Dutch supermarket. [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]
Would You Ever Be Able To Forgo Using Toilet Paper?
By 1.29.14
Every time you wipe in the bathroom, you’re basically flushing money down the toilet, not to mention creating well, waste with your waste. But is there any way you could ever do away with the whole thing and not use toilet paper? [More]
Stupid Shipping Gang Protects My Toilet Paper With Even More Wads Of Paper
By 1.3.14
Amazon really cares whether your packages arrive safely, no matter what they are. How much do they care? Reader Tony reports that when he ordered toilet paper from Amazon, it arrived in a huge box stuffed with brown paper. [More]
Call It Desheeting Or Bulking Up: Any Way You Wipe It, It’s Less Toilet Paper At The Same Price
By 7.26.13
Regular readers of Consumerist are familiar with what we call the Grocery Shrink Ray, that phenomenon wherein an item sold at X price at a retailer shrinks in size but still costs X amount. In the toilet paper and tissue industry it’s called “desheeting” or even “bulking up” instead but essentially means the same thing: less product, same price, which means more money for the item’s makers. [More]
Want Only The Best Toilet Papers? Go To Walmart, Apparently
By 6.18.13
Toilet paper: almost everyone uses it, but do you put much thought into which brands you buy? Do you have a brand preference, or just pick up the biggest and cheapest package available at Walmart or Costco? Our colleagues down the hall at Consumer Reports put on their 2-ply lab coats and got to work stirring, pulling, and caressing various brands of toilet paper to find out which brands really are the best. [More]
Angel Soft Toilet Paper Changes Packaging, Shrink Rays Content While They’re At It
By 9.28.12
Richard spotted this change to Angel Soft toilet paper while shopping at Walmart. The package has a lovely redesign, but it also no longer brags that it contains “70% more.” Why is that? Well, they’ve shrink rayed the total square footage and number of sheets while keeping the price the same. [More]
Testing For The Best Toilet Paper For Treating Your Tushie Right
By 4.12.12
Let’s face it. using the right brand of toilet paper for most people is a matter of personal choice. But did you know that there’s a whole slew of tests that experts use to evaluate TP? After all, you’ve got to treat your delicate parts right. [More]
Lack Of Toilet Paper Leads Angry Hotel Guest To Do $2090 Worth Of Damage
By 11.11.11
When you have a problem with something missing from your hotel room, there are usually better ways to channel your frustration than by going on a rampage that results in more than $2,000 in damage. [More]
Toilet Paper-Plagued Idaho River Finally Flushed Clean
By 8.18.11
An Idaho truck mishap that left a river clogged with massive rolls of disintegrating, unprocessed toilet paper has finally been cleaned up after weeks of efforts by clean-up crews. The upper Lochsa River was clogged with the waste, foiling sanitation efforts until recently. [More]
Why Is The Quilted Northern Tube Wider But The Square Footage The Same?
By 3.25.11
Here’s a conundrum. Reader Jim bought a new 12-pack of Quilted Northern Three-Ply and noticed that the diameter of the cardboard tube inside was about a quarter of an inch larger than his old roll. Both packages said they contained 266.6 square feet of booty-wiping tissue and the total thickness of the rolls was the same. So what’s going on? Are these simply a more efficient — however you wish to definite it — version of TP? Inquiring minds want to know. [More]
Scott Rolls Out Tube-Free Toilet Paper To Reduce Waste
By 10.27.10
The toilet paper business is going down the drain — literally. Starting this week, Kimberly-Clark has begun selling Scott Naturals Tube-Free toilet paper that won’t have you throwing out or recycling anything when the roll is finished. [More]
