# The 3-quart "Gallon" of Milk -- the hidden inflation in this economy.



## DS (Oct 10, 2011)

My wife asked me to pick up a new vacumm cleaner belt at the Target during my lunch break today.
Being one of the last few days before Christmas, the crowd was just nuts.

Anyways, while I was waiting in line to check out with my single item, I noticed the lady behind me loading her groceries onto the conveyor. She had the oddest milk container I ever saw. I said, "That is an odd looking milk container". To which she replied, "it was the only 1% milk they had." I asked, "Is that even a full gallon?" "No," she said, "its only 3 quarts made to look like it's a gallon."

What the heck is going on here? I kept quiet when a half-gallon of ice cream became 1.85 quarts, then 1.75 quarts. Look today and you'll see they're now selling them at 1.5 quarts! OUTRAGEOUS!

My questions is this; *Do you suppose, once a half gallon carton of ice cream is reduced down to a pint, will they re-introduce the half gallon size again?*

Don't even get me started on the cheese. I love a good Ham and Swiss melt as well at the next guy. They used to sell a 8 slice package that was 8 ounces. That same 8 slices is now 6 ounces and costs more!

The down side is that now, my new "deli-thin sliced" (actually printed on the package like that-as if it were a GOOD thing) makes a weak Ham and Swiss! I have to use two slices!

Do the food producers think they are fooling anyone? It has gotten rediculous! You have to look to see if the half gallon of orange juice is still a half gallon! MOST of it isn't! 1.75 quarts is the new half gallon. And tommorrow it will be 1.5 quarts.

Does this piss anybody else off? Who do we call about this! *If they can screw around with a gallon of milk, WHAT'S NEXT?*

In the end it is all about GREED and Money. They are effectively RAISING PRICES without looking like they are raising prices. *IT IS DISHONEST AND I WISH THEY CUT IT OUT!*


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## CharlieM1958 (Nov 7, 2006)

*Does this piss anybody else off? Who do we call about this! If they can screw around with a gallon of milk, WHAT'S NEXT?*

Lawyers who charge by the 45 minutes.


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## 280305 (Sep 28, 2008)

Next thing you know a 2" X 4" will not really be…

Oh. never mind.


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## GMman (Apr 11, 2008)

Did you guys know that a US gallon is only 3 Canadian quarts?


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## renners (Apr 9, 2010)

You are dead right, it's inflation by stealth, and it's over here as well, 1 litre of orange juice went into a new bottle and became 900ml, of course, they don't flash "NEW 900ml BOTTLE", you'd have to study the back of the label to know that they are shafting you. The best thing anyone can do is boycott these rip off merchants, maybe even write to their consumer complaint department and just state that you believe they are being dishonest and trying to trick consumers and that you, and everyone you know, will stop buying their product.


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## GMman (Apr 11, 2008)

cr1 you know we have some fine LJs from Norway here.


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## DS (Oct 10, 2011)

I understand prices going up. I understand shrinking profits, etc.

What gets me chapped is the aparent *deception*.

*I HATE BEING LIED TO!*

It's like when TARP printed $700 billion and gave it to the banks. Overnight, the dollars in my pocket became worth 70 cents and nobody seemed to notice. *They leveled a 30% tax by STEALTH and DECEPTION!*

How can we blame private industry for following government's example?


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## GMman (Apr 11, 2008)

I see cr1 removed his dirty remark re: Norway.

I wonder why someone like cr1 is just on here to be nasty and making an ass of himself?


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## Sawkerf (Dec 31, 2009)

Playing devil's advocate for a moment; if the package tells you the quantity of the product inside, and the price is displayed nearby, where is the dishonesty? Everything you need to know is right there before you even put the item in your cart. AFIK, shattering assumptions isn't illegal.


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## Roger Clark aka Rex (Dec 30, 2008)

Welcome to business practices in the US. Bait and switch, creating confusion and the ability to talk out of both sides of your mouth at once is the way it's done. ))))


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## Roger Clark aka Rex (Dec 30, 2008)

DS251 et al: The only way to show your satisfactions over a company product or price increase (plus hidden ones) then the simple answer is to *boycott * the products or services, they listen to their pocket books "saying sales decreases", it does not take long for them to "get it".

People had enough guts to take on Netflix. Put them in a world of hurt, they lost their customer base, their stock crashed, so now they sent all former members a letter apology for their arrogance, reduced prices and gave away special promotions. That's the way to do it….........don't just moan about paying more for less.

You and enough other people can do something about it.


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## 280305 (Sep 28, 2008)

Certainly consumers are responsible for their own buying decisions, but those marketing people are pretty clever.

Here is an interesting article from the NY Times on the subject.

I remember when yogurt went from 8 to 6 oz. The container stayed the same size. This was touted as a new feature: now there is room to mix in your own ingredients without having to use another container!


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## HorizontalMike (Jun 3, 2010)

I quit drinking Guinness when their PINT started coming out as 14.2oz !!! NO friggin' way!

The next stealth theft is when the LARGER bags of chips, crackers, you name it, are MORE expensive per OZ than the smaller packages! We now us a calculator on EVERY purchase at the grocery store, every time…

Time to dust off my old beer-making tubs…


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## Roger Clark aka Rex (Dec 30, 2008)

Again, MASS BOYCOTT will make them honest….....the only way they understand.


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## 280305 (Sep 28, 2008)

H-Mike,

You are probably about the right age to Spot The Tune:
To a dead beat from an old greaser.
Think you must have me all wrong.
I didn't care, friend. I wasn't there, friend,
If it's the price of pint that you need, ask me again.


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## HorizontalMike (Jun 3, 2010)

But ah likes Akwer-lung betta… *;-)*






Actually I had already been overseas and had gotten out of the Navy by then


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## CharlieM1958 (Nov 7, 2006)

*I know how you feel. Why just the other day I hired a girl who promised a full hour. you can guess how that turned out.*

Yeah, but she said "satisfaction guaranteed" and *that* only took three minutes.


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## Sawkerf (Dec 31, 2009)

Late this afternoon, I was accosted by two twenty-something gals in tight t-shirts who've been preying on older men in the HD parking lot. That was the third time this month for me and I'm going back next week to continue my investigation.


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## HorizontalMike (Jun 3, 2010)

Sawkerf,
Be careful of those Harley Davidson (HD) dealership parking lots, they are full of them. And hey… you can only fit one of them on the back of yer' bike at a time anyways… Just sayin'

And do NOT believe for a second that any "two-for-one" is going to be any cheaper! Stealth inflation indeed!

*;-)*


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## renners (Apr 9, 2010)

Maybe I should follow the example of the big corporations. My profit margins would go up if I only put one drawer runner on instead of two.
If one producer had the balls to stand up and declare they weren't going down this route, show some honesty and respect for their customers, they'd probably earn a new found respect and loyalty from consumers. 
Don't suppose it will happen though, not while the members of the board are more important than Joe Public.


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## HorizontalMike (Jun 3, 2010)

WW has been doing for a long time. When was the last time you bought 3/4in plywood that was NOT actually 23/32in? NOW we even have to buy "undersized bits" for this crap!
http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/2008040/29404/Whiteside-3Piece-Undersized-Plywood-Dado-Router-Bit-Set-With-12-Shank.aspx


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## TimmyP (Sep 13, 2011)

To get back on track a bit…Hellman's mayo used to be 32 oz…now it's 30 oz, and more costly. Same size jar (albeit plastic, not glass). How did they do it? Look on the bottom of the jar…instead of being flat, it's pushed up into a conical shape.

Sort of same with ice cream…used to be two full half-gallons for a couple of bucks…now, it's two 48 oz containers for 6 dollars (used to be 5$). Manufacturers say it's either keep the package the same and raise the price, or make the package samller, and keep the same price. Either way, we lucky consumers are screwed.

Horizontal Mike, most grocery stores have a price label on the shelf, which also shows the cost of the product per pound/ounce/fluid ounce, to make it easy to compare products & package sizes. Assuming, of course, those numbers aren't BS.

I read in the newspaper a while back, that prices for foodstuffs will be going up this coming year…probably due to speculators in the futures market on products like corn, wheat, and soybeans. If you think prices are making your wallet thin now, pretty soon your wallet is going to get turned inside out (if it ain't there already).

And while I'm at it…this payroll tax holiday thing. To me, this was a dumb idea..cutting the supposed funding of our social securiy accounts, to try to get the economy going. Isn't SS going broke? And what do we do when it does go broke? "Whoops, no more money, so no retirement money for you"? Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr this effin' government we have. Like a firiend said: politicians deserve two terms. One in office, one in prison.


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## HorizontalMike (Jun 3, 2010)

Timmy,
Have you really paid attention to how THAT price/per ??? is stated on side-by-side competing products lately? On one product it may be "price/oz" and on another it will be "price/lb", or worse price/bag or can, etc. AND THAT IS IF THOSE LABELS ARE CORRECT IN THE FIRST PLACE!

More often than not, we have to redo the calculations ourselves because either the grocer changes out the product (price/sale), or the manufacturer changes/shrinks contents in the package. Sometimes the price/??? is off by so far as to question the legality of such a "mistake" in the pricing. All I can say is DON'T TRUST THE SHELF LABELS TO BE ACCURATE.

My 2-cents… that is NOW worth 1.825-cents… *;-)*


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## 280305 (Sep 28, 2008)

most grocery stores have a price label on the shelf, which also shows the cost of the product per pound/ounce/fluid ounce

This is true. I am not sure what the requirements are for unit pricing, or even if there are requirements. Perhaps someone in the know can let me know.

I have seen many cases where there are unit prices, but the units are not uniform. There will be two brands of the same item. One will have a price per unit of weight and the other will have a price per unit of volume or just per item count in the container. If the consumer has to make these conversions, it is probably just as easy to do what H-Mike does.

Does anyone know how many fluid oz of vanilla extract are in a pound?










EDIT: Looks like H_Mike got in before I posted this!


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## Roger Clark aka Rex (Dec 30, 2008)

Yeah Chuck …...... now you see why there is so much resistance to "go metric" !!!!!!. One system ONLY of measurement/content is used, so they can't hoodwink you. Superman would be an outcast fighting for " truth, justice and (or) the American Way" Haha


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## 280305 (Sep 28, 2008)

Roger,

In the metric system, my question would instead be:
Does anyone know how many milliliters of vanilla extract are in a kilogram?

But, I'm sure using metric couldn't make the situation worse!


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## Roger Clark aka Rex (Dec 30, 2008)

Hi Chuck,
My post was a little tongue in cheek, but this labelling is really designed to fool you. - the name of the game - way of doing business!
Your question poses a contradiction. Fluids are measured as liters or parts thereof, and weight (mass) is measured in grams, so really that question would be invalid.
You would need to find out what the mass of the extract is, then you could find out how many grams you need.
You would need to know what 1 liter of liquid extract weighs - liquids have different weights e:g: a liter of water you can carry, but a liter of mercury …..


> ?


.

It's all good fun, but food for thought - metric labeling prevents the ability to create confusion in pricing and value out of the buying choice decision.


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## 280305 (Sep 28, 2008)

Yup - that is why it is crazy. You need to know the specific gravity of vanilla extract!


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## HorizontalMike (Jun 3, 2010)

Chuck,
Yep… weight vs volume… NO wait! (pun intended) is that metric weight vs standard volume? OR Standard volume vs metric weight,... or was that metric volume vs metric weight? And the grocers do this ON PURPOSE!

JUST SHUT UP AND BUY! YOU HAVE ENTERED THE OUTER LIMITS… 8^o


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## DS (Oct 10, 2011)

The boycott thing sounds pretty good on the surface, but, after a while I'm gonna get kinda' hungry. When Kroger made thier 1/2 pound of cheese 6 ounces, I started buying Sargento. Now they both are doing it.

There is a clever little cycle they do to aclimate us to the higher price. First they get us used to buying the smaller size by charging the same 'per unit' price, making the total price lower. Then, once they have us reaching for the smaller package at the lower price, they raise they price back to what we were paying before for the larger size package-hoping we won't notice.

Coca-cola is doing this right now. Once they introduced the 1.25 liter bottle (Yes, metric), the 2 liter bottles have not gone on sale again. They priced the 1.25 liter bottle at $0.99. The 2 liter bottles routinely would go on sale for $0.88. Not any more. The 2 liter bottle is $1.49 to $1.79 and hasn't gone on sale since.

Have you seen the rediculous-looking tiny 8 ounce soda cans? I can't help but laugh every time I see one. How soon, though, before the 12 ounce can is obsolete and we can only get the 8 ounce cans?

*INCONCEIVABLE!* (I love that line.)


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## TimmyP (Sep 13, 2011)

Horizontal Mike, you're right, sometimes those labels don't compare on an apples-to-apples basis. In that case, I just decide which product I like more, and surrender my hard-earned bucks to "The Man"!

DS251, I saw a few days ago that a 2 L of Sprite was going for $1.89…used to be cheaper than that. And for sure, the thing with the cheese packages holds true for me, too.

Of course, my doc would think it's a good idea that I don't drink 2 liters of sodey pop.


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## DS (Oct 10, 2011)

Renners: You mention putting only one drawer glide… I've seen budget cabinetry lines that use 18 inch drawer boxes on all the base cabinets whether it is a vanity or a kitchen base.

They use the standard 22 inch deep 3/4 extension glide so the box comes out the same distance, but the back of the drawer stops at the cabinet face. Most people never notice.

It can't be saving but a few pennies per drawer.


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## Roger Clark aka Rex (Dec 30, 2008)

Deception is the recognized way of doing business in the US for quite a while and is grossly dishonest. Using weights and measures with multiple "choices" on a package provides sufficient misinformation, and package sizes are often enhanced to give the impression of more value. There are, as you will see, so many companies marketing confusing content goods as a "legitimate" way of doing business - a free license to fool you.
It has been going on for some time and the gullible public gets taken and pony's up the inflated price without a murmur. To boycott these outrageous scams is your only recourse, but that means boycotting the whole lot, not just one brand, switching brands does not always prove helpful.
The term "Good Old Days" can also be related to a time when this sort of practice was UN-American, and stealing.
Oh how we have sunk so low as to be dishonest and steal from our own people. Some of you can remember the 5lb bag of sugar suddenly becoming a 4 lb bag? ..... nobody did anything about it, so the greedy were given a green light to go ahead and make it their way of doing business, and foolish people just kept on buying their overpriced goods. 
That's one of the main reasons why corporations are so big and rich, often buying up the competition that plays fair in order to remove them. 
This fraudulent system has been employed to sell all kinds of products including mortgages. This is where a good deal of our financial woes come from and why you, the public, get to lose value of your hard earned money while big business soaks it up, and the best thing on their part is if they "cry wolf", you get to bail them out with whatever money you have left.

Without adopting any political stance from any party, we should all be focused on getting the country back on the "Straight and Narrow" - This type of dubious behavior is not political, it's just a national disgrace.


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## DS (Oct 10, 2011)

I have to say that I'm tired of coming home from the store all pissed off!

Used to be you could buy the store brand corn chips 14 oz for $1. Now it's a 10 oz bag and cost $1.25

Worse yet, they make only a small window available to see the chips and fill the rest of the bag with air.
The bags remain the same size as before, but if you don't check the weight, you might think you're getting more than you are.

Turn the bag upside down and the chips completely disappear from view! It looks like an empty bag of air!
(Ok, I'll admit I turned a few over just to ruin the illusion for some other shoppers following behind me)

When will this madness end?


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## renners (Apr 9, 2010)

I would bet that if challenged over their diminishing pack sizes, the corporations would put a 'health spin' on it - 'combating obesity', or some other BS.


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## DS (Oct 10, 2011)

hahahah @wudnhevn. I think they actually try that in the store with creative displays and such.

Pisses me off….. 
I KNOW when I'm being ripped off. The sleeping masses have yet to figure it out.


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## patcollins (Jul 22, 2010)

When I was in college I worked at a grocery store (awful job thank you SEIU for taking my dues) and tried to explain unit pricing to this one woman, she just could not grasp the concept and got angry with me and told me that I was making stuff up.

Back to the main topic anyone notice that girl scout cookies are $4 a box this year and have hardly any cookies in them?


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## renners (Apr 9, 2010)

Those Girl Scouts better be careful calling round to DS's…










*$4!!! GRRRR!!!*


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## patcollins (Jul 22, 2010)

Better watch out..


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## DS (Oct 10, 2011)

too funny….

Are they really $4 this year? (Was $3 last year and had MORE cookies?? Dang!)

See what we're teaching our youth? ;-D


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## Roger Clark aka Rex (Dec 30, 2008)

DS251, I guess the real question should be:
Do the girl scouts get more money out of the sales commensurate to the price increase and lessor contents???


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## DS (Oct 10, 2011)

It's a little harder to be upset about GS cookies since a good portion of the purchase is to help a good cause.

Donating to the National Food Chain who continually makes an effort to create deceptive packaging is a little less fun.

@renners: I love that movie where Michael Douglas makes the fast food guy make him breakfast at 11:01am…
...no worries here, though. (I eat an early breakfast)

EDIT: or was that 10:01am?


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## DS (Oct 10, 2011)

Did anyone else notice that some of the ads for this thread are grocery coupons? I had to laugh at that!


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## NBeener (Sep 16, 2009)

"The boycott thing sounds pretty good on the surface, but, after a while I'm gonna get kinda' hungry. When Kroger made thier 1/2 pound of cheese 6 ounces, I started buying Sargento. Now they both are doing it."

It's a little difficult to blame the consumer choices, when-as you so rightly said-they slowly take away any choice we're supposed to have.

When I was an adolescent, I noticed that Dannon Yogurt was reducing the % of fruit in their fruit-at-the-bottom yogurt Mind you, this was DECADES ago.

I began weighing the fruit in old-vs-new yogurt containers. There was a 30+% drop … as I thought. Being … well … who I was, I wrote them a thoughtful letter.

They sent me a coupon for something like a dozen free yogurts … with about 30% less fruit.

What DO we do, when the free-market fails us, and there simply IS no choice ?

Very good question…...


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## NBeener (Sep 16, 2009)

Hmmmmm.

"-When the moderator chooses sides, his site sucks."

I, and most of the other 38,000 LumberJocks … will miss you terribly, then ;-)


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## 280305 (Sep 28, 2008)

A man who lived in the house next to the one I grew up in was a regular visitor to the Customer Service desk at the local grocery store. One of the things that I remember him doing involved X% lean ground beef. He would buy, say 85% lean. When he cooked his hamburgers, he would save the grease in the pan. He would then weigh it. If it was more than 15% of the original weight that he bought, he would show up at the CS desk with the label from the package and his collection of fat.

They never questioned him - just gave him his money back.


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## DS (Oct 10, 2011)

Neil, I dare you to find an 8oz yogurt cup anymore. They are all 6oz and they cost more.

Old-8oz for around 40 cents. (5 cents per ounce)
New-6oz for around 60 cents. (10 cents per ounce)

The price *doubled* when, to most people, it looks like it just went up 20 cents!

That says NOTHING about how much less fruit there is at the bottom too! (Thanks Neil for that one)


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## JohnMeeley (Jan 5, 2012)

We here in the USA have a long hard road ahead, it's gonna hurt for a long time, but BUY BUY BUY American. Always and everywhere. We lost it all when ,and may I repeat a phrase, became a service economy. Gimme back the steel, automobiles and the textiles, I'll still breathe easier than now.


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## DS (Oct 10, 2011)

I'm going home and watchin' Falling Down tonight…

...then maybe think up a plan… heheh, heheh.


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## JohnMeeley (Jan 5, 2012)

Good movie.


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## Jim Jakosh (Nov 24, 2009)

This started with the 2×4. It was made smaller at least twice that I remember.. Plywood is smaller than it used to be. I wonder if something bad for you like cigarettes or big Macs are getting smaller too?
This is marketing's way of giving you less for you money when they find that people will not stand for the price to increase. They think we are fools!


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## DS (Oct 10, 2011)

For the last couple of months the Fry's food store (Kroger/Fred Meyer) in my town hasn't had a decent cut of meat on its shelves. I've been craving a Rib Eye steak for that long at least.

In the past, they were about 7.99 per pound and occasionally would go on sale for 4.99 per pound. Now, with the "New Lower Prices", the packages are marked 12.99 per pound and discounted to 9.99 on sale.

The steaks look to have the same foot print in the package and the package price is still around $8 to $10 as before, but the steaks are cut *THIN*! All of them were around 1/2" thick.

That's not a steak in my opinion! A good cut will be between 3/4" and 1" thick. There are *none *of those to be found in my local Fry's.

If anyone from Fry's is reading, *WE'RE NOT STUPID! STOP TREATING US THAT WAY!*


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## DS (Oct 10, 2011)

This is an old thread, but it seems the issues with packaging are getting ridiculous.

My local Frys (Kroger/Fred Meyer) used to sell packaged cheese around $0.25 per ounce. (Regardless of package size)
Nowadays, the package costs about the same, but the per ounce cost has more than doubled to around the $0.48 to $0.58 per ounce range.

Thank goodness for Costco, that I can still afford cheese. Though, because of the LARGE package sizes, I end up repackaging the cheeses into smaller zip bags and freezing most of it for later.

Also, I am very glad to see Blue Bell ice cream back on its feet. I love buying a full 2 quarts of ice cream for some reason. I suppose the nostalgia is worth a couple of bucks. (Plus it is danged good ice cream)

I suppose not much has actually changed at the grocery stores, only I am more resigned to my fate of paying more and getting less.

The newest thing for me, is getting back charged by my doctors and dentist months after the time of service for things the insurance decided not to pay for, or some other such nonsense, even though my portion of the bill was paid for at the time of service. Is this happening to anyone else? I mean, all the doctors started doing this at the same time? Weird!


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## 280305 (Sep 28, 2008)

DS,

Along the lines of your medical billing observations, I see that yesterday was your 2,200th day on LumberJocks. As per the nano-print in the LJ's user agreement, that marks the end of your free trial. By posting on day 2,201 you have agreed to pay $0.10/day, retroactively. Expect your bill for $220 in the mail shortly!


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## DS (Oct 10, 2011)

ChuckV, *EXACTLY* like that!

I feel like the whole world is scheming to part me from my hard earned resources… freakin' Vampires all!


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## woodbutcherbynight (Oct 21, 2011)

> DS,
> 
> Along the lines of your medical billing observations, I see that yesterday was your 2,200th day on LumberJocks. As per the nano-print in the LJ s user agreement, that marks the end of your free trial. By posting on day 2,201 you have agreed to pay $0.10/day, retroactively. Expect your bill for $220 in the mail shortly!
> 
> - ChuckV


ROFLMAO, good one!!


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## onoitsmatt (Mar 7, 2015)

My sister-in-law used to work for the parent company of Arm-N-Hammer. She said that big retailers like Wal-Mart and Target would squeeze them on price per unit. Basically (just as an example) you have a box of baking soda. It costs Arm-N-Hammer $1 to produce, package and distribute. Wal-Mart says, "Well, we'll pay you 90 cents per box. Arm and Hammer says, "But it costs us a dollar to get it to you." Wal-Mart says, "If you want your prodcuts to be on our shelves, you'll need to sell it to us for 90 cents per box." So Arm and Hammer ponders it and decides the only way they can possibly deliver a box of baking soda to Wal-Mart for 90 cents and still make a profit is to send them the same box with less product and re-labeled to reflect the smaller amount.

There was a documentary I saw about Rubbermaid basically being run out of business by Wal-Mart and/or Target because of this practice. They resisted the retailer's gouging them on price and basically, without that exposure/distribution, couldn't make it. The manufacturers are kind of forced to play ball or go out of business. If your products don't get on the shelves of the biggest retailers, you just can't get exposure or move units.

Found the documentary, it was an episode of PBS's Frontline:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/showswalmart/


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## Jim Jakosh (Nov 24, 2009)

DS, the best pace we found to buy steaks, or any meat in general, that still tastes good is at the meats stores in Amish country like Shpishewana , Ind..
cheers, Jim


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## DS (Oct 10, 2011)

Jim, that sounds great, but that store is a little far away to do me much good. ;-)


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## richardchaos (May 12, 2017)

Touche CHCUK! TOUCHE!


> Next thing you know a 2" X 4" will not really be…
> 
> Oh. never mind.
> 
> - ChuckV


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## richardchaos (May 12, 2017)

Think thats the new reality? try this the "MANDELA EFFECT"!

Why the "Mandela Effect" per say?

Many people seem to remember Nelson Mandela dying in prison, and yet he died "again" just recently. Thus, other things that we seem to remember are now apparently changed from what they were, thus the Mandela Effect…

• In Star Wars, C3PO now has one silver leg below the knee joint, and the most quoted line of the movie,
"Luke, I am your father," has now been changed to "No, I am your father."

• In the movie Felid Of Dreams, the oft quoted "If you build it, they will come," has been changed to 
"If you build it, he will come."

• The Berenstein Bears is now the Berenstain Bears.

• Oreo Double Stuff is now Oreo Double Stuf.

• Oscar Meyer is now Oscar Mayer.

• Mr. Rogers is remembered as famously singing "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood," and now he sings 
"It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood."

• Chic-Fil-A is now Chick-fil-A

• McDonalds signs are remembered as "MacDonalds," thus the name of its signature hamburger, the "Big Mac."

• Forest Gump is remembered as saying "Life is like a box of chocolates," whereas now he says "Life was like a 
box of chocolates."

• Prior to the announcement by President Barrack Obama USAMA BIN LADEN was killed by seal team six
was spelled was "OSAMA" Bin Laden. After that announcement all spellings were changed to "USAMA" BIN LADEN.

Should of taken the blue pill!


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## MrRon (Jul 9, 2009)

Manufacturers depend on ignorance of the public to make changes in content, package size, etc. The consumer must never assume that the manufacturer has the consumers interests foremost; it's all about the MONEY. As a consumer I check the labeling on EVERYTHING I buy. I probably spend more time than others when shopping because I don't just grab the first thing I see off the shelf. I have to compare things, like cost per ounce (or gram), amount of ingredients, such as sodium, fat, cholesterol, comparison to like products, etc. That takes time and fortunately, being retired, I can indulge myself. I even search for items at the back of the shelf, for many times goods get repriced , but old stock escapes repricing. When my wife shops, she compares total price of an item, say steak for example where by I will compare it by unit weight. The lower price will equate to a tough piece of meat, but "more for the buck". My way equates to a tender piece of meat, but less weight. In other words, she shops for value, while I shop for quality.

As for the legality of it, it is legal as long as the package does indeed quote the actual contents. The manufacturer is counting on your not reading the label, which everyone should do. At the worst, it's a question of unscrupulousness.


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## DustyM (May 16, 2016)

Man, since this popped back up, I've been going back to the original posts from 5-6 years back…seeing the prices of items then is already depressing me! I'm only 30, but I still remember gas under $1 being the norm as a kid, then regularly getting it for $1.60 when I started driving. I also remember it going up to over $4/gallon years back, all thanks to speculation.

DS, regarding your medical question: if you have a stated cost share for a service, NEVER PAY MORE THAN THAT UP FRONT. Yes, it is possible that the insurance company will decline your claim and you'll be billed in the end, but something else happened to my father-in-law. He basically found out that a facility he had a procedure at was both billing the patients for an up front cost in excess of their cost share (coinsurance/copay), then billing the insurance company on top. Essentially, they were double dipping.

As for me, I pay my copay and not a dime more until my insurance has processed the claim, and I watch that like a hawk.


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## daiku_padawan (Oct 9, 2017)

if looking at products by different sizes, I try determining which is the better "deal".

Like Dawn dish soap. My wife gets big bottles, and I get the smaller ones that contain about half as much. If you do a price comparison of the big bottle vs. two small bottles (same amount of soap), the smaller bottles actually come out slightly cheaper than the big one.

Try doing that with other products, you might be able to get more for (how ever slightly) less $$.


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## kelvancra (May 4, 2010)

The last SEVERAL 2x's I bought at the HD was 1-3/8" (not kidding). That DID piss me off.



> Next thing you know a 2" X 4" will not really be…
> 
> Oh. never mind.
> 
> - ChuckV


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## kelvancra (May 4, 2010)

My wife just retired from running a small store in North Central Washington. She, often pointed out the air added to packaging.

We should feel sorry for the Dorito (etc.) people cause they, probably, are nearly broke trying to find ways to continue to turn a profit.

Right?


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## alittleoff (Nov 27, 2014)

Wasn't it subway a while back that was sued over their foot long sub being only 10 inches or so. I believe it was won by the consumer.
Gerald


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