Downsizing / Shrinkflation

Here are products that have shrunken in size as a sneaky way for manufacturers to pass on a hidden price increase.

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The 14 oz. Pint and Other Downsized Products — Part 1

The pace of products shrinking in size does not seem to have diminished during the winter of 2008-2009.

Here are some of the latest items that have been downsized:

*MOUSE PRINT:

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It is hard to see the difference in the two ice cream containers unless you look at them side by side. The subtle tapering of the new package would not be obvious to the casual purchaser.

*MOUSE PRINT:

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Paper towels is one of the categories of items that has been downsized repeatedly. This time, P&G is using the old trick of announcing a seeming improvement (“25% thicker quilts”) to divert your attention away from the fact that they are giving you 10 fewer sheets per roll.

We weighed the old and new towel packages. The new one weighed less, suggesting that the paper really was not 25% thicker and thus heavier. So Mouse Print* asked the company if in fact the towels were 25% thicker, or whether they just made the indentations in the paper slightly deeper.

Their non-response:

Thank you for sharing your disappointment with our product. Our goal is to produce high quality products that consistently delight our consumers and I’m sorry this wasn’t your experience. Please be assured I’m sharing your comments with the rest of our team.

 

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Purina: Even Dog Food Gets Downsized

It may be a good time to put your pooch on a diet because there is now less dog food in those big bags.

Recently an eagled-eyed Mouse Print* reader named Rose noticed that big bags of Purina One dog food had mysteriously dropped in weight by a full two pounds.

*MOUSE PRINT:

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As with most downsized products, the packaging looks the same except for the net weight statement. And since you are paying the same price, but getting less for your money, dog owners were hit with a sneaky price increase.

The folks at Purina were asked twice by email why they downsized some of their products, and twice the company declined to put in writing their reasons.  Instead they suggested we call their consumer information line.

As expected, the company’s explanation went like this, paraprhasing:

It was a difficult decision for us, but due to the cost of ingredients, transportation, and storage, we had to downsize some of our products.

Now that gas has come down in price, the representative did not know if the company would up-size its bags.  We can guess the answer, doggoneit.

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Kleenex Tissues Downsized

Paper products like toilet paper and paper towels have been downsized frequently. Now tissues are getting smaller too.

*MOUSE PRINT:

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Kleenex has narrowed their tissues by two-tenths of an inch, from 8.4 inches wide to 8.2 inches, but the boxes are the same size. That is over 300 square inches less per box.

In addition, an eagle-eyed Mouse Print* reader (MaterialGirl) noticed that on the 120 count boxes the company made each tissue smaller AND reduced the number of tissues in the box to 110:

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What does the company have to say about the downsizing?

In recent months, we have been faced with escalating prices for pulp and rapidly changing energy costs. Similar to other manufacturers, we cannot absorb these increased costs indefinitely without making an adjustment. While one of our competitors recently increased their price by six percent, we chose to maintain our existing price but decreased the number of sheets in some cartons. This direction allows us to offer lower promotional prices.

Also, we recently adjusted the sheet to a size equal to other tissues currently on the market, standardizing the sheet size in the facial tissue category. —Kimberly-Clark Customer Service

Although most shoppers won’t miss the two-tenths of inch from each tissue, for the company, the savings are nothing to sneeze at.