FOOD PRODUCT MANUFACTURES SALES PSYCHOLOGY
My bride and myself have purchased our fair share of cookbooks during our 55
years of marriage and most remain on shelves collecting dust, whereas
our favorites are well used and worn.
I have my own personal cookbook which is a compilation of various recipes we
enjoy and those that I have modified adapted and created myself which are
kept in a very large 3 D-Ring notebook under sheet protectors. Many of those
recipes do go far back in time, especially the ones collected from turn of
the 20th century cookbooks, etc., and it appears the unit of measure has
changed over the years. It seems that a pound is no longer a pound as
evidenced by the multitudes of products that manufacturers package and sell.
For example; the standard unit of measure for bacon was one pound or
16 ounces. Now the more common package has shrunk to 12 ounces and
sometimes 9 ounces. Not that a pound doesn’t weight a pound but
manufactures are slowly decreasing the package size yet attempt to keep the
price the same so as to trick our mind into thinking the price has not gone
up which in reality it has.
With recessionary and inflationary times prevalent, I realize
manufactures have to stay in the game and use whatever sales psychology that
is best for them to maintain and/or increase gross sales and reducing the
package size is apparently working for them since most manufacturers have
gotten onto the same
bandwagon!
I have many recipes that use soups, canned vegetables, etc., and the old
standard was a can size that weighed 14.5 ounces of which soups now
including the name recognized brand like
Campbell’s has decreased
to 10.5 ounces for their Cream of Chicken and Cream of Mushroom soups and
others. This presents a problem with a recipe since you now have to purchase
an additional can and will be left with a partial can if you follow the
recipe or if you increase the recipe to double which might be
too much for that particular recipe.
Over the years, I have noticed that
Ritz Crackers
seemed to have gotten smaller in diameter and have
definitely gotten smaller in package size (length). The
original package was very rectangular in shape (height or length wise) and
the latest box I purchased was square with much shorter length sleeves of
Ritz Crackers with the same number of original sleeves, yet the price remains the same. The package price remained
the same yet the product is now more expensive!Some of the name brand
granulated sugar; e.g.,
Dixie Crystals is now 4 pound packaged instead of the ole 5 pound bag,
yet the price stayed the same. I have found some of the store brands
are just as good and you can get the 5 lb. bag for their 4 lb. price!
Brand name ice cream half gallon size has shrunk to 1.5 quarts. The
list goes on and on.
Hillshire Farms smoked sausages
of all types are no longer packaged 16 ounces but now are 14, 13, 12 and some
are 9 ounces to the package with the more expensive cuts of meat packaged
the smallest. Like I said earlier, when you create a
recipe based on a standardized manufacturer’s package from the past and then
it continues to get smaller each year, you have to purchase additional units
of measure which many times leads to excess waste and does increase the cost.
On the other end of the spectrum, manufacturers will sometimes use their
original size package and simply reduce the quantity of the product inside
the box with the same end result. I have noticed several different
items packaged this way and cereal is one of them with the sealed product
with air pumped into the package to fill it out.....grin if you must!
Consumers are at the mercy of the manufacturers and the manufacturers certainly are in a
position to package their products as they see fit probably thinking the
consumer is not alert or aware of those subtitle changes but they are very
wrong indeed!
Many brand name comparisons of canned fruit and vegetables reveal that
manufacturers will add more liquid to the canned product which reduces the
actual amount of product received which increases their profits. Also,
the big name brand products carry a much larger price tag because of the
tremendous amount of advertising they do in order to sell their high dollar
products. Surprisingly, the big name brands like Green Giant and
DelMonte are at the top of the list and brands such as Great Value will many
times yield more product for your money. It depends on the actual
product you are purchasing and it doesn't hurt to do a side by side
comparison just to fulfill your own consumer curiosity. There are some
brand names that I remain loyal to simply because the product IMHO
(in my humble opinion) is superior, but then again each of us have a certain
amount of psychological bias
which there is no cure for.
Many specialty products are only available from a certain manufacturer and
some generic or store brands are not up to par; therefore you have no choice
to boycott that product but as the ole Marine Corps adage,
“Adapt and Overcome” but it
doesn’t hurt to vent once in a while……..grin if
you must!
Web published by Bill aka Mickey Porter 08-15-13 and updated on 03-22-2023.
A FEW
PIXS ADDED
During my last couple of shopping trips
to Wal-Mart in Rockingham, NC I noticed that the standard container of
Maxwell House coffee had shrunk quite a bit and checked an older empty
container when I got home and got around to it.
The container on
the left weighs 1 lb. 14.6 oz. and on the right, 1 lb. 8.5 oz. BTW,
the price did not decease either!
Zesta saltine crackers kept the same
size box package, but reduced the contents of each sleeve of crackers inside
the box.
The last package of Zesta saltine crackers I purchased before this one, the
sleeve length was at or near to top of the inside of the box. I plan
to try a generic brand aka Great Value brand and see if there is any
different in the packaging and of the course the taste.
Web page updated by Bill aka Mickey
Porter on 03-22-2023.
LEAVING ON A SPIRITUAL NOTE
If you do not know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, please take this
moment to accept him by Faith into your Life, whereby Salvation will be
attained.
Ephesians 2:8 - 2:9 8 For by grace are ye saved through faith;
and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest
any man should boast.
Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the
evidence of things not seen.”
Romans 10:17 “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the
word of God.”
Open this
link about faith in the King James Bible.
Romans 10:9 “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord
Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the
dead, thou shalt be saved.”
Open this
link of Bible Verses About Salvation, King
James Version Bible (KJV).
Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and
sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of
soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the
thoughts and intents of the heart.”
Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is
eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of
God;”
Micah 6:8 “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth
the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk
humbly with thy God?”
Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ which
strengtheneth me."
