Food/Groceries

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Quiznos: Get Less for Less

Last year, Quiznos advertised their large deli favorites sandwiches for only $5 for a limited time in a series of commercials showing hungry people eating five dollar bills.  The commercial said that these sandwiches had more meat than comparable Subway footlong subs, and the ad ends with the announcer saying “get more meat.” More recently, Quiznos has been advertising “new lower prices” and “love what you eat for less.”

quiznosad

A regular Mouse Print* reader recently wrote that it was his observation that during the $5 subs promotion, the “large” sandwiches seemed smaller than previously.  He asked a store employee about the tuna subs, and was told they were now putting 2-1/2 scoops of tuna in them instead of the old three scoops.

Mouse Print* made three contacts with Quiznos PR people to find out if their “large” sandwiches had been downsized, but did not receive an answer. Poking around online, however, the answer seems to be yes.  Here are the nutrition statements for various Quiznos sandwiches from November 2007, when the company first began to publish such information and several months before the promotion of their $5 subs:

*MOUSE PRINT:
 

quiznosold

And here is the current nutrition statement for these same sandwiches cobbled together from their website. Note the changes in the calories column:

*MOUSE PRINT:

quiznosnew2

You will note that the total calories dropped by about 15%, old versus new.  (Some would say that is a good thing since no single sandwich should contain a day’s worth of fat and calories.)

Clearly the company appears to have downsized its sandwiches.  Whether that was done so they could advertise  lower prices and make the public think they were getting a bargain, is unclear.  We can only take an educated guess.

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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:

haagenmp

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:

bountym

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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Warning: Don’t Eat Your Dog!

vitamin1Recently, a Mouse Print* reader (Faith) who had purchased a bottle of 21st Century K-9 Maximum Joint Formula, wrote a note of concern about a warning she found on the back of the bottle.

This product is primarily a glucosamine and chondroitin pill to help make a dog’s joints more flexible.

In addition to warning that this product should not be given to dogs that are diabetic, pregnant, or allergic to shellfish (what misfortune it must be to own a dog that can’t eat lobster and shrimp), the label also says:

*MOUSE PRINT:

vitamin2

Faith was concerned by that startling warning that seeming suggested the product was okay for animals but not for humans.

When asked to explain this odd warning, the company said:

Pet Nutrition labels are regulated by AAFCO and require certain wording.
In simpler terms, the warning means not to give the supplements to
animals such as cattle, hogs, chickens, etc., that will be butchered
(human consumption).  -- 21st Century Vitamins customer service

That doesn’t exactly explain what the possible harm could be, but as Faith joked in her email, “now that we have been giving our dog the formula, I guess we won’t be able to barbeque him this spring. Darn!”