Edgar (aka MrConsumer)

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With So Many Coupon Exclusions at Kmart, What’s Left to Buy?

A couple of months ago, we showed you a six-foot-long disclaimer that Sears used to limit applicability of its Family & Friends sale. While its corporate cousin, Kmart, wasn’t quite as bad, they had a doozie just before Black Friday when they offered a very enticing deal.

10 off 20

Pretty generous to get $10 off a $20 purchase. But, of course… there are “details.”

*MOUSE PRINT:

Purchase requirement is before taxes and after discounts. Not valid on Nicki Minaj or Adam Levine merchandise; BOGO; gift cards; non-merchandise; concessions; federal or state regulated items; alcohol; tobacco; fuel; items behind the pharmacy counter; prescriptions; prior purchases; clearance items; partial-paid special order items; Lands End merchandise; Scrubology; at Sears HomeTown, Outlet, Appliance Showroom, Hardware and Parts & Repair stores; or during Family & Friends or Member events. Redeemable at kmart.com, sears.com and shopyourway.com. Limit one coupon per member. Valid on regular and sale priced merchandise. Not valid on Levis, Two Hearts Maternity, Scrubology, Sears Fan Shop, Insane Deals, Shaw rug gallery, recliners, Colormate 2.5 oz mini jar candles, generators, Weber, Mattresses, Jenn-Air, Dacor, appliance and floorcare accessories, appliance closeouts, humidifiers, dehumidifiers, water heaters, water softeners, air conditioners, air cleaners, fans, everyday great price items, propane tanks, automotive, video game hardware, Bose, Onkyo, prepaid calling cards, iTunes, computers, tablets, eReaders, Canon DSLR, Sony camcorders, Sony DSLR and lenses, Nikon DSLR and lenses, Samsung, Sharp and Sony UPP merchandise, Panasonic VT series TVs, installed Home Improvements, Home Services, PartsDirect, catalog orders, Gift Cards, money orders, wire transfers, protection agreements, Sears licensed business, Nicki Minaj and Adam Levine merchandise, BOGO, non-merchandise, concessions, federal or state regulated items, alcohol, tobacco, fuel, items behind the pharmacy counter, prescriptions, prior purchases, clearance, partial-paid special order items, and Lands End merchandise. Additional Sears online exclusions: Custom, family, and Moissanite jewelry, items powered by ShoeBuy, compact refrigerators, range hoods, compactors, Fisher & Paykel, fragrances and Hot Buys, Additional Kmart online exclusions: gaming hardware, computers, laptops, snow throwers, clearance, Hot Buys, Fruit of the Loom and Hanes. Void if copied, transferred or obtained via unapproved means and where prohibited. Any other use constitutes fraud. Cash value 1/20. On return, coupon savings may be deducted from refund. Online code limited to one-time use only and applies to merchandise marked sold by Sears or sold by Kmart. Sears Holdings reserves the right to terminate or modify this offer at any time for failure to comply with its terms and/or due to any operational malfunction of the software, hardware or equipment required to process this offer. Use of this coupon constitutes your acceptance of the Shop Your Way terms and conditions, available at www.shopyourway.com/terms. Not valid at Sears Home Town, Outlet, Appliance Showroom, Hardware and Parts & Repair stores; or during Family & Friends or Member events.

The above font is many times larger than the real disclaimer. Who has the patience to wade through all that mumbo jumbo?

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Here We Downsize Again 2015 (Part 4)

 
Note: The next new Mouse Print* story will appear on January 4th.

We end the year with our final installment of products that have undergone the shrink ray.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Gillette deodorant

Thanks to our ever vigilant Richard G. for catching Gillette deodorant going from a full four ounces to 3.8. And you still can’t carry it on an airline.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Kleenex Costco

We’ve seen the smaller boxes of Kleenex tissues get smaller over the years, but Albert L. found that they shrunk at Costco as well. In this case, each box in the 10-pack is now shy 30 tissues. Put another way, you are missing more than a whole box now from every 10-pack.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Campbell's Spaghetti

Frankie found and took a wonderful picture of Campbell’s Spaghetti, which went from 14-3/4 ounces to 14.2 ounces. Surprisingly, the can is noticeably smaller despite such a small decrease in contents.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Walmart Great Value nuts

Tim B. discovered that Walmart lopped off more than 12% from their Great Value mixed nuts, bringing cans down to an even pound from 18.25 ounces. The price also went up from a reported $7.98 to $8.84. Combined, that is the equivalent of a 26% price increase, making it not such a “Great Value.”

*MOUSE PRINT:

Soda Stream

Finally, Richard G. found that Soda Stream, which makes flavor concentrates so you can make your own soda, changed their packaging and a lot more. The old bottle made 50 eight-ounce servings of soda and cost $7.99. The new version only makes 29 glasses, but the price dropped by $2. Fair deal? Not at all. The customer is now getting 40% fewer glasses of soda, but the price only went down by 25%.

If you spot a product that has been downsized, send MrConsumer an email at edgar(at symbol)mouseprint.org . And if you can take a sharp photograph of the old and new product labels, that would be great too.

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Holy Cow, How Wise is Milkwise?

Have you checked out the dairy aisle lately? There are all these newfangled milk products on the shelf, all claiming in one way or another to be better than plain old milk.

One such product in New England stores is Hood (brand) Milkwise.

MilkWise

It’s got one-third the sugar, almost half the calories, and 50 percent more calcium than even reduced fat milk. How did they do that… put the cows on a low fat and low carb diet?

The answer is in the fine print.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Milkwise ingredients

They watered it down — water is now the first ingredient — plus they added calcium and sugar. That is why it is called a “milk beverage” instead of milk. This product is reminiscent of Trop50, the “orange juice beverage” that claimed 50% fewer calories because it is basically orange juice diluted with a lot of water.

But the Milkwise label makes it seem so healthy. How can this be? The trick is that they left out one key attribute of milk in the comparison — protein. We’ve taken the liberty of filling in the blanks.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Milkwise protein

Milkwise only has one-quarter the protein of regular milk. Expressed the other way, regular milk has four times the protein of Milkwise.

Maybe it should be called Milk-not-so-wise.

Thanks to Dr. W who was driving along the highway in Saugus, Massachusetts and saw a Milkwise billboard with a mother and child. She thought the ad was suggesting that this was a healthier milk product.