The magical Grocery Shrink Ray .

no1_vern · October 15th, 2009, 02:04 PM

The Grocer Shrink Ray has been in effect for several years. In this case, Northern has been caught providing what is "claimed" to be the same product, but is actually over 15% smaller.

Quote:

Shrink Ray: Northern Hopes You Don't Notice Your Shrinking Toilet Paper

Many readers have reported the Grocery Shrink Ray strike on Northern toilet paper, but today Jack and Richard sent us photographic evidence, and even calculations of exactly how much paper consumers are losing out on.

At left is a side-by-side roll comparison sent in by Richard. The width of each roll has been decreased from 4.5 inches to 4 inches.

Jack notes:

Quote:

Both say "24 Double Rolls = 48 Regular Rolls" but the previously purchased rolls have 300 sheets each that are 4.5 inches by 4 inches. The new packages have rolls that contain only 286 4 inch by 4 inch rolls. The older rolls had 900 square feet, while the new ones only 762.6 square feet.

So let's see - on each roll I get 137.4 fewer square feet, 14 fewer sheets, and each sheet is half an inch narrower(!), yet the price is approximately the same (about $10 a package on sale, if you have a coupon). Good job, Northern, you've just convinced me to start buying the store brand, or at least some other brand that doesn't try to short me on the size of the rolls.

Apparently, the difference is fairly obvious once the new roll is placed on a spool, so we're not sure who Georgia-Pacific, maker of Northern, thinks they're kidding.

The images in the article make it clear how much is lost in the new packages. You've got to wonder when or if the consumers are going to stop allowing such tactics happen.

Does this bother no one else?? Is the average "joe consumer" really not concerned with the Grocery Shrink Ray??

Gomer · October 15th, 2009, 02:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by no1_vern

The Grocer Shrink Ray has been in effect for several years. In this case, Northern has been caught providing what is "claimed" to be the same product, but is actually over 15% smaller.

The images in the article make it clear how much is lost in the new packages. You've got to wonder when or if the consumers are going to stop allowing such tactics happen.

Does this bother no one else?? Is the average "joe consumer" really not concerned with the Grocery Shrink Ray??

As long as we are "CONSUMERS" first and humans second it doesn't matter. Marketing and advertising sees to that. Our whole economy depends on it. And we depend on our economy to consume to our full potential.

Driven by manipulation and conditioning, most CONSUMERS are too busy consuming to pay much attention to what is really going on around them.

Epidemic · October 15th, 2009, 02:53 PM

What is really going on? Gomer??? What is the reason for the shrinkage?

Steve R Jones · October 15th, 2009, 03:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Epidemic

What is really going on? Gomer??? What is the reason for the shrinkage?

PRICE.

Don't shrink it - charge more to meet payroll etc.

Shrink it - charge the same - it still lowers overhead/increases profitt for the company.

Epidemic · October 15th, 2009, 03:27 PM

Actually if you look at it, of course it is about price.

Yes it is about profits sometimes to increase and sometimes to maintain.

But it is also psychological it is about price points people don't want to pass.

Tp company figures out people are not buying as much product. upon investigation you find out consumers find the price outrageous and are buying lower grade of product. to compete you decide to lower your price but you need to maintain profit...

MTAtech · October 15th, 2009, 03:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Epidemic

What is really going on? Gomer??? What is the reason for the shrinkage?

Obviously, the manufacturer wants to avoid raising the price, so they reduce the size and hope nobody notices.

They've been doing that to candy-bars and potato chips for years. The potato chip bag is the same size but what used to be chips is now just air.

EDIT:
A friend recently told me that Dial Gold soap is now smaller than it used to be. The bottom is now a curve instead of soap.

Gomer · October 15th, 2009, 03:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Epidemic

What is really going on? Gomer??? What is the reason for the shrinkage?

I think it's a matter of marketing, perception, and the bottom line. TP is not a great example, but it will work.

On one hand you need to convince consumers they need to wipe their ass with silk... on the other you need to keep it cheap enough that it can compete with the less silky papers that are using more recycled (cheaper) material. When your materials prices go up, shave 10% width off the roll where it won't really be noticed and slap a new wrapper on the package. Knock 5% off the price and call it "New and Improved" and you're in business.

Take laundry detergent as well... there's another racket. For years, the bigger the bottle the more the perceived value. All you were buying was a bigger bottle with more dilute detergent in it. Now, with packaging and transportation costs, and shelf space at a premium... we have "concentrates". That's great by me... less packaging, and less water being hauled in trucks around the country just for the sake of making a product seem more valuable. But those bastards still screw the consumer... they label the package something like 50 loads. Then they stick a humongous cap on it with invisible gradations on it... one normal load being somewhere near the bottom. People doing laundry just fill up the cap, dump it in, and off they go. Even if they are aware that they are using more, it's fine by them. They've been trained that using more is better and here is this oversized cap that makes it so easy to do so. And they don't notice that they only get 25 loads out of the bottle. If the cap only had one load capacity to it... they wouldn't be so quick to dump three of them in. The end game is that they sell more detergent. I don't care about the waste (to some extent I do). But that just serves as an example of how the shrink ray works in reverse.

My first post in this thread wasn't expressing outrage over shrinkage. It was more speaking to why "joe consumer" isn't too concerned about the shrink ray. Walmart is a fortress of crap. We don't have durable, repairable goods any more because disposable is cheaper. Cheaper means we can insulate our lives with more crap. That happiness that that insulation provides helps us to not pay too much attention to the shrink ray. We're watching that price.

tony_j15 · October 15th, 2009, 03:46 PM

I notice the same thing every day with ink cartridges. People don't want to take the time to do the math and buy the cheap cartridges that get 200 prints, then come back in complaining that their ink never lasts.

SiliconJon · October 15th, 2009, 04:02 PM

www.psyop.tv/psyopanthem

Funny, I wasn't looking for such a transition, but I came across it anyway and thought of this thread.

Feeble minds start flaming my seemingly vague communications.

Theophylact · October 15th, 2009, 04:22 PM

It's been a looong time since a "one-pound" can of coffee was anything like a pound. They're typically 13 ounces now.