Seeing is Not Believing – Part 6

Size Matters

Consider the life cycle of a package of cereal. When you first purchase it you get 18 ounces for $1.99. The package has no particular advertising slogans on it. Six months later, although you are not aware of it, while the outer package stays the same, the contents shrink to 17 ounces. Six months after that it’s advertised as “a full pound for the same price.”

Two years after your initial purchase, there is a special: 10% more for the same price. (That’s an extra 1.6 ounces.) Strangely the package is a smaller size, although the contents now fill the inner bag. Once the sale is over, the box remains the same yet the contents have shrunk to 14 ounces. Soon after you see a “new larger size,” 16 ounces, and, glad to be getting more for your money, you may not notice that it’s now selling for $2.49.

Watching the weight of the contents is of major importance when making purchases. Many products come in several sizes, although the larger one is not always the best bargain. One of the finest food stores we have ever visited has been selling carrots at 59¢ a pound with 5-pound bags going for $2.99. When you weigh the 5-pound bag it comes to a few ounces over. Each of the one-pounders is also a few ounces over, and five of them weigh around 6 pounds. Yet together they cost 4 cents less.

Larger sizes, if you are going to use the entire item while it’s still fresh, may be a great deal. You may only need two pounds of ricotta for the lasagna, and it costs $2.99, yet the 3-pound may be selling for the same price or $3.49, still far less per pound than the smaller size. What else can you make with ricotta this week?

Personally, I do not think “churned” ice cream tastes any better than the old-fashioned type. By churning it, there will be more air and less actual product in the package, yet it looks like you are getting more. Therefore the new 56-ounce “half gallons” look the same size that the 64-ounce half gallons did.

Another trick is for the company to make you think they are doing something for you: easy to hold bottles contain less than the previously not so hard to hold ones did. “New and improved” is a sure sign that there is either less in the package, a higher price, or the company has somehow saved itself some cost. How does a brighter color on the package translate to a better deal for the consumer?