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Once again, it is time to spotlight another crop of products that are shrinking inconspicuously right in front of your eyes (and thus sneakily raising the price).
Downy Unstoppables
The bottles look the same size, but Downy Unstoppables went from 10 ounces down to 8.6. This is the second time the product has been made to weigh less. The first time in May 2019 the bottle went from 13.2 ounces to 10. That was a reformulation of the product to remove weight from each pellet. We are guessing the same thing was just done a second time.
*MOUSE PRINT:
Nathan’s Pretzel Dogs
Nathan’s made a dramatic change to their pretzel dogs. Instead of five in a package, they reduced the number to just four. Thanks to Dan K. for spotting the switch.
*MOUSE PRINT:
Charmin Ultra Strong
It took a while for P&G to get around to reducing the size of their “ultra strong” Charmin from 286 sheets to 264. Back in March, we reported that the “soft” version had already made the change. Thanks to eagle-eyed Richard G. for spotting this.
*MOUSE PRINT:
Publix Baby Shampoo
It is not just big brand names that downsize. Usually store brands will will shrink after their brand name counterparts have done so too. Two years ago, Tom G. reported that Johnson’s Baby Shampoo went from 15 ounces to 13.6. Now he discovered that his supermarket has done the same thing with their store brand.
*MOUSE PRINT:
If you spot a product that has been downsized, please take a sharp picture of the old and new one, including the net weight, and submit it to edgar (at) mouseprint.org . Thanks.
Thank you for another year of what you do here!
About the Downy change, are you saying that it still works for the same number of loads and they just put it into a higher concentration to save weight?
It seems we’ll never get away from toilet paper downsizing. Pretty soon we’ll have to double layer “2-ply” toilet paper and lay two rows of it side by side to get it the same size as it was a few years ago.
Edgar replies: Thanks for the kind words, Joel. I did not buy this version of Unstoppables, and the package as I recall does not make any number of loads claims. Since it was the same size bottle and believing that P&G would not slack-fill it (which is against the law), I can only assume the volume of contents is about the same. Frankly, I just sprinkle less than a tablespoon’s worth in my wash, and not a huge capful.
I don’t think one of your downsizing articles has ever not included toilet paper, usually Charmin or another big brand. It’s no wonder people are hoarding it during the pandemic, they’re not getting as much in each so-called “Mega” package as they once were. I’ll bet if a little research were done we’d be shocked at how much more we got in each of these large packages 10 or more years ago than we do now.
Well Renee Charmin in the like the past 10 years has done at least 4 size cuts….
With a bunch of big brands you are bound to find a brand cutting the size every single year. I found my fair share of shrinkflation in toilet paper over the past 10 years.
Toto washlet is what we use to deal with the ever decreasing size of toilet paper. Since we installed it, our t.p. use has dropped by half.
We cut our desserts to half (only one per day instead of two) and therefore only buy half as much.
So. we’re cleaner, weigh less and have more money!
it has gotten to the point that unless the original size roll of any paper product only had 1 sheet that the claims of 12=500 are even close to true.
besides that take a look at amazon prices for bounty paper towels.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=bounty+full+size+paper+towels&crid=K3G0YAFDCJ0N&sprefix=full+sizr+paper+towels%2Caps%2C202&ref=nb_sb_ss_sc_3_22
12 roll pack for $71,77
stick to the customer . i reported some major gouging to Amazon a few times in April. nothing ever got removed.
before i would dream of buying on amazon i check Walmart, home depot and Lowe’s websites.1/4 of the price.
thanks for nothing amazon