Consumerist
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shrink ray
Shylockian Shrink Ray Extracts Pound Of Flesh From Tyson Frozen Chicken Wings
BUH-KAW! Tyson's five-pound bag of frozen chicken wings is now Tyson's four-pound bag of frozen chicken wings.
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shrink ray
NYT Investigates TV Shrink Ray
Is nothing sacred? The New York Times is reporting that the grocery shrink ray, that scourge of the savvy supermarket shopper, has now been turned to televisions. -
media whoring
Ben Popken On NBC Nightly News Rescheduled
The NBC Nightly News Grocery Shrink Ray piece I'm in that was to air last night has been pushed back. Will keep you posted as to when its next slated to air. -
media whoring
Ben Popken On NBC Nightly News This Thursday
Watch NBC Nightly News on Thursday, 12/04/08, for a snippet of yours truly, Ben Popken, laying down some tough talk on the good 'ol Grocery Shrink Ray, THE STORY THAT NEVER DIES!!! MUAHAHA! -
grocery shrink ray
"Holistic Margin Management": What General Mills Calls Grocery Shrink Ray
Guess what they call the Grocery Shrink Ray at General Mills? "Holistic Margin Management." I thinks that's also what they call it in 1984. Another interesting fact from a StarTribune article looking at shrinking packages: customers are more likely to notice a change in the height rather than the width of a box. But does anyone really care? More » -
grocery shrink ray
Gorton's Wants To Know If You Noticed Anything Fishy About Their Fish Sticks
Reader Dave was doing an online survey about Gorton's Fish Sticks packaging — and it looks like something fishy is going on... More » -
grocery shrink ray
34 Victims Of The Grocery Shrink Ray
The story may be well and established already, but that hasn't stopped manufacturers from their food product and package shrink-a-dink rampage. Here's 34 more victims of The Grocery Shrink Ray spotted by the all-volunteer Consumerist tipster army, 25 of which are viewable using advanced pop-up slideshow technology...
Note: The photo gallery was malfunctioning yesterday, so now that everything is fixed, I'm moving the post back up the page. More »
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maxwell house
Video: The History Of Maxwell House Shrinkage
This video shows how a variety of food products have shrunk over the years, while the price remains the same, and the tricks manufacturers use so we don't notice the differences. She stacks up the coffee cans as they go from 16 oz to 11 oz. At one point, Maxwell House says that while the size is going down, the potency is going up. "We've fluffed the beans!" they say. So then why do the instructions on the side of the can for the amount of coffee you use to make a perfect cup stay the same? Though we don't really mourn for lost Maxwell House value, the example is illustrative of standard industry tactics, even on food that doesn't taste like crap.
Food Amounts Shrink Over Years, But Containers Are Same Size [WTAE] (Thanks to Kevin!)
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badvertising
Get Ready For An Onslaught Of Food Advertising
Foodmakers are planning to bombard you with advertising to keep you from ditching their carefully groomed brands for some blechy cheapo generics. Pay no attention as they try to re-brand their products as cheap and affordable. Here's a small preview of what to expect... More » -
grocery shrink ray
Want That Hot Restaurant Reservation? Ask With A European Accent
The parasitic Grocery Shrink Ray has infected restaurants, shrinking portions and spurring substitutions as restaurateurs struggle to pry revenue from cash-strapped customers. Desperate to fill seats by any means, restaurants are borrowing from the airlines and are starting to overbook reservations for peak times. They're also giving preference to the new big spenders: Europeans. More » -
arm and hammer
Arm & Hammer Baking Soda Now Deodorizes For 30 Days Instead Of 3 Months
Reader Kirin says he's suspicious of Arm & Hammer's assertion that the same 1lb of baking soda will only deodorize for 30 days when it used to work for 3 months. More » -
grocery shrink ray
Grocery Shrink Ray Hits Folgers, Makes More Cups From Less Coffee?
Here's a fun little mystery for you guys. How can taking away 4 oz of coffee produce more cups of coffee? We've been thinking about it ever since Blueprint for Financial Prosperity sent us this photo the other day, and we just can't figure it out. Could it be magic? Some strange new property of the Grocery Shrink Ray? More » -
grocery shrink ray
15 Victims Of The Grocery Shrink Ray
The Grocery Shrink Ray continues its miniature spree across the supermarket aisles of America. Here's 14 more victims that have surfaced in the past week, as spotted by our watchful bands of deputized Consumerist reader-investigators... More » -
grocery shrink ray
Grocery Shrink Ray Hits UK
The Grocery Shrink Ray has expanded its range and is no longer just hitting the US. Pint-sized woe has befallen the the UK snack section. For one, the Dairylea triangle is shrinking from 180 to 160g per cheese wheel. Other shrunken products include Rolo, Palmolive, Olvatine, Dairy Milk, Mars bars, Yorkie chocolate bars, and Pringles.Check out the company double-talk as they tried to explain away the changes, sometimes with verbal softshoe, others with oddly pugilistic rebuttals: More » -
grocery shrink ray
Chicago Tribune Picks Up Grocery Shrink Ray
The Chicago Tribune quoted me in a piece on the Grocery Shrink Ray. Paraphrasing a food science. expert, it says, "Broadly defined, packaging costs often outweigh ingredient costs, Hotchkiss said. And a penny shaved off packaging can translate into millions of dollars in savings for a high-volume consumer product." This is interesting because it means the greatest cost savings come from reducing package costs, rather than ingredient amount. Which means if they're reducing ingredient amounts, they've got to be really hurting. Maybe if I really wanted to do my part to help the economy I should have spent that stimulus check on juice, cereal, paper towels, mayonnaise and ice cream.
Rising costs give groceries nip and tuck [Chicago Tribune]
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Colgate-Palmolive has reported a 19% increase in quarterly profits, and says it's partially due to price increases (but also greater volume sales and a weak dollar). [Reuters]
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grocery shrink ray
Wegmans Grocery Store Admits That The Dreaded Grocery Shrink Ray Exists
Wegman's a grocery store chain in the northeast has addressed the issue of the grocery shrink ray, and shed some light on why even store brands are affected by its malevolent beam. Wegmans says that their store brand merchandise is manufactured by companies that also make products for other stores — so they have little say about the size of their products. More » -
I will be in a roundtable discussion guest be on KCRW's "The The Point" at 2:10 PM eastern today. You can listen here by clicking on the "LIVE" link at the top left, or tuning into your NPR affiliate station if they carry it. We'll be talking about the economy, the growing pressures on consumers, the grocery shrink ray, and what, if anything, you can do about it.
grocery shrink ray
New York, 6:52 PM
Fri Jan 9
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