Stephen J., a Consumer World reader, wrote to us a few days ago about a timely subject — Valentine’s Day candy — and in particular, heart-shaped Whitman’s Samplers.
This box is about 9.3-inches wide and 10-inches high — so it is a pretty decent size. What you can’t see too clearly in this picture is the net weight: 5.1 ounces.
When our consumer opened the box, he got a big surprise.
*MOUSE PRINT:
There were exactly 11 pieces of chocolate inside, and there looked to be more empty space than candy. “What a rip off,” he said.
We purchased a box of these chocolates for $7.99 at Walgreens and discovered when removing the plastic spacer insert, the chocolate pieces only filled approximately one-third of the box.
*MOUSE PRINT:
Under federal law, most packages are not allowed to have a lot of unnecessary (“nonfunctional”) empty space. That’s called “slack-fill.” To test for slack-fill, regulators measure the capacity of the package and compare it to the volume of product it actually contains. Then they determine whether the empty space is really necessary, such as for protecting the product or other functions.
It is our opinion, while dividers between pieces can protect the candy, the amount of space used here for that purpose seems extreme. All that extra space makes the package much larger than necessary and thus could mislead a prospective purchaser into believing that the box contains more candy than it really does.
As it turns out, Whitman’s is not the only brand doing this. Russell Stover, which makes Whitman’s Samplers, is also selling 5.1-ounce hearts in an almost identical box under its own name and they only put nine pieces of chocolate in it!
While both brands disclose the number of pieces in the box, that information is only on the back label in small type. Here’s the Russell Stover back label.
*MOUSE PRINT:
To further demonstrate the degree of overpackaging in the 5.1-ounce box, note how much larger it is than their 4.03-oz one, which contains seven pieces.
*MOUSE PRINT:
We asked the company twice to comment and justify the way these products are being packaged and sold. They did not respond. They did tell the Washington Post that both the net weight and the number of pieces of chocolate are noted on the box.
Four years ago, we reported on Whitman’s when six California district attorneys filed a lawsuit against the company for using false bottoms in some Whitman’s boxes. The DAs settled the case and were paid $750,000 by Russell Stover and another company which had also been charged with violations in the case.
The lesson here for consumers is to check the net weight on the label so you are less likely to be misled by packaging tricks. In addition, some retailers’ websites have pictures that show exactly what is inside some of these heart-shaped boxes.
