8 ms·

The same is true of coffee. A 1 pound coffee can is the same size it always was but now has 10 or 11 ounces of coffee in it.

mywittyname 7y ago
This is especially annoying when you realize that ever brand is different. There will be seven different brands of coffee in identically-sized bags, yet one may have 5.7oz of coffee and another will be 12.8oz.
- OldSchoolJohnny 7y ago
  Is it possible they are trying to sell for the same price but with wildly varying costs of each varietal of coffee? I.E. they want to sell a bag for 15 bucks across the board but some beans cost them far more than others to source?
  - munk-a 7y ago
    It still seems purely disingenuous to package them deceptively to appear to be the same quantity.
    - zamadatix 7y ago
      Up to some value of volumeDelta * productCount it actually makes sense to use the same container due to sourcing/manufacturing cost from the variance so I wouldn't say purely disingenuous, there is real reasoning behind some of it... it's just marketing gets in the way of when you should actually add that second container size i.e. it's costing you more to always use the bigger container but the marketing department says the increase in sales due to confusion outweighs it.
      - anon1m0us 7y ago
        So then why not just keep putting the same amount of coffee in the can? It's on us though. They're lying to us to get our money, our labor, our consent. We let them. Why?
        TeMPOraL 7y ago
        Because it pays, and for some reason not many people have the guts to say marketing is rotten to the core, and advertising is cancer on the society. Maybe because the market encourages it structurally. Lying costs little and yields good profits, so acting immorally gives competitive advantage.
        zamadatix 7y ago
        Because demand curves don't work like that unless you have a highly inelastic good. With normal goods keeping quantity constant as price changes puts you on a suboptimal point on the demand curve. Coffee's price certainly hasn't been inelastic and changing can size at every spike would have netted you decent production cost increases instead of savings: http://www.aboutinflation.com/_/rsrc/1368022029715/coffee-vs-inflation/Coffee_Inflation_Adjusted_Historical_Chart_April_2013.png http://www.aboutinflation.com/_/rsrc/1368022029715/coffee-vs... The varying of quantities in the same sized container is not the problem and is certainly not illogical. The problem is when we allow marketing departments to lie/cheat/fool the product onto a different portion of the demand curve instead of letting the $/amount naturally flow back when price decreases or when it makes sense to switch to cheaper containers.
r00fus 7y ago
This is why I prefer buying bulk when I can (with reusable containers/bags [1]). Bulk Coffee + airtight/cool storage hasn't resulted in bad coffee for me. Why put up with deceptive packaging? [1] Yes I know that most of that product came arrived in even more packaging, but doing what I can for now.
- anon1m0us 7y ago
  I guess what I am learning about myself lately is that I have the power to lie to people and convince them to do things they don't want to do or don't know better. People know this about me. They know it almost instantly. I sense it in them. I sense the same about other people. They have that power over me. However, I make an effort not to. Or, when I do, I work especially hard to steer them in the direction of their goals or somewhere that will benefit them. Even if it's at my own expense sometimes and that can be sad or disappointing. And so, through that, I have come to resent people who don't think that way. Who think, "People won't look at the number of ounces in the can, they'll just see it's the same size and think they're getting the same amount." It's a lie. Deception. It's wrong. But yet, we allow it in society. It's destroying us. It's all around us. Fake news. The US President. Marketing. Stack Overflow. So, why put up with it? It's not that you even know you're putting up with it. Some of us do. Most don't. Scammers proliferate. It's more like, How do we protect the innocent people? Why as a species, do we allow some of us to prey on others? It doesn't seem good to me.
  - TeMPOraL 7y ago
    I stand with you here. I recognized something like this myself - I phrase it as "I want to live in a world of cooperation, of win-win deals", but there are still people who prefer to exploit others, play "win-lose" games. That's why I despise the advertising industry so much. They're all playing win-lose games with society, and the collateral damage slowly eats at the base of what keeps our societies together.
    - anon1m0us 7y ago
      Yes! I remember someone asked me one time, "What do you want?" I said, "I want to create synergistic relationships with other people." I despise advertising too, but I realized I have to advertise so people know about my products. There are people who want them. Advertising helps them find my products that solve their problems. And then I realized the advertising platforms like adwords and such were also deceptive. So I stopped advertising. It doesn't help me though or the people who I could help if they knew.

mywittyname 7y ago

This is especially annoying when you realize that ever brand is different. There will be seven different brands of coffee in identically-sized bags, yet one may have 5.7oz of coffee and another will be 12.8oz.

OldSchoolJohnny 7y ago
Is it possible they are trying to sell for the same price but with wildly varying costs of each varietal of coffee? I.E. they want to sell a bag for 15 bucks across the board but some beans cost them far more than others to source?
- munk-a 7y ago
  It still seems purely disingenuous to package them deceptively to appear to be the same quantity.
  - zamadatix 7y ago
    Up to some value of volumeDelta * productCount it actually makes sense to use the same container due to sourcing/manufacturing cost from the variance so I wouldn't say purely disingenuous, there is real reasoning behind some of it... it's just marketing gets in the way of when you should actually add that second container size i.e. it's costing you more to always use the bigger container but the marketing department says the increase in sales due to confusion outweighs it.
    - anon1m0us 7y ago
      So then why not just keep putting the same amount of coffee in the can? It's on us though. They're lying to us to get our money, our labor, our consent. We let them. Why?
      - TeMPOraL 7y ago
        Because it pays, and for some reason not many people have the guts to say marketing is rotten to the core, and advertising is cancer on the society. Maybe because the market encourages it structurally. Lying costs little and yields good profits, so acting immorally gives competitive advantage.
      - zamadatix 7y ago
        Because demand curves don't work like that unless you have a highly inelastic good. With normal goods keeping quantity constant as price changes puts you on a suboptimal point on the demand curve. Coffee's price certainly hasn't been inelastic and changing can size at every spike would have netted you decent production cost increases instead of savings: http://www.aboutinflation.com/_/rsrc/1368022029715/coffee-vs-inflation/Coffee_Inflation_Adjusted_Historical_Chart_April_2013.png http://www.aboutinflation.com/_/rsrc/1368022029715/coffee-vs... The varying of quantities in the same sized container is not the problem and is certainly not illogical. The problem is when we allow marketing departments to lie/cheat/fool the product onto a different portion of the demand curve instead of letting the $/amount naturally flow back when price decreases or when it makes sense to switch to cheaper containers.

r00fus 7y ago

This is why I prefer buying bulk when I can (with reusable containers/bags [1]). Bulk Coffee + airtight/cool storage hasn't resulted in bad coffee for me. Why put up with deceptive packaging? [1] Yes I know that most of that product came arrived in even more packaging, but doing what I can for now.

anon1m0us 7y ago
I guess what I am learning about myself lately is that I have the power to lie to people and convince them to do things they don't want to do or don't know better. People know this about me. They know it almost instantly. I sense it in them. I sense the same about other people. They have that power over me. However, I make an effort not to. Or, when I do, I work especially hard to steer them in the direction of their goals or somewhere that will benefit them. Even if it's at my own expense sometimes and that can be sad or disappointing. And so, through that, I have come to resent people who don't think that way. Who think, "People won't look at the number of ounces in the can, they'll just see it's the same size and think they're getting the same amount." It's a lie. Deception. It's wrong. But yet, we allow it in society. It's destroying us. It's all around us. Fake news. The US President. Marketing. Stack Overflow. So, why put up with it? It's not that you even know you're putting up with it. Some of us do. Most don't. Scammers proliferate. It's more like, How do we protect the innocent people? Why as a species, do we allow some of us to prey on others? It doesn't seem good to me.
- TeMPOraL 7y ago
  I stand with you here. I recognized something like this myself - I phrase it as "I want to live in a world of cooperation, of win-win deals", but there are still people who prefer to exploit others, play "win-lose" games. That's why I despise the advertising industry so much. They're all playing win-lose games with society, and the collateral damage slowly eats at the base of what keeps our societies together.
  - anon1m0us 7y ago
    Yes! I remember someone asked me one time, "What do you want?" I said, "I want to create synergistic relationships with other people." I despise advertising too, but I realized I have to advertise so people know about my products. There are people who want them. Advertising helps them find my products that solve their problems. And then I realized the advertising platforms like adwords and such were also deceptive. So I stopped advertising. It doesn't help me though or the people who I could help if they knew.