Inflation Sign #2: Smaller sizes, volumes and portions

[swgprop]

Inflation Sign #2: Smaller sizes, volumes and portions

Main stream media latches on to a trend previously

[don]

Re: Inflation Sign #2: Smaller sizes, volumes and portions

Typical MSM puff piece: late, with zero depth. No explanation except a vague reference to gas prices. The 3% reminds one of housing announcements. The All-American Cotton Candy Cocoon.

[housingcrashsurvivor]

Re: Inflation Sign #2: Smaller sizes, volumes and portions

Can not see the OP's linked material. It just reads "Main stream media latches on to a trend previously" and then nothing.

But per the title of this thread, I mentioned on another that regarding groceries, particularly perishables, I've so far got no problem with smaller portions, since I'm single and since previously very few items were packaged for singles so now the result is that I'm just throwing out less food but probably paying about the same per pound as I did when portions were too large for me to consume.

But something more diabolical is afoot. Manufacturers are packaging such that products are consumed faster so that you buy more often. I've noticed this on three products so far. My new contact solution has a larger sqeeze hole so that more solution empties from the bottle with each squeeze. Correspondingly, the last lense case I bought was deeper than my previous ones, to hold more solution than required.

The latest ketchup bottle I bought came with some sort of rubbery purge valve at the opening such that when the bottle is squeezed, invariably you wind up with more ketchup than you want as the ketchup only comes out once a certain pressure is achieved and by then you've lost all control of what comes out of the bottle. I've taken out the valve but then the hole in the cap is too large, but with careful sqeezing not too much is wasted.

And just this evening I opened a new canister of protein powder and noticed the enclosed scoop is about a third larger than the scoops previously packaged with the product.

[thriftyandboringinohio]

Re: Inflation Sign #2: Smaller sizes, volumes and portions

...But something more diabolical is afoot. Manufacturers are packaging such that products are consumed faster so that you buy more often. I've noticed this on three products so far. My new contact solution has a larger sqeeze hole so that more solution empties from the bottle with each squeeze. Correspondingly, the last lense case I bought was deeper than my previous ones, to hold more solution than required.

The latest ketchup bottle I bought came with some sort of rubbery purge valve at the opening such that when the bottle is squeezed, invariably you wind up with more ketchup than you want as the ketchup only comes out once a certain pressure is achieved and by then you've lost all control of what comes out of the bottle. I've taken out the valve but then the hole in the cap is too large, but with careful sqeezing not too much is wasted.

And just this evening I opened a new canister of protein powder and noticed the enclosed scoop is about a third larger than the scoops previously packaged with the product.

I can verify that this is true.

Some years ago I worked with a leading industrial design house (product appearance, ergonomics, brand identity...). They told me of their contract for a global consumer products manufacturer to increase the sale of toothpaste. The smart guys went to work doing rigorous market studies and careful scientific observation of people using toothpaste. They concluded that the market was mature and well-divided among powerful brands with strong loyalty, so no marketing push could increase market share or overall usage.

However, they also discovered that people use toothpaste in a habitual way, dispensing always about the same LENGTH of paste onto their brush. They redesigned the package so the hole was 15% bigger in area. Bingo! Sale of the toothpaste jumped 15% immediately and the increase was permanent.

It seems this trick is no longer a secret.

[housingcrashsurvivor]

Re: Inflation Sign #2: Smaller sizes, volumes and portions

...people use toothpaste in a habitual way, dispensing always about the same LENGTH of paste onto their brush. They redesigned the package so the hole was 15% bigger in area. Bingo! Sale of the toothpaste jumped 15% immediately and the increase was permanent.

It seems this trick is no longer a secret.

Seems I'm either innately attuned or frugal by nature because I actually did decrease the length of my dispensed toothpaste years ago without realizing the girth excreted manufacturer-manipulated. I think mostly I just didn't like to foam up so much in the morning.

[flintlock]

Re: Inflation Sign #2: Smaller sizes, volumes and portions

I bought a 1.5 quart "half-gallon" container of ice cream yesterday. My 8 year old immediately said, " that's so small, do I have to share it?"

[lektrode]

Re: Inflation Sign #2: Smaller sizes, volumes and portions

But something more diabolical is afoot. Manufacturers are packaging such that products are consumed faster...

the other thing that isnt new per se, but still significant (esp where theres high humidity) is the packaging on things like cookies is terrible/flimsy/rips so that it cant be easily reclosed, thus renders the product stale more quickly.

the other thing i'm really noticing tho is the changing of the recipes - lots of things dont taste the same all of a sudden and tho some of it might be due to my age causing changes in sense of taste, methinks they just using cheaper ingredients/processes and hoping we dont notice - bought a hershey's dark choc bar and a package of keebler pecan sandies yest, and both are awful, not even close to what they were like several years back

am noticing this phenom across the board on various mid-priced foodstuffs - like i said, it seems all of a sudden/past year or so - so in addition to chisling us on the package size, we're getting screwed on the quality of the goods as well.

and THEN theres whats happening on things like medical coverage: this year kaiser permanente didnt raise the premium, they just jacking up the copays, like HUGE increases - last year the copay on prescriptions _doubled_ from 15 to 30, on top of the 17% increase in premium - for 2011, premium static, with hospitalization daily 'copay' going from 250/day to 400, and the out of pocket max from 3000/year to 4000

is this the first sign of the bernank's 'reflation' or doesnt any of this count as inflation?