quantity versus price

Has anyone else ever noticed how the things we purchase as consumers goes down in quantity while the price either remains the same or goes up? Case in point......I went to Target to pick up some Fresh Step Free. There were only 3 boxes on the shelf, so I bought them all. One of them was a 21 pound box and the other two were 20 pound boxes. The 21 pound box is what I've been buying for quite some time now. Normally at checkout, I just take one box out, let them scan it and tell them how many I have. I let her know one of my boxes was a different size and she said she'd need to scan it. I asked her if the price was any different and she said no. So frustrating.........

Yep! It's a valid, but sneaky way of increasing the price of a product.

Manufacturing companies realize that people don't want to "see" an increase in price, so they go about it in a non visual way. Same packaging, same price, but a lesser quantity in the bottle/box. Most people aren't aware that they are getting less for their dollar than they did before because most people just look at the package and price and take it for granted that everything is the same as it was the last time they purchased.

That is the reason I quit buying things like ice cream - comtainer shrunk by 20% or more in one shot and price stayed the same; same happened with most cereals too. Fortunately, that disturbing trend hasn't hit the cat food...yet.

I even noticed the Pringles chips are smaller, even though the can is the same size.

That happened a year or so ago with yogurt. The individual cups went from 8 oz. to 6 oz. and the price stayed the same. It was easy to see because the local grocery store had both on the shelves at the same time until the larger ones ran out.

I like it when they increase the price of things they put them "on sale" at the regular price.

I started making all my food from scratch & I've been trying to buy more from local farmers market but ours is small & short. I did grow all my veggies this summer!

When I first got married, a roll of Bounty paper towels were about twice the size and half the price!

I have noticed that too. I remember when a can of coffee would be a one pound can, now it is 12 ounces. Most recently, I have noticed that it is hard to find a 12 pack of diet pepsi or any other soda. They are now 8 packs and the same price! At least my A&W Diet Rootbeer still comes in a 12 pack

The worse case of this that I've seen is from Adrian Arpel, a cosmetic company.

I had a facial there once and puchased some of their products, including a great smelling facial toner. The spray bottle was the visual size of a regular standard sized bottle of shampoo. I paid twenty-some dollars for it.

However, a few weeks later I discovered that the bulk of the plastic bottle was actually hollow, and that it concealed a metal spray can inside that was only about 2 inches deep and contained about 1/4 of the amount that the plastic bottle visually appeared to hold.

Was I every ticked off! I complained to the company, but their response was that they had the actual volume of product listed on the bottle and I should have known that the volume was less than the size of the bottle it was sold in. Like DUH!!!!

I never bought from them again.

Originally Posted by GoldyCat

That happened a year or so ago with yogurt. The individual cups went from 8 oz. to 6 oz. and the price stayed the same. It was easy to see because the local grocery store had both on the shelves at the same time until the larger ones ran out.

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That's exactly how I realized this had happened with the cat litter.....they had both sizes on the shelf.

It is too bad we can't boycott and not buy their products....they've got us!

yes I have seen it happening. Dog food has jumped drastically in price, but the brands I buy have not done the tricky marketing with smaller packages like in many prepackaged human foods.

The one thing Ive noticed going up in price is coffee..9 bucks for a container of Folgers..Holy potatoes..It used to be 6 bucks...Chicken also went up from being 6 for 3 pounds to 7.50 for the same amount..Ive started making a list and adding as I go grocery shopping because I dont like being shocked at the checkout counter..I like knowing what Im spending and staying within my proposed spending budget...

There are some things, like cereals, potato chips, and salty snacks that have stayed the same price, but increased volume. Cheetos has done this, for example. I bought a bag that said "33% more free!", and it was in fact bigger. There was an article in our local paper about corn and potato based snacks getting cheaper to make, thus putting more in packaging. I have noticed smaller yogurts and smaller ice creams.