The Incredible Shrinking Product!

[Regolith]

Dreyer's is doing it too.  Safeway made it not-so-obvious by having the old 1.75 quart tubs right next to the 1.5 quart ones.  For the same price.

[K Frame]

Yeah, things like coffee really pack on the fat.

They'll get around to downsizing your beer soon enough.


And you know, to hear the sky is falling chicken little brigade screeching about the falling dollar, you'd think they would have gotten fed up with it and gone off the grid and into full barter survival mode a long time ago. But, I guess, that would mean giving up their computers and outlet for whining...

"He wants Big Government to protect people from themselves, wants the NRA to fight for his local gun rights for him, and wants companies to dictate portions for him."

Wow. You know, I think you're close, but no cigar.

I think it's a desire born out of sheer laziness. It's retro-natal. It would remove the need for one to think or do for himself, someone else picks up the baggage all the time.

[K Frame]

Dreyer's is doing it too.  Safeway made it not-so-obvious by having the old 1.75 quart tubs right next to the 1.5 quart ones.  For the same price.

Exactly what Giant did here in DC.

It's curious that this would happen with multiple companies across the nation at the same time. Either they're under control of the same parent company, or they're colluding.

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

Hey!  Someone disappeared the posts about fistul's package!

[Perd Hapley]

It's probably for the best. 

[BridgeRunner]

the reasonable-portion-size, overweight-americans argument really only works on products packaged in individual servings, like yogurt.  And they could increase the nutrition per ounce and reduce calories in yogurt by simply cutting the hfcs in half.  Yogurt does *not* need to be that sweet. 

Usually I make my own fruit yogurt by adding fruit to plain yogurt.  That's on hold for awhile until I've got both hands back, but we're eating a ton of the pre-flavored yogurt.  Ludicrously sweet.  None of the lower sugar alternatives are less sweet, they just have aspartame or sucralose.  yuk!

Smaller packages are less environmentally too; they increase the amount of packaging per ounce of product.  If, of course you *really* want to play that game! 

[crt360]

They'll get around to downsizing your beer soon enough.

I think they already have.  I saw a six pack of Bud Light the other night and each can was about the size of a baseball.   Maybe they've already been selling these in Wussieville, but around here most consider 12oz. cans "kiddie-sized."

[charby]

So why the name in Jumping Jehosaphat does ketchup need sugar or HFCS in it or freaking pasta sauce?

[freakazoid]

Anybody notice how energy drinks are getting bigger? lol 

[Manedwolf]

Anybody notice how energy drinks are getting bigger? lol 

Just more water and corn syrup.

[wmenorr67]

Ah, America, don't you love it.?  Where else can you blame other people and/or things for your own problems?.

[The Annoyed Man]

And you know, to hear the sky is falling chicken little brigade screeching about the falling dollar, you'd think they would have gotten fed up with it and gone off the grid and into full barter survival mode a long time ago. But, I guess, that would mean giving up their computers and outlet for whining...

"He wants Big Government to protect people from themselves, wants the NRA to fight for his local gun rights for him, and wants companies to dictate portions for him."

Wow. You know, I think you're close, but no cigar.

I think it's a desire born out of sheer laziness. It's retro-natal. It would remove the need for one to think or do for himself, someone else picks up the baggage all the time.

Mike, you've long since proven you're very good at dissing everyone else, but how about some solutions?   You never seem to offer any.  Only criticism.   Was Obama right?   Are you Pennsylvania types simply bitter, clinging to guns an religion?  Yet, you don't seem to have any religion at all, except the religion of bitterness and anger.   Even fistful has religion.  Surely you can keep up with him, can't you?   What is your mission in life?  To work miserably for 40 years then 'retire' in exhaustion somewhere in the Southwest?

You're better than that, Mike. 

[Antibubba]

Ah, America, don't you love it.?  Where else can you blame other people and/or things for your own problems?

Myanmar?  China?  Venezuela?  The entire Islamic world from Libya to Afghanistan?  I think the only ones not blaming someone else right now are the Kiwis, but I could be wrong.

[wmenorr67]

Let me add then, And not get shot for doing so.

[Perd Hapley]

Look people, from now on you give Paddy SOLUTIONS, darn it!  How dare you waste his time with your carping?  Give the man solutions to his problems!

[K Frame]

Solutions?

Well, it's certainly not found in the bottom of a bottle of malt liquor, a racist screed, or a diatribe about how the dollar will now only buy 0.000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000003 cents of what it would buy at 7 p.m. last night.

I think it's pretty evident what my "solutions" are...

Take responsibility for yourself and your future - don't depend on someone else to do it for you, be it NRA, big government, or Fistful.

Take action when you perceive a problem, don't just bitch about it.

The only thing you truly own in this life is yourself and your actions.

When you surrender those to someone else, that which made you a person is gone.

[LadySmith]

The first I heard of an Incredible Shrinking Product was when I was a kid. My best friends mom worked at a potato chip plant and said this is what they did all the time&
1. Sell x-amount of chips that filled a normal bag.
2. Gradually decrease the amount the amount of chips until it only filled half the bag, but keep the price the same.
3. Eventually shrink the size of the bag to match the amount of chips.
4. Sell what used to be the original size of the bag as a larger version at an increased price.
5. Repeat.

I read about an incident like this that failed in a college psychology class.
An attempt to use the potato chip technique by a certain name-brand of feminine product failed when women switched to other brands that didnt decrease the amount of their product. The name-brand people quietly restored their quantity.
As my cellie used to say, "Slow money is better than no money."

[Manedwolf]

Potato chip bags are made larger and inflated with air to appear larger, but the actual chips are usually only half the bag.

If people were actually discerning consumers, you wouldn't see that, people people would reject such simple tricks. But the vast majority of consumers are either stupid or lazy. It's their own fault for not reading labels, comparing weights, volume and price.

[Sindawe]

So why the name in Jumping Jehosaphat does ketchup need sugar or HFCS in it or freaking pasta sauce?

Thats an easy one.  Our species is programed to equate sweet with nutritious (from the days when the only sweet things were fruits, flowers and the occasional taste of honey), so sweeteners are added to "improve" the flavor of packaged foods and the subconscious perception that it is "good".  HFCS is cheaper than sucrose, so it gets added over that same sucrose that used to be in the product.  You really gotta read labels when you buy stuff, else you end up with sucrose or HFCS in your ketchup & mustard on the fries; in the chicken noodle soup that goes with the suger in the bread that makes up peanut-butter sandwich (where the peanut-butter has suger added) that you have for lunch.

[LadySmith]

Potato chip bags are made larger and inflated with air to appear larger, but the actual chips are usually only half the bag.

How would you know? Don't tell me you eat potato chips! 
Oh noes, my faith in Manedwolf's health guru status!!11! 
Just kidding, Maned. 

[K Frame]

Potato chip and other snack bags are inflated with air because it helps protect the chips during shipping. They're their own air pak.

[wmenorr67]

Plus usually the "air" is nitrogen.

[K Frame]

Some chip makers use nitrogen flush, some don't.

The nationals use it to increase shelf life.

[Perd Hapley]

Hey, Mike, you forgot to tell Paddy that you offered a solution early-on in the thread.

1.  Boycott

2.  Write nasty letters. 

[seeker_two]

They'll get around to downsizing your beer soon enough.

I think they already have.  I saw a six pack of Bud Light the other night and each can was about the size of a baseball.   Maybe they've already been selling these in Wussieville, but around here most consider 12oz. cans "kiddie-sized."

Around here, most consider Bud Light "kiddie-beer"....