Health

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Don’t Assume Similar Products Have the Same Ingredients

Our friend, Dana McCorvie, the Ingredient Inspector, scrutinizes product labels for changes and surprises in ingredients listings. This time, she looks at product line extensions where a manufacturer comes out with a similar product that plays on the popularity of the original one. But, when you check the ingredients of the fraternal twin, they are not always the same.

Example 1 – Minute Maid Lemonade

*MOUSE PRINT:

Minute Maid’s lemonade in cans has added chemicals and coloring compared to the version in cartons. But worse, while there is 12-percent real fruit juice in the regular product, the version in cans only has 3-percent juice.

Minute Maid Lemonade

Example 2 – Hi-C Orange Drink

*MOUSE PRINT:

If you buy juice boxes of Hi-C Orange Lavaburst at the supermarket, they actually contain some small amount of real juice, But if you order a glass of it at McDonald’s, that version has no real juice, almost 50-percent more sugar, and added chemicals and artificial colors!

Ingredient Inspector Hi-C

For more examples of products whose fraternal twin products are not like the original, please visit this special section for Consumer World and Mouse Print* readers at the Ingredient Inspector.

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Sneaky Ways Drugstore Reward Programs Limit Redemptions and Cost You Money – Part 1

Both Walgreens and CVS have rewards programs that allow you to accumulate “cash” in your account that can be applied toward future purchases. But each program has unexpected redemption limitations that may mean you won’t get full value for your banked bucks.

Walgreens – MyWalgreens

Last fall, Walgreens ran a promotion giving folks who got their vaccine shots there a $10 reward for each one. MrConsumer accumulated three $10 certificates and promptly had them credited to his account.

Walgreens balance

Unlike cash, Walgreens cash rewards expire if you have not used them in six months, and only have at most a one-year lifespan before they disappear from your account. That is nasty enough for “money” you’ve earned. But when it comes time to use the accumulated credit, Walgreens places unreasonable restrictions on it.

MrConsumer recently bought an item that with tax came to $1.58. I told the clerk to use my points. She then said, “that will be 58 cents.” I said “excuse me, I’ve got close to $30 of credit on my account.” She then explained that they only can apply whole dollar amounts of credit toward your balance. Crazy! The computer doesn’t understand the concept of cents, I thought?

Fast forward to later that week at a different Walgreens, where a purchase I was making came to $6.66. I said I’ll apply my points to that. The checkout clerk said he can only take $5 off. What? He showed me his screen and the only choices for deductions were whole dollar amounts from $1 to $5. And only one reward can be applied to a transaction. So I had to pay the balance in cash.

Looking at the terms and conditions for the MyWalgreens program shed light on the issue.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Walgreens redemption chart

How crazy is that? You cannot use your full balance toward your purchases. You have to pay with real money when the total falls between these wide brackets. So someone making a $25 purchase could only use $20 of Walgreens’ funny money toward it.

We asked the company why they limit redemptions like this, and whether they would consider allowing customers to apply their full balance in the future. They did not reply to multiple requests for comment.

What do you think? Has Walgreens rigged the system in their favor forcing you to pay with real money in many instances even though you have enough of their funny money in your account?

Next week we’ll look at tricks and traps in the CVS ExtraBucks program.

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Everyone’s Complaining About Toothpaste!

Over the past several months, we have received more complaints about toothpaste than any other product category.

The first complaints are about the consistency getting thinner.

I believe that toothpaste has been diluted from how I remember it to be. My recollection is having to use some effort squeezing the paste out of the tube. Now it seems like it’s barely a paste… –Ralph

CREST toothpaste pro-health 4.6 oz doesn’t say PASTE anymore and its consistency is more liquid and diluted than before. –Danilo D.

And of course, there are examples of shrinkflation.

*MOUSE PRINT:

We had purchased a multi-pack of Crest brand toothpaste at Costco, probably over a year ago. We did so again recently. Note the difference in net weight. –Paul R.

Crest shrinks

Verner E. also had a complaint about the new smaller Crest tubes from Costco.

I purchased a package of 5 tubes from Costco. When I used the first tube it felt like there was a lot of air in it. Same with the 2nd tube. The next tube I did an experiment by weighing the full tube and then subtracting the weight of an empty tube. I discovered that the contents only weighed 4.5 oz. while the tube advertises a net 5.2 oz. This is only 86.5 % of what is advertised on the tube. I called P&G to notify them of this rip-off but all they wanted to do was send me a coupon .

Here are additional “more air in tubes, less paste” complaints.

The photo attached is of a Crest Toothpaste tube after one squeeze which released about a pea sized amount of paste. It took many squeezes to get the toothpaste to the opening. Apparently the top third was filled with air. –CV

Crest empty space

When half used, you will notice air pocket in center of tube. — Kevin & Margaret C.

I’ll add my own complaint about a sample of Crest Gum Detoxify that I got from my dentist. It made the soft bristles on my toothbrush stiff!

We asked P&G, the maker of Crest, to comment on these complaints, but they did not.

Feel free to chime in with your toothpaste gripes in the comments.