Smaller food packaging is disguised price increases...

helwarren

tesco frozen garlic chicken used to be just under £2 for a pack which i'm sure had 8, recently same price but only 6 and now repackaged completely as 4!

danger_mouse_2

i remember a while back reading an article about pringles (may even have been on mse)basically pointing out that the new "smaller, more eco friendly packaging, was also hiding the fact that the packs contained about 20% less but the price hadnt changed.

Shortly afterwards they released a more expensive "party pack", which seemed to be the size of the original packs but at an inflated cost!!!

nicechap

From this thread:- http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1067701

omen666 wrote: »

Shamlessly stolen from another forum..........



it would seem that the greedy gits are bamboozling customers using subtle resizing of grocery items while still keeping prices the same......so you fork out the same money and actually end up with less!!Nice!

some examples to keep an eye out for

* "Tescos have changed the packages for their Bakery "Tiger" bread - you now get 600g instead of 800g."

* Shredded Wheat - many of you pointed out that there are 27 in a pack instead of 30. All for the same price.

* "Muller Vitality yogurts were 150g they have just shrunk to 125g and are still at the same price."

"My wife used to buy Onken Lite fruit Mousses. These are now 1/3 smaller but are still the same price."

* "Organic Weetabix has recently reduced it's 'biscuit' size. Because it's sold as a multipack, there's no need to put a weight on the pack, but the nutritional information has changed and the pack is slightly smaller - but there are still 24 biscuits in a pack and that's how it's sold - very cunning!"

* "The obvious one is Pringles. They still come in the same size tubes but now hold 170g rather than 200g. There are still a few flavours with 200g in the tubes but most are now 170g."

* "Tesco sea salt that was in a 500g container was 93p is now sold in a 350g and is the same price."

* "Streamline jam was 480g for £1.19 is now 350g and is the same price."

Meat, fish, poultry, ready meals...

* "Tesco barbecue wings used to be 14 pieces--it's now 10."

* "I've bought Waitrose minced beef for years and it always used to be 550g but now all their minced meat is 500g for the same or more price."

* "ASDA ready meals was 6 for £4 now 5 for £4."

* "Birds Eye packs of what used to be 36 fish fingers have shrunk to 30 but the price has stayed the same."

* "Tesco changed their battered Cod fillets from 6 packs to 4 packs. They've changed the prices too but the net effect is an increase in price."

* "Look out for minced meat; beef, turkey and pork. 500g used to be the standard size but this has dropped to 450g in Asda. I also think salmon fillets have become smaller in Sainsburys but you don't notice because it 2 in a pack so you look at the quantity rather than the overall weight."

Alcohol, soft drinks, water....

* "Beer and lager from supermarkets is a culprit. I normally buy cases for cost effectiveness but the case size had already dropped a while ago from 24 to 20 but now it has reduced even further to 18 or 15."

* "The beer companies have been at it for ages with bottles. First it was a 24 pack of 330ml then it went to a 20 pack of 300ml, now its packs of 270ml and the price stays the same."

* "Strongbow have recently dropped from 18 to 15 cans in a case."

* "Tesco own brand cordial that used to be a 1 litre bottle had shrunk down to a 750 ml bottle but gone up in price by 20p."

Non-food...

* "There is more water in own brand items such as bath foam and shampoo to keep size and price the same."

* "Timotei has just changed the packaging of their product so that the cap is at the bottom - it looks smaller and costs 40p more."

* "Toilet rolls are now about three times the diameter and much thinner. The sheets have got smaller and by puffing them up with hot air in manufacture they are not as thick, and there are not so many on the roll."

* "Tesco value kitchen roll that I used to get 4 for 99p had shrunk down to just 2 rolls claiming that they are jumbo rolls."

* "A cheeky one from Tesco's as the hayfever season got under way..Tescos own brand of hayfever pills..I used to buy a box that lasted a month - one pill per day. One pill per day. The box had 2 blister packs each with 14 pills. NOW.. Same box but only HALF of the spaces are filled with pills.What a waste of packaging, what a bad consumer deal."

* "Rennie's is another brand that has shrunk package size. You used to get 96 in a box, now only 72 for the same price. And all this stress is giving me indigestion!"

* "Fairy liquid has an offer - buy 2 for £2. If you check the content its gone from 500ml to 400 ml. So we save 50p but lose 200ml."

and

taxiphil wrote: »

Excellent post.

Also, the smaller boxes of Shredded Wheat have shrunk from 18 to 16 in a pack. With no reduction in price, naturally.

One of the worst culprits I've spotted is Cadbury's Fingers (which I adore). About 10 years ago there was 227g in a box (half a pound).

Then they did the famous metrication trick which has been deployed on numerous bags of sweets - they downsized from 227g to 200g.

But the cheeky sods didn't stop there! Every year over the last 10 years, they've shaved off another 5-10 grams.

Last year it was 165g, and to my amazement it's now 150g!

They have this crafty way of keeping the box the same size, but changing the dynamics of the inner plastic tray so it curves upwards like the bottom of a wine bottle, and spreading the fingers out more thinly.

So they've actually made the product over 50% more expensive, and that's on top of the increases in the price of the pack which have been roughly in line with inflation.

thor

People have been going on about this for years. I remember there have been threads about Wagon wheels and Cadbury creme eggs being similarly downsized. The biggest con of all is supermarket strawberries though.

thor

horizon wrote: »

In all supermarkets the pack size of chicken Breasts has shrunk year on year.
When these first became prevelent on the shelves, they were usually 650gram packs.
They have gradually shrunk by 25grams every 6 months or so, and currently sell in 500gram packs.

The price has generally remained around the £6 per pack, but are usually available on a BOGOF or at half price in one supermarket or another.
I never buy them unless they are "on offer"

Buy one get one free breast reduction? Didn't Jordan have one of them recently?

RHYSDAD

Tesco are sods for doing this. The value range is suddenly shooting through the roof. small individual pizzas a fortnight ago were 46p, yesterday 68p!! a what, 40% price increase. Value milk chocolate, gone from 23p for a 100g bar a few weeks back to 34p now, nearly a 50% price rise. A couple of examples and how the slogan makes me laugh 'Tesco. Helping you spend less' (by charging you more). Well sod you Mr T, we buy potaotes direct from farm at £5 a 25kg sack, the equivalent at todays Tesco price would be £12.80!! We but vegetables direct and i've found a free range egg supplier at, get this, £1.20 for a dozen fresh free range eggs, large size. Ha Ha Ha!!! Don't buy supermarket meat as it's expensive yet tasteless. Buy direct from a butcher, not much cheaper but about a 100 times better in the flavour stakes. Birds eye fish fingers too have done the reduced pack size thing, the 36 pack at £4.99 is now 30 for £4.99!! So now don't buy them. i have no loyalty whatsoever for any supermarket, just use mysupermarket to find the best deals and shop accordingly and also try to source as much food as possible direct from farmers. Much better that way.

on_a_money_mission

I noticed my Hovis loaves seem to be smaller - or the packaging is bigger - one of the two. Is it just me?

thor

Bread loaves usually come in 400g or 800g sizes. Are one of these weights listed on the package? If it is but the actual weight has gone down then Hovis would be in a for a whole heap of trouble. For that reason I don't think they would try and pull such a stunt.

funnyguy

You should check the sizes of quality street/roses tins every christmas.I was having a kitchen clear out of old tins a while back and noticed the earlier they were bought the larger size sweet weight .The size was reducing every year.In a few years time you will just get a bag of revels inside them.

rammy007

I asked my OH to get 2 boxes of celebrations on BOGOF from morrisons for me to take to work,i was shocked how tiny the boxes are.