# Peanut butter crackers have shrunk after 60 plus years **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [November 12, 2025, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-butter-crackers-have-shrunk-after-60-plus-years/1024799 "2025-11-12T03:38:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2025, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-butter-crackers-have-shrunk-after-60-plus-years/1024799/21 "2025-11-12T20:34:53Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > Wasn’t that specified on the box? Requires paying attention and reading for comprehension. That’s the sneaky part about sneakflation: a consumer buys the package which they’ve “always” bought, without looking too closely at it, only to discover, at some point, that it doesn’t have as much product as it used to. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2025, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-butter-crackers-have-shrunk-after-60-plus-years/1024799/22 "2025-11-12T20:54:40Z")
> [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](#): > > The recipe says 1 can of canned tuna – but with current shrunken cans, the result is rather pasta-heavy and short on tuna. Yeah, when I was first on my own and buying food for myself, the standard tuna can was 6.5 oz. net weight. Now [checks pantry] it’s 5 ounces. Also says “drained weight 4 oz.” I don’t recall having seen that back in the old days. I’d always figured that for something like tuna, packed in oil or water, the drained weight _was_ the net weight, otherwise it wouldn’t be particularly meaningful. I wasn’t going to put any more of the oil or water in a tuna sandwich than I had to; AFAIAC it’s part of the packaging, just as much as the can is. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2025, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-butter-crackers-have-shrunk-after-60-plus-years/1024799/23 "2025-11-12T20:57:09Z")
Those boxes of six 4-packs are a buck twenty-five at Dollar Tree, and at that price, I’m not complaining. ETA: I hadn’t bought them in years, probably decades, when I started noticing them at Dollar Tree. (Great place for cheap snack food!) I remembered that they’d been in 6-packs, but that was long enough ago that it didn’t bother me, and four crackers are usually all I want at once anyway. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2025, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-butter-crackers-have-shrunk-after-60-plus-years/1024799/24 "2025-11-12T21:01:24Z")
I don’t recognize the Lance brand crackers specifically. The ones I was familiar with from kidhood were from somebody else. What caught my eye is that the prefab PB & crackers I vaguely remember had crackers that were rectangular and scored in 3rds. So if the cracker was e.g. 1.5" x 4.5" inches yielding 3 crackers of 1.5"x1.5" = 2.25 square inches each, all 6.75 square inches were cracker. With circular crackers, a 1.5" diameter cracker has an area of just 1.76 square inches. That’s a 22% reduction in the amount of cracker per cracker. Sneakflation triumphs again. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2025, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-butter-crackers-have-shrunk-after-60-plus-years/1024799/25 "2025-11-12T21:02:52Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Requires paying attention and reading for comprehension. There are six 4-packs in a box. How many 6-packs used to be in a box? If the answer is ‘six’ the shrinkage would be hard to miss, I’d think. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2025, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-butter-crackers-have-shrunk-after-60-plus-years/1024799/26 "2025-11-12T21:03:51Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > > [@Railer13](#): > > > > Yes, a half-gallon of ice cream is now 3 pints. > > Speaking of pints of ice cream—I am kind of surprised ben n jerry’s ice cream carton is still a full pint (16 ounces) Yes, unlike Häagen-Dazs. I think their “pint” containers are 14 ounces. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2025, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-butter-crackers-have-shrunk-after-60-plus-years/1024799/27 "2025-11-12T22:18:18Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > There are six 4-packs in a box. How many 6-packs used to be in a box? If the answer is ‘six’ the shrinkage would be hard to miss, I’d think. Until such time as you get it home and open it (as the OP apparently did, and that’s when they discovered it), it’s probably _not_ hard to miss if you don’t actually read the package thoroughly when you are in the store, which was my point. And, yes, 4 instead of 6 _is_ really obvious, _once you open the package_; conversely, the kind of shrinkflation I mentioned above, from earlier in my career, when 16 ounce shampoo bottles got downsized to 15 ounces, is more insidious, because few people are going to notice, “hey, a bottle used to last me 4 weeks, and now it only lasts me 3 1/2…” ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2025, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-butter-crackers-have-shrunk-after-60-plus-years/1024799/28 "2025-11-12T22:18:19Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Requires paying attention and reading for comprehension. > > That’s the sneaky part about sneakflation: a consumer buys the package which they’ve “always” bought, without looking too closely at it, only to discover, at some point, that it doesn’t have as much product as it used to. That’s true. I’ve been buying pb crackers for most of my life and barely glance at the box. I only check the picture that they’re the regular crackers. The orange (fake cheese) are more salty. I will look closer next time that I buy. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2025, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-butter-crackers-have-shrunk-after-60-plus-years/1024799/29 "2025-11-12T23:02:27Z")
Two things: Are we talking about one package of crackers/pb with 6 sets in the package? An individual serving. Or a box of 4pks. 6 to a box? @LSLGuy, that coffee can is not really a can. It’s some cardboard with aluminum coating inside. Or a bag. But, I know you know that. Just poking at you a bit 😊 . Oh, and Lance is a fairly big brand, @kenobi_65 would know more. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2025, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-butter-crackers-have-shrunk-after-60-plus-years/1024799/30 "2025-11-12T23:08:45Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Are we talking about one package of crackers/pb with 6 sets in the package? That’s it. That is sold in vending machines. I’ll usually buy a pack with my soda. There are different size boxes. But, it used to always be the same size serving. Only the number of packs changed in the bigger boxes. Lance and Austin are often found in stores. I like Munchies better but they’re often out of stock. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-butter-crackers-have-shrunk-after-60-plus-years/1024799/31 "2025-11-13T00:03:33Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > 35 years ago, when I was at my first job, working at a major personal-care products company, the industry-standard size for bottles of shampoo and conditioner was 16 fluid ounces. At some point in the early '90s, shrinkflation started, and bottles gradually got downsized to 15 ounces I’ve noticed in some of my mom’s old cookbooks recipes will often call for 1 16 ounce can of tomatoes. Nowadays a normal can of tomatoes is like 14.5 ounces. I know slightly less tomato isn’t going to have all that much impact on the recipe, but this annoys me slightly. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-butter-crackers-have-shrunk-after-60-plus-years/1024799/32 "2025-11-13T00:28:07Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > I’ve noticed in some of my mom’s old cookbooks recipes will often call for 1 16 ounce can of tomatoes. Nowadays a normal can of tomatoes is like 14.5 ounces. My wife has a huge number of old recipes, which she inherited from her grandmother; we suspect that most of them came from women’s magazines (or even from product packaging) in the 1950s through 1970s. Those recipes are comfort food for her, as they remind her of her grandmother and her childhood. A lot of them feature convenience foods (canned and frozen) as primary ingredients, with sizes and varieties specified which are now difficult, and sometimes impossible, to find. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-butter-crackers-have-shrunk-after-60-plus-years/1024799/33 "2025-11-13T00:46:45Z")
Or it’s listed as a #2 or #6 can. Huh? I’m sure it can be googled, but what if I’m up to my elbows in a fragile souffle’, “Alexa, what is a #2 can of ??? mean” Hope the AI knows their stuff. And your souffle’ doesn’t explode in the oven. Due to that gallon of capers. (Them things harder than paint balls, Earl!) 😊 ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-butter-crackers-have-shrunk-after-60-plus-years/1024799/34 "2025-11-13T01:09:55Z")
When I volunteered at the concession stand we unpacked loads snacks. Chips, crackers and candy. Unless ordered properly the crackers came imprinted “not for resale individually”. We got stung a few times. Rarely will those wholesalers take returns outside of the next day. The clock starts ticking as soon as it’s delivered to your venue. I have to say, if it had not been a school function, I may have sold them anyway. I’ve seen it in plenty of convenience stores. ---
**Author:** ![MagicEyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@MagicEyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MagicEyes)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-butter-crackers-have-shrunk-after-60-plus-years/1024799/35 "2025-11-13T10:47:48Z")
The four-cracker packs aren’t down-sizing. It’s an alternative size. For children, or people with small appetites. All of the grocery stores I shop at have Lance crackers (and other brands) in the six-cracker packs. I’m sure the smaller packs are cheaper. ---
**Author:** ![fischersd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fischersd/32/20113_2.png) [@fischersd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fischersd)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-butter-crackers-have-shrunk-after-60-plus-years/1024799/36 "2025-11-13T14:59:33Z")
“Shrinkflation” doesn’t seem to be as commonplace in the US as it is in Canada (eg. your Classico Pasta Sauce is still 750ml - while ours has shrunk a few times and is now only 600ml). ☹ I really think that Government / Consumer Protection Agencies should be making shrinkflation illegal. Companies are only too glad to update their packaging when they increase the sizing “Now 25% more!” but when they stealthily reduce what you’re getting for the same price, mum’s the word. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-butter-crackers-have-shrunk-after-60-plus-years/1024799/37 "2025-11-13T18:37:00Z")
Yeah. A big banner across the front reading: “New Smaller Size; Now With Higher Prices!” just doesn’t have the _zing_ the marketers are looking for. ---
**Author:** ![dimike333](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dimike333](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dimike333)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2025, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-butter-crackers-have-shrunk-after-60-plus-years/1024799/38 "2025-11-13T18:47:13Z")
Shrinkflation hits everything eventually. Companies cut a cracker here or a cookie there because it is easier than raising the price. People who grew up with the six pack notice right away, but newer buyers only see the bright box on the shelf. Making your own snack stack with saltines and peanut butter might actually taste better anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2025, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-butter-crackers-have-shrunk-after-60-plus-years/1024799/39 "2025-11-14T06:31:08Z")
> [@dimike333](#): > > Making your own snack stack with saltines and peanut butter might actually taste better anyway. No way. The crackers just have to be orange. ---
**Author:** ![Patx2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/73ab20/32.png) [@Patx2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patx2)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2025, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-butter-crackers-have-shrunk-after-60-plus-years/1024799/40 "2025-11-15T04:32:28Z")
I just popped in to say that I used to buy the prepackaged ones sometimes. They were convenient. Now, I just make my own all of the time. They taste so much better. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-butter-crackers-have-shrunk-after-60-plus-years/1024799.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peanut-butter-crackers-have-shrunk-after-60-plus-years/1024799.md?page=3)