Do you have thoughts as to why certain food products are packaged in the size containers they are?
I guess a part of me sort of expects food to be packaged in “whole” multiples of units - either Imperial or metric. A gallon/liter or a half gallon/liter. 750 milliliters. 8, 12, 16 oz, or 50, 75 g. But quite often, I’ll encounter a food product in which neither the imperial nor metric measure is an expected round number.
Case in point. This a.m. we had our grandkids over for breakfast - frozen waffles. On the table were Eggos, butter, maple syrup, and walnuts (I like them on waffles/pancakes!) The waffle box held 24 waffles, and weighed 29.6 oz/839g. The butter was a qtr pound stick. The syrup was 12.5oz/ 369 ml. And the bulk nuts were 18 oz. I think I can pretty much explain the Eggos, butter, and walnuts, but the syrup has me stumped.
I figure the butter is standardized, because it is used in so many ingredients.
The walnuts - I imagine just reflects the size of the bag. We also have bulk almonds - in the same sized bag - which weigh 16 oz.
The waffles are less clear, but I would imagine it reflects their desired caloric/nutritional levels for the serving size of 2 waffles/70g. (Presumably rounded up, or I’m missing a gram of waffle - 12x70 /= 839!
But why a 12.5 oz bottle of syrup? It looks like a pretty custom bottle. Is it simply that that size bottle fits their packaging equipment/boxes? Or is there some other reason?
Looking in my cabinets, I see couple of other “unusual” sizes.
-cereal 16.3 oz/462g, 22.2 oz/629g
-bread 1#11oz/765g
But for most of the other packaged goods, the weight is a “round” imperial or metric number. Thoughts?
There are probably a lot of explanations depending on the product, but here are two that I am sure are correct some of the time:
A product was sold in, say, 16oz (1 lb) quantities. The manufacturer would like to raise the price but doesn’t want the consumer to notice. So they keep the price the same, but slightly decrease the amount you buy when you purchase one unit. What was $3.00 per pound is now $3.00 per 14.5 ounces.
I’ve noticed considerable inconsistency in packaging lately, presumably due to supply chain issues. I tend to buy things like olives or sun-dried tomatoes in bulk at Costco. I’ve noticed that some of these items now come in jars that aren’t quite as ideal - maybe the opening is a little less wide now, or something. I assume this is because manufacturers adjusted to the shape of container they could buy.
And this third reason is more speculative, but ease of production could be a factor too, I guess. Let’s say you’ve been selling 12 ounce containers of cornflakes. Now you’d like to diversify your product line to include rice flakes, but minimize the costs of adding a new item. You can use the same containers for the rice flakes, but it turns out that rice flakes weigh less by volume, so the same size box will only contain 11.3 oz of rice flakes.
Not wishing to fun afoul of copywrite, I won’t post a link. But a version of his essay can be found on-line searching the title: Phyletic Size Decrease In Hershey Bars. I think he followed his research to the conclusion that in 1998 Hershey would offer a bar that weighed nothing and cost 47.5 cents! :D. I LOVE that sort of writing!
Links do not violate copyright. There’s no such thing as copywrite, says every copywriter.
CairoCarol has the best answers. The only thing I might add is that both production and shipping are expensive and firms spend large amounts of time trying to shave pennies off costs. There may be something about those off sizes that make them more suitable for standard machinery or pallets.
Well, that is embarrassing. Apologies for typing too quickly and sloppily. Wasn’t sure what the board’s policies were WRT linking to info that might been-line but in violation of copyright.
Google [shrinkflation] for articles and articles and articles on this long-standing phenomenon.
That sort of went dormant for the decades from 1980-2020. Or at least slowed down enough that it wasn’t grossly obviously noticeable day to day. As in once something was 3.87 ounces, you really didn’t notice when it became 3.32 ounces in small steps over 15 years.
I predict it will be massively noticeable again over the next 12-18 months.
The worst “shrinkflation” I ever saw was a gallon of white vinegar, that was still a full gallon, but which was 4% acidity instead of 5%. At least with shrinking package sizes, you can just buy more packages if you really need the exact quantity (though this might make some recipes awkward if you now need 1 1/3 packages, or whatever), but some recipes just won’t work at all with diluted vinegar, and might even become hazardous.
I forgot to mention what I call “convenience”: a box of Club crackers used to contain 3 sleeves of crackers (the box was hardly full, of course). Now, you get 6 smaller sleeves (probably missing additional crackers) in the name of “convenience.” – the smaller sleeve won’t go stale as often as the bigger one (did you ever return a bigger sleeve to the box? No, you consumed the entire sleeve of crackers before the second act break.). Don’t get me started on candy bars.
If you want to see inconstancy look at those sticky rollers for lint.What a staggering variety within even one company. Sticky rollers are made by a process unique to them that helps in the confusion. Every other product that comes on rolls is pre-perforated then wound up. Each sheet is the same size. But sticky rollers are wound on the roll first, then a blade severs the rolled up product into sheets. So each sheet is a different size. A sheet on the outer wrap can be twice the size of the inner wrap. They vary the outer diameter plus the inner core plus the length of the sheet so the number of sheets is meaningless. But they sell them by the sheet count. The only way to compare rolls is to go by the total square feet. Then they make up various descriptions for the stickiness: all purpose, extreme stick, pet hair, pet hair plus, hard surface etc. Straight handle or 90 degree handle. Various scents or unscented. The make rolls of 30, 60, 70, 90 and 100 at least.
Somewhat afield, but shampoo containers won’t let you unscrew the lid anymore to pour in a little water so you can use the last of it. Makes you buy a new container that much sooner so it’s like “shrinkage”.
That shampoo thing is easily worked around. I use to hold the bottle under running warm water and squeeze it a few times to get some water in. Then I shake the bottle and pour it over my head. Works til the last drop.
I get regular Club crackers all the time and they still have three sleeves. (I’ve never finished one ever.) Is this some variant for school lunches, maybe?
Nope, just different packaging. I have a 6 small sleeve box on top of the fridge right now. A quick look shows that they probably save 9 crackers/box by switching to 6 sleeves.
