Have you noticed that while the price of almost everything seems to be going up, the size seems to be coming down. I noticed soft drinks in a 20 pack the other day and they were more than I usually pay for a 24 pack.
Remember when most sugar was sold in 5 pound bags? Now, while there are still some 5 pound bags around, most are 4 pounds.
I opened a new bar of soap last night and thought . . this is smaller than it used to be. Then I found an older pack of soap and look at this . .
Not only did the 12 pack of Dial soap shrink to an 8 pack, for the same price, but now the bars are 4.0 ounces instead of 4.5 ounces.
Guess there’s not much we can do about it but be aware of the sizes of whatever we’re buying and compare prices per item or per ounces.
Bessie H says
Do you remember the HUGH Hershey bars we could get for a nickel when we were kids. OhOh, you must not be as old as I am. But right now I’m bummed about not getting enough tuna to make two sandwiches out of a can of solid white ablacore for 2 bucks!
Dianah says
I thought we have been eating too big of sandwichs. I am glad that I am not the only one not getting 2 sandwichs from one can of tuna.
Norece says
Have you noticed that toilet paper is about 3/4 of an inch narrower than it was a few months back?
A.L. says
Not only is the TP thinner, so are the paper hankies. Same size box, but there is an empty inch inside the box. The box measures 9.5- the hankies are 8.5 long. If they shorten them any more, it will be hard to get a good blow!!!!
Becky R says
We started using liquid dial soap wash instead of dial soap bars. Eliminated all the scum buildup in the shower. We have a fiberglass shower. My boss was having her bath retiled and her tile guy was telling her about not using bars of soap. It’s what they use to keep the soap in a bar that is hard to get rid of. It’s hard enough keeping the shower clean as it is.
We haven’t regreated it.
A.L. says
Did you open that Dial soap? I don’t know about the Gold bars of Dial, but the white ones now have a new shape. The bars are concave- a new bar looks like a bar that has been used for a week. Since it is thinner in the middle, it seems to get used up super fast.
Everytime my DH opens a new bar, he fumes. What a rip-off! We would prefer to pay the new cost and get a solid bar of soap.
Susan says
I have noticed the same thing…especially with ice-cream! What used to be a gallon is almost a single serving container now! (By the way…I’ve notice that jeans are smaller now too. Do you think that is also due to companies trying to cut back on expenses?)
Robin says
Unfortunately I don’t think there is a darn thing we can do about it, except complain to each other. Cereal boxes are smaller, ice cream containers are smaller, even the jars of peanut butter and cans of vegetables while the prices just keep going up!. I can’t say I can complain about jeans sizes though just the quality of the fabric. I now wear 1-2 sizes smaller with the new sizing than I did a couple years ago so at least in my mind I feel better about that!! 🙂
Cindy says
I don’t care how high gas goes, or how much they charge for a can of Lipton Soup, but by golly, when my beloved Pepsi cost me $5 a 12 pack, that is seriously screwed up.
I’ll still buy my pop, but boy, will I bi*ch.
Sandy says
Why can’t we shrink as we get older? Especially around the middle. *Sigh*
JUDI says
ouch and when I was in Madison a few weeks ago there was sale on Pepsi, $4 a 24 pack you better believe I bought 4 cases the limit. My dh laughed and said no where are we going to fit that in the car at, I should of gotten 4 more .
peggy says
Have you noticed that a teabag will only make one good cup of tea? Used to be able to make two. And, am I the only one who gets upset with the waste in cereal packaging? There is always twice as much box as there is cereal. Yesterday DH and I were having lunch in a deli. The Lays Baked Potato Chips literally filled less than half of the bag, and they said there were two servings in the bag! Not to mention it cost 99 cents! (I was going to insert the cents symbol, and I can’t find it! When did it go away on keyboards?)
Anya says
The soap bars used to be 5 ounces a few years ago…
Linda says
Corporate America screws us over every chance it gets.
Dianah says
Last fall Pepsi here switched to an 8 pack instead of a 12 pack. The price stayed the same. Which is usually 3 packs for $10. I work a grocery store, I was confronted by a manager for not buying my Pepsi at our store anymore. I told him that Costco still carried the 32 pack for $10. I was told our price didn’t change and I should support our store. I agreed I should support our store BUT our store sells Pepsi 24 cans for $10 and Costco sells it 32 cans for $10.
It took about 10 months but the mighty dollar convinced Pepsi to bring back the 12 pack. Enough people did not purchase the new 8 pack size at the 12 pack price that this summer Pepsi did bring back the 12 pack AND did NOT raise the price.
Judy D says
Isn’t it sad that the big corporations think we are so stupid we won’t notice!
Mariel says
Ditto! for all the above. You have to wonder where it’s all headed.
Pat says
I agree with all of the above and add boxes of pasta to the smaller sizes…used to be 16 ozs. and now most are about 13.5 ozs. I guess they’ll leave a gallon of milk alone unless they are going to create a new name for it……”Almost-a-gallon of milk”…..and same with a dozen eggs……..”Not-quite-a-dozen eggs” would have to be the new name!!! I guess they figure with other things, it won’t be as obvious to us. *sigh*
Sandra (Sandy Gail) says
One of the engineers in the family used to work for a large food corporation. His job was to design TV dinner trays that held less food but still looked as large as the older ones. Just think, they’re paying engineers big bucks to do this!!!!
We live in an area of large farms. The farmers are getting half the price for milk that they were last year. However, the cattle feed has gone way up. The local farmers are desperate, yet milk prices in the grocery store have skyrocketed.
Mary-Kay C. says
A gallon of ice cream used to be a gallon. Now here in Windsor ice cream is sold by the liter and it used to be 2 liters for $4-$5 now it’s 1.69 liters for $7.99.
shannon says
My favorite is that a gallon of ice cream is no longer a gallon–it’s .75 gallons. I noticed that last summer when I was buying the same brand, but two different flavors. I was so mad!
AnnieO says
How about deodorant? My favorite brand is nearly $4 sometimes but has shrunk in ounces so much it is top heavy before I even open it! I noticed a new marketing ploy on the new container I bought: “now sized for airplanes”. It was exactly the same size and weight of the one I just used up!
JUDI says
I noticed the jeans are smaller to, I went and bought two pairs the size I always wear and sure enough they were to small, tops are also made smaller now. My scale says I’m loosing weight but new clothes say I need a bigger size. go figure.
Laura says
I have been peeved about how manufacturers think we are stupid enough to not notice they are selling smaller quantities for more money. Have you notice how peanut butter and condiments all have concave bottoms so their jars can look the same? (Not unlike the dial soap reshape!) That is a double irk for it is now more difficult to get all of the product out of the jar! Do you remember several years ago when tampax downsized the number in a carton? I think they got the message, because they returned to the previous sizes – at least until I was done with them. Boy did I hate to have to go to the store in the middle of my period because the boxes had fewer in them! By the way, many quilt patterns still say they are written for 42″ fabric and more and more fabrics only have 40 usuable inches! Soon we’ll be back to 36″ wide fabrics like the days of yore. Figure the square inches cut in the move on a yard of fabric! Boy did you hit a sore spot with me Judy.
Laura
Bon says
And it really messes up recipes. I hate it when manufacturers think we, the shoppers, are so stupid as to not notice.
Jane Ann says
Bon voiced my gripe just before I could get to the reply box. I’ve been cooking for 40+ years and so many of my old, old recipes call for something like “1 can of tomatoes.” Really…. For years “1 can” was 16 oz. Now it changes so frequently I have to guess at it all and sometime end up wasting what I can use after opening two cans to equal one old size. One old recipe LONG before my MIL died 30 years ago calls for 2 Hershey bars. Yeah, good luck on that one.
Rebecca says
Kind of off-track, but they’re making light bulbs with smaller wattages! I went looking for brighter ones for my living room, and instead of 60W or 100W, they were odd numbers like 57 or 93! I just can’t see asking my husband for a 90-some watt bulb.
Back on track–yes, the old recipes do require some figuring. Someone mentioned tuna: I can remember 7 whole ounces in a can! I think those new pouches have 4.5. 😛
Rebecca says
That was supposed to be a “raspberry”, not a grin!
Kathy says
I would swear that the strength of the dial soap is weaker, too. A bar just doesn’t last as long in the shower as it used to.
Kathy