5 ms·

You're sure it was not a storage condition or age issue? I think you might be right in your theory that it was made by the correct company but intended for a d

by ericd 6y ago

You're sure it was not a storage condition or age issue? I think you might be right in your theory that it was made by the correct company but intended for a different market and was made with a different formulation. Perhaps there's some arbitrage opportunity there. I guess I don't understand why someone would try to counterfeit something like cereal. Seems like it would be hard to get enough scale to make it worth the effort, given the low per-unit profit.

rckoepke 6y ago
Checked expiration dates, they were comparable to store-bought. I store my cereal in pretty abhorrent conditions sometimes (like leaving it in the back of my car during Texas summer for a few days) and never noticed degradation leading to flavor/texure like this, but storage issues are still a possible cause. Maybe I'll do a real experiment sometime involving storing grocery cereal outdoors in the Houston summer and see what happens. I completely agree with all your sentiments and part of why it took me so long to come to my conclusion.
- ericd 6y ago
  Yeah, fair, not sure what conditions could cause that kind of degradation if your experiments haven't yielded it. Maybe counterfeiting cereal is just more lucrative than I would've guessed.
heavyset_go 6y ago
> I guess I don't understand why someone would try to counterfeit something like cereal. Seems like it would be hard to get enough scale to make it worth the effort, given the low per-unit profit. Cereal is cheap, like really cheap, and name brand cereals like Raisin Bran go for nearly $9 a box. If you've ever been in a discount store, or a liquidator with a consumer facing outlet, tons of counterfeit food, toiletries, etc flood their shelves. Both the counterfeiter and the retailer benefit from selling counterfeit goods, and sometimes consumers either don't care or don't have enough information to tell the difference.
- ericd 6y ago
  In what area do they go for $9/box? I've never seen them for more than $5, and you can frequently get them on sale for $2...
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - heavyset_go 6y ago
    I misread a 2-for-1 listing as being the price for a single box. Still, when you look at the cost of cereal and the mark up, there's a significant margin. Grains, sugar, etc are practically free in bulk. When I was living in Manhattan boxes of cereal were regularly north of $7, but I know that doesn't reflect most of the market.

by ericd 6y ago

rckoepke 6y ago

Checked expiration dates, they were comparable to store-bought. I store my cereal in pretty abhorrent conditions sometimes (like leaving it in the back of my car during Texas summer for a few days) and never noticed degradation leading to flavor/texure like this, but storage issues are still a possible cause. Maybe I'll do a real experiment sometime involving storing grocery cereal outdoors in the Houston summer and see what happens. I completely agree with all your sentiments and part of why it took me so long to come to my conclusion.

ericd 6y ago
Yeah, fair, not sure what conditions could cause that kind of degradation if your experiments haven't yielded it. Maybe counterfeiting cereal is just more lucrative than I would've guessed.

heavyset_go 6y ago

> I guess I don't understand why someone would try to counterfeit something like cereal. Seems like it would be hard to get enough scale to make it worth the effort, given the low per-unit profit. Cereal is cheap, like really cheap, and name brand cereals like Raisin Bran go for nearly $9 a box. If you've ever been in a discount store, or a liquidator with a consumer facing outlet, tons of counterfeit food, toiletries, etc flood their shelves. Both the counterfeiter and the retailer benefit from selling counterfeit goods, and sometimes consumers either don't care or don't have enough information to tell the difference.

ericd 6y ago
In what area do they go for $9/box? I've never seen them for more than $5, and you can frequently get them on sale for $2...
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- heavyset_go 6y ago
  I misread a 2-for-1 listing as being the price for a single box. Still, when you look at the cost of cereal and the mark up, there's a significant margin. Grains, sugar, etc are practically free in bulk. When I was living in Manhattan boxes of cereal were regularly north of $7, but I know that doesn't reflect most of the market.