I was just watching a story on the news about how manufacturers are “shrinking products but not the price”. By this I mean, maybe you used to buy your favorite yogurt in a large size container – perhaps a 750 ml container. Now you’ve just noticed that while the packaging looks the same the container only holds 600 ml and the price is still the same or perhaps even higher.
All kinds of manufacturers are doing this. Watch carefully. Everything from the weight of loaves of bread changing to the amount of product in a package lessening. Oh and watch out when manufactures announce a “new look” or new packaging – I’ll bet you’ll notice that the weight of the product is less or that if it had 12 items in it before now it has 10.
A friend of mine recently noticed something like that with her weight loss supplements the packaging had changed and there were fewer pills.
Consumers being interviewed in the news clip also noticed that ingredients in some of the food products that had decreased in size had changed as well. They had more or cheaper fillers in them so consumers are being cheated twice on those products by paying the same price for less product with inferior ingredients.
What products do you buy regularly that you’ve noticed have been downsized recently? Do you feel ripped off by the manufacturers?
I have noticed it as well when dining out. One of our favorite Mexican food places has been doing this for years. The price stays the same but the portion sizes have gone down.
Interesting. The product I notice this with is a bag of chips – it seems there is less and less in the bag, but the price doesn’t go down.
And I agree with the above comment. I have noticed it for a long time, in restaurants, that decrease their portions, but keep their prices the same. Or they may cut back on some of the extras they once had.