Food/Groceries

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Toilet Paper Downsizes in a New Way

We all know that toilet paper has been downsized for decades.  Charmin has gone from 600 or 650 sheets on the roll all the way down to 200 or so over the years. Other brands followed suit.  Even Scott’s 1000 sheet roll was downsized in a sneaky way in 2006 by making each sheet shorter.

The case of Cottonelle’s downsizing is a bit unusual, however.  Look at these two packages of their toilet paper purchased at the same time last month:

Cottonelle 

*MOUSE PRINT:  Both packages give the exact same dimensions for the contents — they say there are 304 sheets on each roll, and that sheets are 4.2 inches by 4.0 inches.  Clearly the package on the left is taller by about 3/4 of an inch (with rolls stacked on top of one another core to core).

What is going on here? The company said:

Because of all the precautions taken in our manufacturing plants, it is difficult to explain how the product you received escaped our detection.  Please accept our apology and our assurance that we will do our best to prevent a recurrence.  The proper roll height is 4.2 inches.  During 2007, we reduced the size of our COTTONELLE® bathroom tissue slightly to align our roll height [number of sheets per roll] with other premium tissue products on the market.  At that time, the sheet width was reduced from 4.5″ down to 4.2″.  The length of each sheet (4.0″ between the perforations) did not change.

So it looks like some of the older 4.5″ width rolls were put into a newer wrapper that had the new lowered sheet count and narrower width on the label.  One can only wonder if this was truly a “mistake” or rather an interim step in the downsizing process to hide the change for anyone comparing the older label to the newer one.

This then appears to be the industry’s latest ploy — downsizing toilet paper by making each sheeter narrower. Toilet paper has historically been 4.5 inches wide as demonstrated by Quilted Northern:

  Northern

If you peruse the supermarket aisle you will notice that very few brands are 4.5 inches wide anymore. (Scott 1000 sheet role still is, for the moment.) Others are 4.3 inches, 4.27 inches, 4.2 inches, or even 4.0 inches.

Angel Soft Charmin Northern

If this trend continues, soon they will be marketing products to us that look more like dental floss than toilet paper.

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P&G’s One Coupon Equals One Meal Deal Revealed

Give a MealProcter & Gamble is advertising a “one coupon = one meal” promotion whereby the company will donate money to Feeding America for every coupon redeemed by shoppers from its November coupon insert.

Feeding America is the new name for America’s Second Harvest — a network of food banks around the country.

Checking P&G’s website, one learns the company has a “goal of donating up to 20 million meals this holiday season.”  Even if P&G was only donating $2 per meal, that would be a commitment of $40 million.  Certainly, a very generous donation to a very worthy cause.

Inside the coupon insert is a further explanation that “for every brandSaver coupon redeemed, P&G will help Feeding America provide one meal to a person in need.”  A simple graphic confirms the message:

That little spot to the right of “one meal” is an asterisk, that leads to an almost unreadable disclosure on the bottom of the page.

*MOUSE PRINT:

” *Coupon value to Feeding America equals $0.0625″

Huh? Six and a quarter cents for each coupon redeemed is what they are donating? How in the world could six and a quarter cents pay for a meal?  And what does this meal consist of — half a cup of rice?

Ross Fraser, the media relations manager for Feeding America explained. The vast majority (85%) of food that they distribute (two billion pounds a year) is donated, while they purchase fill-in items that are not usually contributed.  They have figured out (through somewhat convoluted math) when they divide the number of pounds of food they distribute by their costs of operation, it works out that they are able to donate 16 meals for every dollar they receive.

And, when you do some further math, you see that that equals 6-1/4 cents per meal — the amount that P&G is donating per coupon. Whewww.

So, if enough coupons are redeemed, the maximum contribution that P&G will be making is $1.25 million — not the tens of millions dollars you might have assumed from their advertising.

One and a quarter million dollars is still a generous contribution, and Feeding America is certainly a worthy cause. It just would have been more straight forward to say that they would donate up to $1.25 million to cover the administrative costs of delivering 20 million meals.  A P&G spokesperson said the company preferred to characterize the donation in terms of meals given rather than six and a quarter cents.  Gee, I wonder why? They also said that their contribution was not supposed to be used for overhead.  The spokesperson did not put her comments in writing despite a request to do so by Mouse Print*.

Other companies, like the makers of Duncan Hines, promote their donation to Feeding America in a more straight-forward manner, saying how much money is being given per coupon redeemed, and how much the maximum donation will be (click banner):

Duncan Hines

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Where’s the Beef Pork?

It has been years since Clara Peller famously questioned one of Wendy’s fast food competitors in a TV commercial about the skimpy size of their hamburgers.  She shouted “Where’s the beef?” Well, we may have to call Ms. Peller back into action (from the hereafter), but this time the issue is pork.

We don’t usually think of fresh pork, such as pork chops, being sold under a brand name, but in some supermarkets you can actually find some packages with a Swift Premium label.

Swift

While it might seem advantageous to be able to buy a brand name of pork, the fine print suggests otherwise.

*MOUSE PRINT:

“with up to 10% of a solution of water, salt, and sodium phosphate”

Why has the company added up to 10% water to the pork chops besides the fact that selling a package that is 90% pork and 10% water is probably more profitable than selling one that is 100% pork?

The company replied:

“The hogs we use are bred and fed to be much leaner today, and are trimmed so there is very little external fat. We add a little extra moisture to our pork, so that consumers can be assured of the juicy tender and flavorful product.

The supermarket selling it replied:

“The product is enhanced with a solution of water, salt/spices.  This ensures a uniform flavor and moisture level, while providing a consistent eating experience for the consumer.   The practice of selling enhanced product is in accordance with USDA guidelines, and the font of the print is governed by USDA as well.” 

I don’t want to pay $2.99 a pound for water.  For one, if I want water with my pork, I’ll grab a glass and get it from the tap.