There was a trend started long ago by the candy companies. The candy companies had some fixed price points that they need to hit. When the costs of doing business began to rise they needed to keep their expenses in line with their costs, but they couldn’t really charge six cents for a nickel candy bar. They chose to make the candy bar a little smaller so that they could maintain their profit margin at their fixed price point.
There currently a trend for many manufacturers to try the same trick. These more recent examples are not trying to maintain a fixed price structure. The first of these that I noticed was the coffee makers. The one pound coffee can now comes with 12 or 13 ounces of coffee. I recently picked up a three pound size can at the supermarket. The three pound size now has two pounds and one ounce of coffee.
I have watched the traditional half gallon of Ice Cream go to one and three quarters quarts and now down to one and a half quarts. My most recent shock was to buy a five pound bag of sugar. I thought that the bag looked a little smaller than it should so I checked. My five pounds of sugar had eroded to four pounds. I am sure that there are many other examples of this trend. While the philosophy is probably the same as with the candy manufacturers, the situation is completely different.
This trend is probably designed to prevent sticker shock. When costs increase the expense must be passed down the line. But I think that this trend is the wrong approach. I am not fooled by paying the same amount for a lesser quantity. That is still a price increase.
In these days with thought given to resource usage and depletion, and with landfills that are full beyond capacity, is this a waste that we can afford? Each of these units of manufacture require nearly the same expense for packaging. Therefore, the smaller the quantity of product the higher percentage we are paying for packaging and handling. We not only get a bit less of the product that we purchase, but a greater percentage of the purchase price must pay for the container and the handling.
I would much prefer to pay a bit more for a good measure than to have the prices remain the same but get less of a product. If the manufacturers want to provide an extra sku for a smaller quantity so that people do not have to purchase the larger quantities they should be allowed to do that, but not at the expense of giving a good measure of their product for those that would use it. It is proportionally less expensive and less wasteful to package larger quantities of a product.
I think that this is a trend that needs to come to a halt! Have you noticed this trend? How do you feel when you notice that your traditional buying quantities for a product have been cut?
Some Other Ideas