Just charge me more, dammit.

[a nameless entity]

Last Xmas my brother gave me a one of those small boxes of "Turtles" chocolate treats to take back home with me. I decided to save it for my birthday. It so happens that my birthday fell on a day during the two weeks I was dog sitting at my brother's house while he and his family vacationed in Florida. And the box of chocolates got pushed to the back of the storage shelf too. So I didn't notice it was there until yesterday. I opened it right away. When I looked inside, the chocolates were nicely arranged on their little plastic tray, but something looked different. So I counted them. Instead of a dozen like you used to get before, there are now only eleven in the package.

I'm sure I commented on this before somewhere, but once again I am annoyed to find that "they" have cheated on the amount of product I am getting. I am so sick of loaves of bread that shrink from 680 grams (24 oz) to 600 grams (21 oz) and boxes of cereal that shrink, and rolls of tp that look the same size, but contain less product because they were rolled onto a larger core, and boxes of graham crackers that used to contain 3 dozen crackers that shrank to 30 crackers, and now only 27 crackers........ you can see where I'm going with this.

TO THE MANUFACTURERS:
I'm sick to death of all the deception. Keep things the same damn size and just raise the price! If price resistance is encountered, then maybe you should start thinking about NOT raising your prices a comfortable 15% per annum as you have been doing for the last 20-30+ years. You have reached the ceiling of what the market can afford to bear at long last. Get used to it and get honest!

[Hermskii]

Vent. I'm moving this to the vent thread asap! I agree with all that you have said and I started to post something about this discovery of your nameless and wives in general but decided not to go there. LOL

[a nameless entity]

I'm sure I commented on this before somewhere, but once again I am annoyed to find that "they" have cheated on the amount of product I am getting. I am so sick of loaves of bread that shrink

and boxes of cereal that shrink,

[& etc, etc.]

Today I bought four boxes of cereal that were on sale. I thought I would stock up a bit, since they don't go on sale quite so often as they used to do. When I looked at them I thought they were a bit smaller looking. And needless to say I suppose, but when I got them home I compared them to a box from the previous batch and found that they had shrunk by 50 grams. The old size was 675 grams (23.75 ounces), the new size is 625 grams (22 ounces).

Now we all know that for whatever reason the cereal makers like to package their products in a bewildering variety of sizes, (all the more to confound those seeking the best size/price ratio I suppose) but I'm pretty sure I caught them red handed once again.

*AHEM*

TO THE MANUFACTURERS:
I'm sick to death of all the deception. Keep things the same damn size and just raise the price! If price resistance is encountered, then maybe you should start thinking about NOT raising your prices a comfortable 15% per annum as you have been doing for the last 20-30+ years. You have reached the ceiling of what the market can afford to bear at long last. Get used to it and get honest!

[Hermskii]

And now corn hit an all time high last week I think. The prices ARE about to go up on cereal I assure you. Even if it doubles, I think it is still a great buy. here a big box of frosted flakes costs about $4.50 and it can feed me about 3 times with a gallon of milk that will go much further than the 3 feedings. That gallon is about $4.00 also so for about $8.00 I can stuff myself 3 times with a yummy cereal of my choice. Do the math. that is a cheap easy yummy meal for cheap!

[a nameless entity]

I bought the largest family/economy size of Rice Krispies for $4.99 two weeks ago. And that was a sale price. I think it is ordinarily around $8. Or higher. At $5 for an 800 gram box of puffed rice I still payed way too much, and they still made a nice profit off of me. 20 years ago I read an article in a business magazine that spoke of the cereal makers having raised their prices 15% per annum for the preceding 15 years, and that they were now losing market share to store brands. With prices now at a ridiculous $7 or $8 a box for the regular sizes, it is obvious that they just kept on gouging as best they could. What a mark up!! I wonder how much it is per pound?

*******
In order to lose a bit of weight, and to make the over priced cereal last longer, I started measuring my portions. 2/3 of a cup of raisin bran, 1/3 cup store brand "cheerios", and 1/4 cup of rice krispies for a bit of flavour. No sugar added, as there's lots in the raisin bran. I use 1% milk.

How big a box of frosted flakes? If a large box of Frosted Flakes only lasts you three meals, then I respectfully suggest that it was NOT quitting smoking that has caused you to gain weight.

You are eating a TON of sugar and taking in a LOT of calories when you eat 1/3 of a box of that sweetened cereal.

****
And speaking of store brands vs national brands:

I have found that store brand frosted flakes and rice krispies taste exactly the same as the national brands. But I rarely buy frosted flakes, and the price of rice cereals is so high now that the store brands cost the same as the national brands. I bought the rice krispies as a treat, and will not buy more unless they are on sale again.

I should also mention that I have tried all the store brands of "cheerios", bran flakes, raisin bran, etc etc and that NONE of them match the national brands for flavour. But the store brand "cheerios" are much cheaper than the real thing, so I tolerate them.

[Hermskii]

Yes, I eat lots more at each sitting than I used to. It and inactivity is why I'm fatter than ever. On a good note, I did lose 5 lbs and am down to 220 now.

[a nameless entity]

If the wife doesn't have a spare set of measuring cups you can use, buy a set.
I too noticed that I was gradually filling up the bowl with more and more cereal in the mornings. Since the start of the year I have been measuring the amount of cereal I eat in the morning, and how much pasta I dump into the pot when I have that for supper. That plus switching to usually just apple sauce with cinnamon + two and only two graham crackers for desert has helped me to lose 15 pounds so far this year. I'm at a plateau just now, but not worried about it. It took me decades to get heavy, so I am content to melt it off slowly. And since they say that's the best way anyhow, it's all good.

p.s. Please standby for me to get this thread back onto topic at any time.

[a nameless entity]

p.s. Please standby for me to get this thread back onto topic at any time.

Arrrgggghhhh ....... the cereal makers have done it AGAIN!!

National brand cereals went on sale this week at my local A&P owned no frills type of grocery store called "Food Basics". They were "only" asking $2.97 for a small box, instead of the usual $4+ they like to charge. The small boxes were for a very long time 400 grams. (14 oz)
They have now shrunk to 360 grams. (12.7 oz)

If they keep this up we'll be paying them $4 for a teeny tiny empty box of cereal scented air.

[Hermskii]

My 1st check this year was noticeably smaller. Enough smaller that it would be like making it to where you can't buy cereal all year long because you no longer have the money. Feel better now? Thanks Obama!

[a nameless entity]

For a while there it appeared that no cereals were ever going to go on sale again, ever. I only buy stuff that's on sale or the store brands if those are anywhere near reasonably priced. I've got a full bag of old fashioned rolled oats waiting for me to make oatmeal porridge out of it when and if the day arrives that breakfast cereals are beyond my reach.

p.s. Oatmeal porridge is supposed to be an excellent way to reduce your cholesterol.

[EvilGrins]

Cheerios man. The original stuff, not that multi-grain, added a bunch of sugar to, malarky.

It's all about the Cheerios!

[a nameless entity]

I agree. Too bad they want your first born son in exchange for a box of them.

I found a store brand that tastes really close to the "real thing" and has the exact same texture and crispness. It seems that is very hard to do, since most store brands miss the standard by a wide margin.

[Hook]

Oh I LOVE A good Old fashion oatmeal!!!
There is actually an old company right here in Minnesota that makes a lot of breakfast cereals.
Their's are on the most part even better than the original brands. (cheaper too)

[a nameless entity]

I've been noticing that a lot of the store brand cereals up here are coming from the USA. Many of them are a really nice product and owe nothing to the so called National Brands. Perhaps the company you mention is the supplier.
One really good store brand cereal is "Presidents Choice Raisin Bran" distributed by the Loblaws chain. (National Grocers is the wholesaler.) And yes, that cereal is Made in USA.


Edit: Well, actually I posted this two years ago in 2013. But I wanted to rant about getting caught out again by the cereal makers crafty tricks.
Kellog's got me again by making a smaller size look like the largest size. "Jumbo" is the largest, followed by "Family Size". The family size contains about 1/3 less product, but the box is made to look the same by crafty proportioning, and exactly the same design on the face of the box. So I thought Jumbo was on sale again, and bought a bunch of Family size "on sale" only to realize when I got it home that it wasn't really much of a deal after all.

And the bean counters at Loblaws supplied stores will no longer let them order the Jumbo sized Presidents Choice raisin bran, effectively shutting off access to any sort of bargain on this nice product.

I keep hearing about deflation. I wonder when or if it will affect food prices, which are now artificially very high, due to corporate greed and their refusal to lower prices despite the savings they are seeing on the cost of petroleum and pretty much all the other things they need to make their products.

[Hermskii]

Great argument about how other cost should have gone down by now. You have to ask your self who gets pinched in this current arrangement.