Secret Food Increase

[Livingalmostlarge]

So has anyone else noticed the secret food increase, where producers are shrinking packages and yet charging the same? That the older, bigger packages are slowly shrinking so we don't notice but get used to then they shrink again?

I wrote about it here, and linked to an actual article. It appears Dreyer's used to sell 2.0 quarts of ice cream for $5.99 but not it's 1.5quarts for the same price.

Another thing is stores are cutting coupons acceptance or doubling down. Just passed Ralph's in southern california no longer doubles above 50 cents.

How are these things affecting your food budgets?

[mcnerd]

Nothing secret about it. Their costs go up just like ours, in many cases, moreso. Making changes that do not effect the out-of-pocket expense of the consumer is just better. Not good, just better. These are tough times and getting worse.

My local news just announced the Ralphs Market was eliminating doubling coupons over $1.00. Not new. They made that change in my store over a year ago. It doesn't affect me much since few coupons are over $1.00 anyway and it doesn't apply to the *free* items. I still save over $50 in coupons every grocery trip which is about 40% of the total bill.

Fortunately I've been stockpiling my pantry for well over a year so all of the price increases and shortages have had little to no effect. I concentrate on the specials and the smaller size packages don't hurt when you get 2 or more for the price of one.

[amyschiff]

it's not necessarily a secret for folks who spend time on blogs like Wisebread, but the very reason they are doing it this way (as opposed to finding some way to cut costs internally) is because they know so many people won't notice

[Megan]

I shop at a grocery store that lists the unit price, so I definitely have noticed the change. Not much can be done about it - I already do my best to keep the grocery budget low.

But Amy's right - a lot of people won't notice.

[lucille]

It really is a rather dirty tactic. They do things this way because so many people won't notice because they don't read the volume or weight of a packaged product. I see it everywhere, crackers, ice cream, toilet paper. Now if I see a redesigned package that is the first thing I look at is the quantity. One I found amusing was in the Triscuts display they now had Triscut thins. The thins were an ounce less food than the normal triscuts but were the same price.

Where I have not seen it yet is in things like fresh vegetables, meat or dairy. I think those are more closely regulated or standardized. I have seen more meat sold by the piece rather than the pound though.

I think companies do it because if customers saw the price increase they would buy less. A good percentage of shoppers look at the dollar amount and throw it in the cart because people are busy and don't always look deeper.

[amyschiff]

I've noticed price/lb go up on some produce. bananas are easiest to spot. they've gone up to over 50 cents/lb lately

[lucille]

Originally Posted by amyschiff

I've noticed price/lb go up on some produce. bananas are easiest to spot. they've gone up to over 50 cents/lb lately

Bananas are close to $1 a pound lately here, they used to be $.20 to $.59 a few months ago.
We have noticed that just about all produce has gone up but at least those are a little easier to spot. I am much more aware of anything possibly going to waste these days.

I about fell over when Sam's club raised the price of pork loin by almost $1 a pound in one week.

[Glue]

Our Piggly-Wiggly daily sells bananas for .69/lb but on Thursdays they drop to .39/lb. Been that way for years. On occasion, they will bag up older fruit and sell them for .10/lb.
If you store bananas in paper bags, they will ripen but remain firm. Same thing with nectarines, which are selling at Wal-Mart for .88/lb. So far, I have been steadfast in not buying any piece of fruit priced above .99/lb.

[purplefdu]

People definitely don't notice unless they read the package in the first place, which most people don't. Its a dirty tactic indeed, especially when they don't run out of the old size and they are sitting next to each other on the shelf.

[mcnerd]

Yes dirty tactic for sure. Instead they should just increased their prices for each product and made it almost impossible to afford buying the products at all.