Consumer education: undersized packages

Self-tutoring about buying groceries: the tutor mentions a trend he’s noticed.

My earliest memories of consumer issues date from the late 70s, when inflation was high. I don’t know if the sleights-of-hand I started to notice then had always been in use, or if some were new because of the uncertain times. Anyway, some were – and continue to be – pretty sketchy. You learned to look out for them, as well as for new ones.

Pan forward 40 years. Nowadays, one trick I see more and more is the “smaller package” trick. You might notice an attractively-priced item, and decide to buy it. Yet, the package is significantly smaller than you’re used to, albeit in a way that’s not so easy to notice. I think the first time I saw it was with a pack of wieners: I was used to twelve in a pack. I thought I saw a good price on some wieners, so pointed them out to my wife. “There are only 10 in there,” she indicated. She was right, of course. I couldn’t believe someone would pull such a stunt.

The argument probably is that, with the aging population, empty-nesters, and so on, people eat less, so food is sold in some smaller formats. I’m not sure that’s the only motivation….

One product that’s being sold in experimental formats is coffee. An interesting example is the 340g package, since, to my mind, coffee is meant to be sold in multiples of a pound, or 454g. Without looking at the mass of the package, it’s hard to tell, at a glance, the difference between 340g and 454g. Moreover, the 340g bag of coffee often has a “special” price advertised. In fact, 340 is twenty-five percent less than 454. Yet, I’m not sure the price is always twenty-five percent less than it would be for the 454g bag.

Some coffee companies continue to market only 454g bags – I salute them. No coffee’s going stale on me because I bought too much at a time.

Jack of Oracle Tutoring by Jack and Diane, Campbell River, BC.