chips

Consumer World Celebrates 30 Years: 1995 - 2025  
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Are Tostitos and Other Chip Brands Really Reversing Shrinkflation?

A few weeks ago, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Madeleine Dean wrote to the CEOs of several corporations, including PepsiCo, accusing them of a pattern of profiteering off consumers by shrinking their products and charging the same or higher prices. We’ve covered various PepsiCo products including Tostitos downsizings over the years.

Then last week, breathless headlines announced that PepsiCo, which also makes Ruffles, Doritos, Lay’s and other brands, was reacting to these accusations of shrinkflation, and was now going to add 20% more chips to certain bags.

PepsiCo headlines

In the CNN story, the company said:

A PepsiCo spokesperson told CNN that Tostitos and Ruffles “bonus” bags will contain 20% more chips for the same price as standard bags in select locations. PepsiCo is also adding two additional small chip bags to its variety-pack option with 18 bags, the spokesperson said.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Tostitos Bonus PackConsumer World AI Mock-up

Don’t jump to conclusions that PepsiCo has seen the light, is caving into governmental pressure and consumer anger, and plans to upsize all their products. PepsiCo is simply coming out with some “bonus” bags on some products in some areas it appears. By definition, a “bonus pack” is a temporary promotion whereby the new package has some additional content compared to the regular size. They did not announce a general upsizing of their products.

So, enjoy the extra chips while they last.

Consumer World Celebrates 30 Years: 1995 - 2025  
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Is Supermarket Zone Pricing Ripping You Off?

As a reader of Consumer World and Mouse Print*, you are probably a savvier shopper than most. But did you know that some supermarket chains “zone price?” That means the shelf prices and advertised sale prices at its stores can vary from neighborhood to neighborhood, city to city, or region to region.

While many factors go into pricing decisions by supermarkets like rent and labor costs, the presence or absence of competition nearby is often the key to whether a particular store location has lower prices or not. The more competitive the area, the lower the prices, typically.

One exception, at least in my area just north of Boston, is Aldi. Aldi is a limited assortment supermarket, a fraction of the size of a conventional grocery store. They carry mostly store brands and are priced roughly at about 25% less than conventional supermarket store brands. If you’ve never shopped at Aldi or Lidl (a similar type store), give them a try.

But the Aldi near MrConsumer has significantly higher advertised prices for some items compared to other Aldi stores farther North. This is despite having a Stop & Shop (our largest conventional supermarket) in the same shopping plaza, as well as a Wegmans and two warehouse clubs (BJ’s and Costco) within half a mile, and two deep discount Market Baskets just a bit beyond that.

Here is a portion of this week’s circular for Massachusetts Aldi stores :

Aldi MA chips

But just 24 miles away, in Salem, New Hampshire, those very same items from their Aldi circular are much cheaper:

*MOUSE PRINT:

Aldi NH chips

These New Hampshire prices are half to almost two-thirds less than the Medford, Massachusetts store. While most of the other advertised items are identically priced, these stark price differences can make local shoppers here feel like they are getting ripped off royally.

When MrConsumer raised the zone pricing issue with a top Aldi executive, he offered little hope that anything was about to change here, saying:

“We are always reviewing our prices to ensure we offer our shoppers the lowest prices possible. While ALDI prices do sometimes vary from city to city, we pride ourselves on having the lowest prices in town.”

Well, Aldi, you are not offering us YOUR lowest prices. What do we have to do here in Massachusetts, get a team in the Super Bowl in order to get a good deal on chips?

Consumer World Celebrates 30 Years: 1995 - 2025  
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Non-HP Ink Cartridges Suddenly Stop Working in Some HP Printers

Hewlett Packard inkjet printer users often buy generic printer cartridges to save money compared to the HP branded ones. Earlier this month however, those no-name cartridges mysteriously stopped working in some HP printers giving users error messages like this:

HP error

What’s going on? Users have said that they had made no changes to their computer or to the printer at the time the problem started.

*MOUSE PRINT:

HP update

According to published reports, a firmware update from March 2016 had a hidden time bomb set to disable non-HP cartridges being used starting on September 13!

When asked by a Dutch broadcaster why HP did this, the company said in a statement:

“This is to protect innovation and intellectual property, but also to improve the safety of products for customers.”

The changes are made according to HP, “to protect the printers and to protect the communication between the cartridge and the printer.”

“Affected printers will continue to work with refilled cartridges if they contain the original HP security chip. Other cartridges possibly don’t work”, HP added.

We all know the real answer is “money.”

The affected printers seem to be OfficeJet Pro models 8610, 8615, 8620, 8625, 8630, 8640, 8660 and others.

If you are facing this problem, experts say you can try to rollback the firmware to an earlier version (not easy) or wait for no-name cartridges to update their chips to work again. To prevent the problem from spreading to other HP printers, experts suggest that you turn off firmware updates.

UPDATE: A few days ago, an Alabama consumer filed a class action lawsuit against HP for planting a “ticking time bomb” and trying to monopolize the printer ink market. And a day later, HP relented. Come back on Monday for a full follow-up story of these late-breaking events.