New ripoffs at the grocery store (pop/soda)

[Brian Elfert]

Coke has come out with new 8 packs of pop/soda in various flavors. They are 8 oz cans instead of 12 oz cans.

The kicker is the regular 12 packs of Coke products are the same price as the new 8 packs! It would be far less expensive to pour out 1/3 of a 12 oz can than to buy the "new" 8 oz cans.

Does Coke think that consumers don't pay attention to unit pricing especially in today's economic times?

[Karl Card]

about a week ago i went to waldo world to get groceries... boy was i in for a surprise... not many but more than a hand full of instances where Great Value brand was higher than the national brand... and quite a few of the national brand prices hadnt changed but boy the size of the package was unreal... I remember when kraft mac and cheese was about 33 cents a box and would be enough for a family of 5 in addition to a meat and vege and bread.... wow now it would hardly feed a family of three... and great value pasta has the same price as the old package of great value but the amount in the box has been reduced... I have a freezer and I really need to start growing my own i think...

I would plant maters, cucumbers and celery and put hot chilis between each plant..

[Jim Koepke]

great value pasta has the same price as the old package of great value but the amount in the box has been reduced... I have a freezer and I really need to start growing my own i think...

Every time I try to grow pasta it comes out all spirally. Good spaghetti and elbow macaroni just won't grow in our soil.

Here is an old video of the Swiss spaghetti harvest from 1957:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8638140580645535068#

A lot of food items actually cost less than the packaging.

I have heard that they have done studies to indicate that most consumers would rather have the amount of product lowered than the price going up.

Must be some pretty stupid people to not understand that that is the same as prices going up. Usually not to long after dropping the size, the price goes up anyway.

I noticed this with ice cream and yogurt. It happened with many brands of coffee years ago. Has happened with chocolate bars at different times.

jim

[Garth Keel]

Farm in Italy: 2" wide, three miles long, good for raising spaghetti. :D The old jokes are the best, you know right where to laugh!

[Charlie Reals]

Every time I try to grow pasta it comes out all spirally. Good spaghetti and elbow macaroni just won't grow in our soil.

Here is an old video of the Swiss spaghetti harvest from 1957:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8638140580645535068#

A lot of food items actually cost less than the packaging.

I have heard that they have done studies to indicate that most consumers would rather have the amount of product lowered than the price going up.

Must be some pretty stupid people to not understand that that is the same as prices going up. Usually not to long after dropping the size, the price goes up anyway.

I noticed this with ice cream and yogurt. It happened with many brands of coffee years ago.
Has happened with chocolate bars at different times.

jim

As a kid I remember when Hershey went to a dime for the nickle chocolate bars. 3 musketeers were far bigger at a dime than they are at a dollar. Talk about inflation lol

[David Weaver]

All in all, I don't think coke prices have gone up much. I remember when Festival Foods put in a store near me as a kid, probably more than 25 years ago, and coke 2 liter bottles were 49 cents. People bought them like the sky was falling.

Inflation adjusted price of that is now probably a dollar. Coke was normally a dollar for a 2 liter back then, anyway.

What I don't like is how the pricing structure is done now (at least at the grocery stores now). Absolutely ridiculous regular price and sale prices half that. But if you want something for a party and you go and nothing is on sale, then you have to make a separate stop elsewhere - just stupid. I'm sure the store makes out better that way, or they wouldn't do it.

Next option up the street for me is target, and they do the same thing.

They've always had dumb options for bottle size or carton size, it just changes. Back when I was little, they made 10 ounce stubby bottles. They were the same price as 16 ounce bottles (they were glass, all of them, but with plastic caps like they have now - not the old returnable style bottles).

We've cut way down on it, anyway, until the smoke clears about the aspartame and the phosphoric acid.

[Joe Pelonio]

Fresh made pasta tastes a lot better than the old dried stuff from the store, and it's easy, fun to make. I have had a cranking pasta machine for nearly 20 years.

We have a big freezer, and make a monthly run to Costco and Sam's Club. Then my wife checks the ads and we buy only sale items that are really good bargains at the regular grocery stores, except if we run out of something we need in a hurry. To me the worst trick was reducing the size of ice cream from 1/2 gallon to 1.75 pints, some even 1.5 pints,
but it looks the same so you don't notice without reading it.

[Jason Roehl]

I want to know where all the GREEN outrage is over this! Assuming we consume roughly the same amount of perishable goods from year to year (with a slight increase due to population increases), but the package size goes down from time to time (please give me my 1/2 gallon of ice cream back...1.5 quarts is silly), then it takes progressively more packaging to deliver the same amount of goods, some of which surely does not get recycled.

Oh, well, since my wife started couponing almost 2 years ago, our monthly food bill was essentially cut in half. With 3 growing kids, the oldest being just months from the teenage years, I suspect that in a few years those savings will go away...

BTW, it takes us 2 boxes of Kraft Macaroni'n'Cheese to feed the 5 of us (with accompanying meat and veggie dishes), and very little is left over.

[Charlie Reals]

I want to know where all the GREEN outrage is over this! Assuming we consume roughly the same amount of perishable goods from year to year (with a slight increase due to population increases), but the package size goes down from time to time (please give me my 1/2 gallon of ice cream back...1.5 quarts is silly), then it takes progressively more packaging to deliver the same amount of goods, some of which surely does not get recycled.

Oh, well, since my wife started couponing almost 2 years ago, our monthly food bill was essentially cut in half. With 3 growing kids, the oldest being just months from the teenage years, I suspect that in a few years those savings will go away...


BTW, it takes us 2 boxes of Kraft Macaroni'n'Cheese to feed the 5 of us (with accompanying meat and veggie dishes), and very little is left over.

I will eat 0ne box of KMC by myself with all the trimmings. Good stuff:D:D:D

[Mitchell Andrus]

In 1953 my dad had his house built for $12,900.00.

I just received an estimate for a pavers patio at my house... $12,500.00. Just a patio.

I make more than my dad did in 1953. It's all relative.
.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I won't allow KMC in the house unless my granddaughter from Phoenix is visiting. I still won't eat it.

We survived for 3 months on just that in the fall of 1970. I was a young PO3 at the time with a wife and 2 kids. We could buy it for $0.05/box IIRC. One box fed the 4 of us. In November when I reenlisted, I got nearly $9,000 and we added to our diet.:D

[Brian Elfert]

All in all, I don't think coke prices have gone up much. I remember when Festival Foods put in a store near me as
Coke prices not up?? In 2008 I could get Coke and Pepsi for $3 a 12 pack almost all the time. In 2009 the sale price was often $3.66 for a 12 pack with very rare sales at $3 and below.

This year pop prices have really moderated. During the first few months of 2010 I could get Coke/Pepsi as cheap as $1.99 a 12 pack every other week. Walmart was doing 24 packs for $5 for spring and early summer. Now that the real heat has arrived pop prices have gone way back up. Luckily, Coke is $2.75 this week at Target.

The regular price on 12 packs of pop at Walmart/Target is $4.50 and up. I've noticed that pop prices vary regionally. I'm in the Minneapolis area and our prices tend to be high compared to the Southern parts of the USA.

I run a concession stand once a month so I follow pop prices every week and buy it when on sale. I don't stock up too much especially on diet pop as diet goes bad in a few months.

[Matt Meiser]

I make more than my dad did in 1953. It's all relative..

When I graduated from college and bought my first new car my dad was outraged at what it cost (and he worked for the company that made it!) I asked what he paid for his first new car and what he made at his first job. The car price/salary ratio was within 1%.

[John Coloccia]

re: soda

I'm guessing it appeals to parent who want to give their kids less soda in their school bag. Don't get me started on the soda in the schoolbag thing. That's just my best guess at the target audience.

[Brian Elfert]

I understand why folks might want smaller pop cans, but it really irks me that they charge the same for 8 smaller cans as for 12 larger cans. I don't necessarily expect them to charge less for the 8 oz cans, but charging more is ridiculous.

[David Weaver]

Coke prices not up?? In 2008 I could get Coke and Pepsi for $3 a 12 pack almost all the time. In 2009 the sale price was often $3.66 for a 12 pack with very rare sales at $3 and below.

This year pop prices have really moderated. During the first few months of 2010 I could get Coke/Pepsi as cheap as $1.99 a 12 pack every other week. Walmart was doing 24 packs for $5 for spring and early summer. Now that the real heat has arrived pop prices have gone way back up. Luckily, Coke is $2.75 this week at Target.

The regular price on 12 packs of pop at Walmart/Target is $4.50 and up. I've noticed that pop prices vary regionally. I'm in the Minneapolis area and our prices tend to be high compared to the Southern parts of the USA.

I run a concession stand once a month so I follow pop prices every week and buy it when on sale. I don't stock up too much especially on diet pop as diet goes bad in a few months.

Not up as in not generally up vs. inflation over a long period.

There didn't used to be sales everywhere all the time when they were 99 cents a bottle standard price. If there was a sale, they were 79 cents or 89 cents. The market has changed some, and if you need to buy when there isn't a sale, you get smacked. That's just the way it is.

But, in general, I don't think I've ever paid less on an inflation adjusted value. For as long as I can remember, coke and pepsi have been effectively $4-$6 for a 24 pack when they're on sale or for sale at the gas station. They weren't $2-$3 for the same thing 20+ years ago.

[David Weaver]

I won't allow KMC in the house unless my granddaughter from Phoenix is visiting. I still won't eat it.



Same here. None in the house, and especially none for the daughter when she's old enough. There are worse things she could eat, I guess, but there are certainly much better, too.

We had it plenty when I was a kid, but mom wouldn't spring for the kraft if there was a generic that was cheaper. A lot of those generic versions were pretty bad in those days!

[David Weaver]

I understand why folks might want smaller pop cans, but it really irks me that they charge the same for 8 smaller cans as for 12 larger cans. I don't necessarily expect them to charge less for the 8 oz cans, but charging more is ridiculous.

Who are they targeting with those? I'm assuming that they're small doses for drink mixing folks. I always thought they were dumb, too, and the first time I saw them, I think they had a sale tag strapped to the wall that said "perfect size for mixed drinks" or something.

Some things are priced as an implicit tax on stupidity - for the individual who couldn't figure out that the mixed drink to can ratio didn't have to be 1 to 1.

[Matt Meiser]

Smaller cans may actually cost more to produce. Like someone said the product in the container is pretty cheap. But a filler line probably doesn't fill 8oz cans much faster than 12oz cans. They may actually pay more for the cans due to buying in smaller quantity. And lower sales volume frequently equates to a higher price--the more you sell the cheaper you can make it.

[Glenn Vaughn]

You might also notice that other methods are being used to squeeze extra money from the consumer. Many time the "Economy" size has a higher price per pound/ounce than the "regular" size.

Remember when beef was aged before sale? Now almost all beef (and pork as well) is CryoPacked - vacuum-sealed and frozen before it is even chilled. This is effectively a 10-15% increased in weight over what it used to be when sold. Then to add insult to injury they add "a solution" to "enhance flavor". Chicken can have as much as 30% added.

In the good old days frying a steak would just put fat into the pan. Now you get quite a bit of water - paid for at the same price as the steak. I pretty much buy beef when it is reduced in price because of approaching expiration dates - it is the same as aging.

The other trend that I see is most obvious at WalMart and deals with shrimp; It is getting increasingly difficult to find raw shrimp at WalMart. The precooked does not have the flavor or texture of shrimp you have cooked yourself.

As for the consumer wanting reduced size instead of higher prices - when is the last time you saw an advertisement that said "New smaller size to save you money". Size reduction is always done quitely - and the pckage usually s\tays the same size for a while.

[Jim Rimmer]

Coke prices not up?? In 2008 I could get Coke and Pepsi for $3 a 12 pack almost all the time. In 2009 the sale price was often $3.66 for a 12 pack with very rare sales at $3 and below.

This year pop prices have really moderated. During the first few months of 2010 I could get Coke/Pepsi as cheap as $1.99 a 12 pack every other week. Walmart was doing 24 packs for $5 for spring and early summer. Now that the real heat has arrived pop prices have gone way back up. Luckily, Coke is $2.75 this week at Target.

The regular price on 12 packs of pop at Walmart/Target is $4.50 and up. I've noticed that pop prices vary regionally. I'm in the Minneapolis area and our prices tend to be high compared to the Southern parts of the USA.
When I was in the Navy (and poor PO3 like Ken F.), I started drinking beer when Coke was $1.50 per 6 pack and Old Milwaukee was $1.00 per 6 pack (Navy Exchange, 1971).

[/QUOTE] When I graduated from college and bought my first new car my dad was outraged at what it cost (and he worked for the company that made it!) I asked what he paid for his first new car and what he made at his first job. The car price/salary ratio was within 1%. [/QUOTE]

One of us needs to check our math. At 1% ratio, a person making $100K would be paying $1000 for a car. :confused:. Even in 1969, my first new car was more like 50% of annual salary and still is today except now we have two cars. Actually LOML's car was closer to 25% and my loaded F150 was closer to 38%.

[David Weaver]

I think what he means is if it was a 3k car and a 6k salary, it's very close to being a 30k car for a 60k salary now.

With the comparison of those ratios being within 1%.

I'd agree with that.

My mom's first car in '66 was a galaxie 500 fastback with a 390 - a huge "turnpike cruiser". It was $3100. Her salary when she got out of college was about $6000.

i don't know what her salary was when she quit, but her last car was around $30k sticker, it was maybe a little lower ratio, but she was on a union pay scale, so there are a lot of merit increases in her pay. It was probably in the $70k range (she's been retired for a bit).

Built into that new car, though, is a whole lot more than was ever in the galaxie 500 she had. Much safer, more reliable and expected to last a lot longer.

We certainly (those who still have jobs) have more disposable income if we use the same spending discretion that our parents did.

Trouble with a lot of people these days is they spend money on a house that is a much larger multipler of their income, is larger than their parents ever had, and has much nicer stuff in it, have two car payments, and then they claim they are poorer than their parents were because they don't have extra cash.

[Mitchell Andrus]

How soon we forget that the 8oz size goes back to the 70's or so. It disappeared.

The 12oz will remain the standard as the 8oz is phased out - again.
.

[Pat Germain]

Remember when beef was aged before sale? Now almost all beef (and pork as well) is CryoPacked - vacuum-sealed and frozen before it is even chilled. This is effectively a 10-15% increased in weight over what it used to be when sold. Then to add insult to injury they add "a solution" to "enhance flavor". Chicken can have as much as 30% added.

I depends on where you buy the meat. WalMart and Target, for example, do not have butchers on site. All their meat is processed and packaged at a central facility. Then it's shipped to the stores already under celophane. In order to do this, the must add a preservative. But I don't think it's frozen. The "solution" is actually a preservative. I refuse to buy meat with the "solution" added. I think it's lousy.

Ironically, although WalMart doesn't have butchers, Sam's Club does. The meat at Sam's Club and Costco is pretty good and very reasonably priced. But I typically can't use it in large amounts. And I don't like to freeze meat. It makes it spongey. Most grocery stores like Safeway, Ralph's and Kroger have their own butchers so most the meat doesn't have preservatives added.

As for soda pop, again, Sam's Club and Costco are good places to buy it in bulk. I just fill the fridge in my garage. Although, I've cut back on my soda pop intake lately. So a case of soda from Costco now lasts a looooong time.

[Chris Damm]

Coke has come out with new 8 packs of pop/soda in various flavors. They are 8 oz cans instead of 12 oz cans.

The kicker is the regular 12 packs of Coke products are the same price as the new 8 packs! It would be far less expensive to pour out 1/3 of a 12 oz can than to buy the "new" 8 oz cans.

Does Coke think that consumers don't pay attention to unit pricing especially in today's economic times?

The 12 packs are loss leaders. It's to get you into the store. It's been done for a long time. It's just like happy hour at the bar, it gets you there so you can spend more money!

[Matt Meiser]

I think what he means is if it was a 3k car and a 6k salary, it's very close to being a 30k car for a 60k salary now.

Yes, that's what I meant.

[David Weaver]

Back then, it was in returnable bottles wasn't it?

They used to have them in our school for functions. You could get them for a quarter, but if you were thirsty, you needed two of them.

I think what coke has gotten a lot more aggressive on is making profit off of stuff that has nothing to do with selling cans and bottles at the grocery store. Charging large amounts for a fridge with bottles in it at a restaurant, or nailing vending machine owners to restock them - things that the end consumer won't see. We see a machine with $1.50 bottles in it, and we criticize the establishment with the machine, and they know that - but my understanding is you have a contract to have that machine and you pay the price that coke wants when they bring you stock for it, and that price is higher than the grocery store price (at least for a restaurant near me that we frequent - they pay a lot more for their bottles than I pay at the grocery store).

[Pat Germain]

Even at the inflated price in the smaller container, soda pop is still very cheap. That's why many lower income families drink a lot of it. And that's why many lower income areas have so many overweight people.

[Dave Wagner]

Even Girl Scout cookie boxes are smaller for the same price.......geesh.

[Dan Hintz]

Even at the inflated price in the smaller container, soda pop is still very cheap. That's why many lower income families drink a lot of it. And that's why many lower income areas have so many overweight people.
Water is even cheaper, so I don't buy that argument 100%... more like 50%. I think it has to do with ignorance on the problems heavy soda intake can have (such as your last point, obesity). That, combined with a lackadaisical attitude towards pushing kids to eat healthy...

[Pat Germain]

Water is even cheaper, so I don't buy that argument 100%... more like 50%. I think it has to do with ignorance on the problems heavy soda intake can have (such as your last point, obesity). That, combined with a lackadaisical attitude towards pushing kids to eat healthy...

Good point about water. (Tap water, anyway.) But eating healthy is more expensive than eating poorly. Milk, eggs, cheese and fresh fruits and vegetables are more expensive than soda, pop tarts, cheese doodles and frozen chicken nuggets.

[Harold Burrell]

I want to know where all the GREEN outrage is over this! Assuming we consume roughly the same amount of perishable goods from year to year (with a slight increase due to population increases), but the package size goes down from time to time (please give me my 1/2 gallon of ice cream back...1.5 quarts is silly), then it takes progressively more packaging to deliver the same amount of goods, some of which surely does not get recycled...

I try and do my part in all of this garbage/landfill issue.

I burn everything.

;)

[Glenn Vaughn]

I depends on where you buy the meat. WalMart and Target, for example, do not have butchers on site. All their meat is processed and packaged at a central facility. Then it's shipped to the stores already under celophane. In order to do this, the must add a preservative. But I don't think it's frozen. The "solution" is actually a preservative. I refuse to buy meat with the "solution" added. I think it's lousy.


It is not just WalMArt and Target. I see lots of CryoPacked meats at Safeway and City Market (Kroger Owned). When Safeway started advertising that the Ranchers Reserve beef was aged I contacted them and was told that only some of the premium cuts were aged and those for only a couple of days.

[Glenn Vaughn]

How about the advertisements that scream in huge letters "Absolutely Everything On Sale" then in fine print somewhere there are exceptions - many times almost every product they sell. Recently I have seen some that have the asterisk that denots there are exceptions/restrictions but nothing in the ad to explain - you have to go to the store to find out what is excluded.

[Bryan Morgan]

Coke has come out with new 8 packs of pop/soda in various flavors. They are 8 oz cans instead of 12 oz cans.

The kicker is the regular 12 packs of Coke products are the same price as the new 8 packs! It would be far less expensive to pour out 1/3 of a 12 oz can than to buy the "new" 8 oz cans.

Does Coke think that consumers don't pay attention to unit pricing especially in today's economic times?

Or they alter the packaging to be deceptive. I get the same fish food all the time. It used to have a flat bottom. Now the can looks the same on the outside but if you look at the bottom it is very concave up into the container. This takes away at least 25% of the volume of the container. Same price too...

I just want to know when honesty and integrity were replaced with pure greed? :mad:

[Bryan Morgan]

How about the advertisements that scream in huge letters "Absolutely Everything On Sale" then in fine print somewhere there are exceptions - many times almost every product they sell. Recently I have seen some that have the asterisk that denots there are exceptions/restrictions but nothing in the ad to explain - you have to go to the store to find out what is excluded.


*ahemRocklerahem*

:D

[Chris Padilla]

...pop tarts, cheese doodles...

Mmmmm, pop tarts and cheese doodles....

[Mitchell Andrus]

I just want to know when honesty and integrity were replaced with pure greed? :mad:

Sometime in the spring of 759 BC. A merchant tossed a bad apple into a barrel and.... viola!
.

[Mitchell Andrus]

Mmmmm, pop tarts and cheese doodles....

Brown sugar, cinnamon.
.

[David Weaver]

I just want to know when honesty and integrity were replaced with pure greed? :mad:

I don't think they ever existed in the context of someone selling things to people they don't know. If they did, we wouldn't have notches on the edges of coins, etc. I would imagine in the past, the overall average of deceptiveness was actually worse since people could always understand that if you rip someone off a little and they don't know it, you still have more money than you would were you honest.

Now's a better time to buy "things" than ever, that I can tell. Ultimately, the information is all there, even if someone tries to wrap it up differently. Weight or volume is always on the package, etc.

[Harlan Coverdale]

I understand why folks might want smaller pop cans, but it really irks me that they charge the same for 8 smaller cans as for 12 larger cans. I don't necessarily expect them to charge less for the 8 oz cans, but charging more is ridiculous.

They charge extra because it's fewer calories per can, but the same great taste. :p

[Matt Meiser]

Or they alter the packaging to be deceptive. I get the same fish food all the time. It used to have a flat bottom. Now the can looks the same on the outside but if you look at the bottom it is very concave up into the container. This takes away at least 25% of the volume of the container. Same price too...

I just want to know when honesty and integrity were replaced with pure greed? :mad:

Only that dish means all the same filler setup (minus some volume of food) same cases, minor changes to the molds for the containers, minor label changes, etc. to lower the cost so they can keep the price the same which is what the average consumer wants. Or they could redesign the container at a cost of millions of dollars and have to make it even smaller to offset the cost of the container redesign.

None of this is any big secret. I've seen web/newspaper articles about it a few times. Food, energy, raw material, and transportation costs have all gone up. Basic logic says the selling price of the finish product is going to be more except that the average consumer would rather get less than pay more so that's what they are doing.

[Pat Germain]

*ahemRocklerahem*

:D

And it's not just them. I get flyers in the mail from other dealers all time with "EVERYTHING IS ON SALE*"

*Excludes Power Tools. Excludes Festool, Leigh Nielsen and Forrest.

[David Weaver]

And it's not just them. I get flyers in the mail from other dealers all time with "EVERYTHING IS ON SALE*"

*Excludes Power Tools. Excludes Festool, Leigh Nielsen and Forrest.

* Excludes anything not made in china, and even some things that are...

There's a rockler right up the street from me, but I really don't get much there, anymore, because most of the stuff there now seems to be like jiggy plastic stuff where even the sale price has me wondering.

And the lumber is in one of two categories:
* inexpensive, but not very good (like maple for $4 a bd foot or oak for $4)
* reasonably nice looking but at a price that I wouldn't dream of paying

The only exception might be getting a can of wax with a coupon.

[Dave Lehnert]

Like one of the other post said. Pop is often a loss leader item. Drop the price on the 12 packs and it now is cheaper.
Because of the lost leader, it is not they charge more for the 8oz. Just the 12 packs are selling for the cheap.
You will often notice when pop is on a good deal there is a limit. Thats because other stores know it is way below cost and come in to wipe you out. Cary-out owners pay people to come in to get the pop.

[Brian Elfert]

The interesting thing in this case is the 8 packs and the 12 packs are both on sale for the same price. I would understand the cost difference more if one was sale and one was regular price. 12 packs and 6 packs of 24 oz bottles are sometimes the same price, but they at least both have the same number of ounces.