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Thursday, July 10, 2008

Food / Ethics Getting Screwed at the Grocery Store

Posted by Patrick Alan Coleman on Thu, Jul 10, 2008 at 11:25 AM

No, I'm not talking about cruising for sex in the cereal aisle. However, when you bend over to reach that box of Cheerios on the bottom shelf, General Mills is taking the opportunity to have their way with your wallet. You may not even know it, until you get that creepy "I've been used" feeling a few days later.

You see, when you're walking through your local grocery store, you may think that the fear of rising food costs is overblown. After all, the price for that jar of mayonnaise hasn't changed. Look closer. What has changed is the amount you are getting for the price.

So, that box of Cheerios looks the same size from the front, but it's a whole lot thinner than it was before. Products in the grocery store have been shrinking by 2-3oz per package.

The trend of companies giving consumers less for the same price will not likely end soon. But now, at least, when that post-shopping "used" feeling hits you, you know exactly where to place the blame.

Here's a report from NBC, just to bring the point home in all it's television newsy glory


This will not stand!

 

Commenting was not available when this article was originally published.

Comments (7) RSS

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1
This is a real problem because Americans are dangerously thin!
Posted by mercurycritic on July 10, 2008 at 11:57 AM · Report
2
This has been going on for years. I first noticed it a couple of years back when Dryers / Bryers changed there ice cream packaging from 1/2 gallion to 1.75 quarts.
Now why this is suddenly big news when there are actually important news stories going on uncovered is the real mystery.
Posted by MonkeyBeat on July 10, 2008 at 12:45 PM · Report
3
They are acting like this is such a big deal, but most people are going to complain and feel cheated, then buy the same stuff anyways.
Buy local!
Posted by sas on July 10, 2008 at 1:00 PM · Report
4
I knew there was a reason why I've always thought (and now think more than ever) that cereal is a rip.
Posted by ROM on July 10, 2008 at 1:35 PM · Report
5
"The trend of companies giving consumers less for the same price will not likely end soon."

And has been going on for a long, long time.
Back when I was a kid...
Posted by pdxpipeline on July 10, 2008 at 5:02 PM · Report
6
Now I can't just pop in a bag of popcorn into my microwave, hit the cute little Popcorn button and walk away.

That will burn the shit out of it now because the bags are some fraction of an ounce smaller. I have to actually stand there and listen for the pop like the animation on the bag tells me to.

What is this 1988?

I have things to go pirate off the internet and commercials to skip over with my TiVo, I don't have time to stand around willy-nilly for 2 1/2 minutes.

Now I have to go buy a new microwave... thanks Bush!
Posted by DemonJuice on July 10, 2008 at 5:13 PM · Report
7
Memo to American businesses: Use the metric system more often. It will seriously fuck everyone up.
Posted by couisinluver69 on July 11, 2008 at 1:38 AM · Report

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