4 ms·

That may be true from your youth, but things are getting smaller from a decade ago, candy[0], chips, fountain drinks, etc. https://www.theguardian.com/business

• maxxxxx 9y ago
  This is an interesting dynamic. First they made things much bigger and now they are trying to deliver less at the same price. It would be interesting to see how decisions for pricing and size are made.
  • coldacid 9y ago
    Whatever maximizes profit.
  • freeflight 9y ago
    It's also interesting how difficult they can make comparing sizes/prices for even the simplest things, like for example toilet paper. Even comparing similar quality rolls with each other can sometimes be quite a math exercise, as different manufacturers sell different numbers of rolls, with different numbers of sheets, sometimes even in different sizes per sheet. So how to calculate the best value toilet paper? Based on sheets? Based on average area of paper you get per roll? And who wants to do all that when you are simply looking for something to, literally, wipe your butt with? Sometimes I think having choices can be a really bad non-choice.
    • WhyNotHugo 9y ago
      Huh, we've fixed that in Argentina, because supermarkets have to label the price both by unit, and by a standard measure (eg: kg / litres). So the price tag on toilet papers will display the price per metre, and the price tag on coffee has the price by kg. This makes it trivial to compare same-quality products, and also trivial to compare across different stores. Note that they MUST do this by law, so all supermarkets (and also wholesalers) do this.
  • jdietrich 9y ago
    Eventually the elastic snaps on product downsizing and they relaunch a new "king size" or "sharing" product. For example, the Mars Bar in the UK grew from 49g to 65g then shrank back down to 51g, but they also launched an 84g king size bar. After complaints from the regulators, the king size bar was replaced by "Mars Duo" - two 42g bars in the same pack, ostensibly designed for sharing. Cheaper ingredients can also be substituted by redesigning the product. The chocolate on a Mars bar is thinner than it used to be and the nougat has an airier texture, maintaining product size while reducing ingredient cost. Many chocolate manufacturers have increased the number of SKUs with inclusions like cookie or honeycomb pieces. Sugar, flour and air are cheaper than cocoa, but it feels like you're getting more for your money than if you'd bought a plain chocolate bar.
    • pbhjpbhj 9y ago
      Confectioners have become exceptionally good at aeration it seems. 8 years or more ago the UK high street confectioner Thorntons served lovely chocolates, now they're all aerated foam with a thin shell of chocolate flavoured wax, they honestly turn my stomach whilst once-upon-a-time I'd happily eat a whole box. Of course one's own taste for sweets changes but I think they're more to blame. Once Kraft took over Cadbury we got recipe changes - palm oil - to the standard chocolate; and lots of new bars with inclusions, as you mention, in order to reduce the amount of chocolate but keep the bulk. Nearly all ice-cream now in UK supermarkets seems to boast "soft scoop" which is just the aeration AFAICT, meaning you get "half" the volume of actual ingredients (except air) in the same tub. This sort of cheating with foods seems to have accelerated since the recession.
• astura 9y ago
  See: https://consumerist.com/tag/grocery-shrink-ray-2/ https://consumerist.com/tag/grocery-shrink-ray-2/
  • microcolonel 9y ago
    I saw the Toblerone there and something clicked in my head. A friend brought back a large Toblerone from the UK (I live in Canada) and I noticed that there were rather large gaps between the peaks. The gaps between the peaks on a Toblerone sold here in Toronto are too small to fit a child's finger.
    • kalleboo 9y ago
      This was a recent change (I think in response to increased cocoa prices) http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-37904703 http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-37904703