Do You Take Sugar? (It's Gonna Cost You!)

The times they are a changin.

Sheila, You'd better get to smoking that peace pipe girl, lol.  Chips, crackers, cookies...all of them are shrinking but charging the same.  Ticks me off too!  I was cleaning out my pantry last week and ran across 2 bags of stuffing mix...I THOUGHT they looked big.  I compared them to the new ones I bought and sure enough...they were smaller.  

Pass me that peace pipe!

Sheila-

They have shrunk the amounts on a lot of foodstuffs. From sugar to cereal to snacks. Their research told them it was easier for the public to accept a smaller portion than to raise prices. Go figure. All of this accelerated about 2 years ago. What do you think the chances are that they will put the extra pound of sugar back if prices for sugar declines??

Hi Sheila, REALLY, I mean are you serious? Okay I am off on my way to the store. What are they gonna do next. This truly is unbelievable. I do see the changes in  size of boxes of cereal.

Okay -- I had no idea... I will go and look at the bag I bought last week... I thought it was 5 lbs.... Be right back.....well it really is a 5 lb bag.. but I have seen this type of thing on other items.  The packaging often remains the same, but the contents are diminished...  One really had to look carefully these days.

Everything is shrinking!  Look at things like candy bars, snack bars, the actual bars are smaller.  Look at cookie packages, the package might look the same, but the plastic container is shaped so that less cookies fit in the trays, so the consumer thinks they get the same for the same price, until you open the package!  smaller products and same or higher prices....and they think we won't notice!  I had not idea about the sugar and flour, but with holiday baking around the corner, I will see that soon!

Good to know next time someone asks me to go buy them a 5lb bag of sugar I can ask them if it's a trick question :) All kidding aside I never even knew they sold 5lb bags of sugar but it got me to thinking about the price changes. Although I'm what you'd probably consider a child(26) I can remember when I could buy a gallon of gas for $1, candies for $.01, and gum packs for $.25 etc

Sheila, I had not noticed this at all.  I have noticed that the bags seem smaller but don't buy it that often. This is the sneaky way that manufacturers are raising prices.  They can't raise the real price so they give you less.  

From May to October this year the price of sugar has risen from approx. .25 to .38 cents per pound. The manufacturers make the packages smaller, but we are wise to their games.

Sheila, the first thing I saw like this was when the yogurt companies started putting about 1/3 less yogurt in the containers claiming they were leaving room for folks who wanted to add fruit or granola...of course the price didn't change.  I think they are all hoping the we (consumers) wouldn't notice.

A quart of Hellman's Mayonnaise = 30 ounces

A half gallon of Orange Juice = 59 ounces.

Don't even try to explain Toilet Paper "Double Rolls" and "Triple Rolls".

They know:

1. Most people do not Look at the actual amount.

2. They put it as 750 Milliliters or 1247 grams or some other obscure measurement that Americans won't know.

3. Today's High School Graduates went to Public School, and probably can't answer how many questions are in a Quart, etc.

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Sad sign of the times!

I haven't bought sugar in a while either, but I know how you feel, there are some things that are 'standard'-like 5 lbs of sugar, or 64 ounces of milk...NOW IF ONLY THEY COULD WORK THAT SAME MAGIC ON CALORIE COUNTS!!

Sheila - A similar situation has occurred with apple juice in my area over the past few years.  One company previously sold 1.48 litre cans, then changed to 1.4 litre cans and now is using 1.2 litre cans.  However, I have not noticed any decrease in price.

Look around the store, there are a lot more items than just sugar that have started to give less but appear to be the same amount. Ice cream is another example, it is no longer 1/2 gallons, peanut butter, even shampoo.

The first one I noticed was that 20 oz plastic bottle of Coke had shrunk to a 16 oz bottle without a price reduction.

I've learned that I'm a much better eater than I am a shopper so I leave that to my wonderful wife.  (Except on those rare occasions when she asks me what I'm cooking for supper and I answer "Pizza Hut".)

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Interestingly enough, the amount in the packages continue to decrease but the price of the items either stay the same or go up...