The parade of products being downsized continues. It is rare that a downsized product makes headlines, but this one did.
*MOUSE PRINT:
Besides dropping one-quarter of the contents, what is irksome here is the old and new containers are identical. Here is a side view with the old on the left and the new one the right:
As reported in Consumer World last week, a competitor is suing McCormick for unfair practices, saying in part that the new package has been slack-filled. That means there is nonfunctional empty space inside which is illegal under federal law, and possibly some state laws.
Other competitors have noticed, and instead of fighting McCormick’s move, they are joining it.
*MOUSE PRINT:
Toilet paper continues to be subject to the shrink ray. The latest, Cottonelle, has had each sheet downsized in both width and length.
*MOUSE PRINT:
The good news — there are still 208 sheets on a roll — albeit each sheet is just a little closer to resembling a postage stamp than before. Thanks to Richard G. for this tip.
Lastly, we have bar soap. Many brands of “bath size” soap were originally five ounces. Then they became 4.5 ounces, then 4.25 ounces, and finally four ounces. Sometime, probably last year, Olay reduced the size of its soap from 4.25 ounces to four ounces.
*MOUSE PRINT:
But, every so often after a product is downsized, companies will come out with a “bonus pack” giving you back what they took out. They make you think it is your lucky day.
Of course, this just puts bath size soap bars right back where they started at — five ounces — but not at the old price.
I understand that manufacturers don’t want to raise prices, but it would seem like keeping the package the same size would eventually waste more material than it is worth. I would like to know the cost of 1 oz of black pepper compared to the amount of material that wastes space.
“The good news — there are still 208 sheets on a roll — albeit each sheet is just a little closer to resembling a postage stamp than before.”
Ha, that’s a good one. I will remember that one for the future.
Well Wayne they are saving like 8 square feet per package with that move. With the amount of butt wipes they sell each week that is a whole lot paper. And you will just love wiping your butt with a postage stamp sized butt wipe.
On the Spices… If you cut down the packaging down you are not going to have much packaging left.. Now they could be going though the last of the 4oz containers before moving down to 3oz containers though… The same thing happened with Tropicana Orange juice. 64oz and 59oz sizes were in the same paper container.
What about supplement bottles? When I buy a bottle of 80 Move Free – I transfer it to a bottle that holds 40 & there is still room. (The smaller bottle fits better in my cabinet). This is true of aspirins & many other items. Besides a deception, the bottles are plastic & I do recycle them – but does everyone else?
Even the Cottonelle dog shrank.
I have all but gone crazy over toilet paper. I used to buy it at my local grocery store, until they stopped running meaningful specials on the 12 roll multipacks. Then I bought Kirkland brand, only to find it wouldn’t fit my TP holders (both wall-mounted and floor models)as the rolls were too large in diameter. Then there’s the “30 double rolls = 90 regular rolls” marketing jargon. I think I’ll talk to an engineer at Texas Instruments and see if they can make a calculator that does all the conversion for you, as numbers of ply, sheet size and sheets per roll all factor in. We had some “back stock” of two different kinds and one was clearly about 20% smaller in roll size, so as a former Sales Manager of mine once said “50 off what?”
I just refilled my pepper from the bulk bins at Winco. $8.23/lb – I bought 0.06lb for 49cents which overfilled my old glass container. So whatever they are charging for the pepper AND container they are making a Huge profit!
And on TP I agree with Rob the new rolls don’t fit any of the old dispensers. The ones with the springs on the sides are no longer tight enough for the new narrower rolls and the thicker rolls from Costco don’t fit in the dispensers with the recessed openings. Why must they keep fixing things that are not broken!