It’s possible that I’m mistaken, but I have long believed that “not for resale individually,” or “not labeled for individual sale” on single serving packages of snacks simply means that you shouldn’t bother looking for a nutritional information chart (calories per serving, vitamin and mineral assays, etc.) because it won’t be there.
OK, I’m sitting here with a box of Lance brand Captain’s Wafers that I just picked up at Dollar Tree. Trust me, it’s pretty obvious that this box is 2 crackers long and 3 crackers wide, and there’s no way it could be 3x3, unless you easily confuse a 2x3 rectangle for a square.
Just to get the message across, it’s got a pic on the top of the box with a roughly actual size of a top view of 2 crackers, and that pic occupies ~1/3 of the top of the box. It’s clear that if you open it up from the top, as intended by the design, you’re going to be looking at 6 crackers. Each layer would have to be either 2 6-packs or 3 4-packs. Either way, each layer of the packs will have 12 crackers. And it’s pretty obvious there’s room for 2 layers of whichever size of pack they are.
And just to make it super-clear, on the pic of the crackers, it says, “6 packs of 4 sandwiches.” In terms of crackers, it’s about as clearly a 4x3x2 box of crackers as it could possibly be. Damned if I know how it could be mistaken for anything else.
The only way this box could be deceptive would be if they had a bunch of extra packing material around a bunch of small crackers. But you open up the box and it’s wall to wall crackers, no wasted space.
Or if, as per the OP, you instinctively buy the same item as you always have, and don’t look closely at it until you get home.
I learned my lesson and look carefully at the cracker box before buying.
They won’t get me a 2nd time.
If it’s something you get frequently enough to “buy the same item as you always have,” who needs to look ‘closely’ to notice that that item is 2/3 of the size it used to be, and has a different shape? I’m surprised you don’t routinely wind up with Miracle Whip when you meant to buy mayo. Or vice versa, as the case may be.
Do note that this is not my topic, and I am not the person who was unpleasantly surprised by fewer crackers in the packages.
When I resumed living in North America after ~20 years abroad, I was shocked by how many of the things I had enjoyed earlier had shrunk.
Hostess cupcakes and fruit pies are at least 30% smaller than they used to be. Cans of Campbell’s chunky soups no longer line up with the ones stored in my pantry, and I need at least two tins of tuna to make a decent amount of sandwich filling. A simple can of Coke is a dollar at my local convenience store, and more if I try to get it from a vending machine!
Lord, how the mighty have fallen!