# !! @¿@ !! Why is there an over 53% price premium for the "deluxe" version... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 19, 2008, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-an-over-53-price-premium-for-the-deluxe-version/449869 "2008-05-19T18:14:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-an-over-53-price-premium-for-the-deluxe-version/449869/21 "2008-05-20T21:53:33Z")
OK, I got a reply from Birds Eye today: > [@](#): > > Thank you for taking the time to contact us about Birds Eye products. > > We do offer a different variety of peas. The Deluxe Tiny peas are a smaller variety which would add to the cost of the product. In regards to the price of the product, the cleaning and production of the product offers convenience thus adding to the cost. We have passed your comments about the price to the appropriate departments for consideration. > > We hope this information will be of assistance to you. We value you as a customer and appreciate your time and concern. > > Sincerely, > Consumer Relations > Birds Eye Foods Justifiable? Baloney? Judge for yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-an-over-53-price-premium-for-the-deluxe-version/449869/22 "2008-05-21T14:18:06Z")
[QUOTE=picunurse] I pay the extra for the baby peas. They taste much better. They aren’t mealy. [/QUOTE] Seconded. We buy the bags of frozen veggies - a pound of them provides a nice big serving for each of the 4 of us - and we alternate between the regular peas and the “petite” peas. The petite ones are a little sweeter and more tender. I don’t recall what the price difference is (and it’s store brand anyway) but I don’t think it’s quite that big. Not sure if it’s a different strain, or simply ones that are picked earlier, or even simply ones that were filtered out from the larger ones. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-an-over-53-price-premium-for-the-deluxe-version/449869/23 "2008-05-21T14:55:27Z")
In general (I can’t speak to the peas, directly, because dammit I think peas are the food of the Devil) the smaller a vegetable is, the more flavorful it will be and the better quality. Compared to growing a crop for weight or volume, the producer generally gets less product per acreage when specializing in so-called baby vegetables, and so to remain competitive with the more common larger bulk items they charge more. I don’t know that this, and the difference in tooling costs mentioned up thread are sufficient to justify the magnitude of the price differential you’ve quoted. But it’s not an automatic fail for me, either. Short answer, to my mind, is to go with the double blind taste test, and see which you prefer, or if the difference in taste justifies the difference in cost. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-an-over-53-price-premium-for-the-deluxe-version/449869/24 "2008-05-21T14:59:47Z")
Yields will be lower if the peas are harvested smaller, so there’s certainly a higher cost there. Whether it’s enough to justify the difference at point of sale, I dunno - but a lot of that is going to be down to the _perceived value_ of the product - I mean, the OP is complaining that they’re too expensive - that proves there’s a demand for them, doesn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-an-over-53-price-premium-for-the-deluxe-version/449869/25 "2008-05-21T15:12:10Z")
FTR, I prefer the smaller, sweeter “early” peas, too. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-an-over-53-price-premium-for-the-deluxe-version/449869/26 "2008-05-21T15:18:27Z")
Are these petit peas? I have seen recipes specifically suggest them. [http://www.recipezaar.com/18229](http://www.recipezaar.com/18229) ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-an-over-53-price-premium-for-the-deluxe-version/449869/27 "2008-05-21T15:50:26Z")
[QUOTE=pbbth] Well, to be fair that isn’t a scam. Their costs for product, production, packaging, etc are all going up. They know for a fact that people will spend $1 for a bag of chips. If they raise the price they then must deal with the people who will call and complain but grudgingly continue to purchase the product (or worse stop buying all together) or change the ounce weight, which will generate a few complaints but go largely unnoticed by consumers. [/QUOTE] This reminds me of the story of the shrinking Hershey bar-- they so desired to maintain a retail price of a dime for the bar that the bar kept shrinking over the years as costs escalated, to the point that the “bar” became something like a chocolate credit card. Eventually, they discarded the “keep the price the same” ploy and brought the bar back up to snuff. I do think **Duckster** has a point with how many companies handle this downsizing, though. It seems often that products that are downsized are proclaimed as “New! Improved!” or whatever will make the customer ignore the fact that the product didn’t necessarily change for the better. As for bulk not always being a better deal, as noted by Duckster. That’s not really a new thing, and odd pricing that makes economy sizes uneconomical are a side-effect of chains that tweak profit levels on individual items to get the best combination of profit and sales. If a big box retailer regularly sells more of a smaller size package, they can get volume discounts that reduce the unit price significantly, which can bring smaller package sizes down in cost to the point that it’s more economical to buy them 5 at a time instead of getting the big 5x size. (Thus perpetuating the sales discrepancy between sizes…) ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-an-over-53-price-premium-for-the-deluxe-version/449869/28 "2008-05-21T20:52:03Z")
[QUOTE=Mama Zappa] …we alternate between the regular peas and the “petite” peas. The petite ones are a little sweeter and more tender. I don’t recall what the price difference is (and it’s store brand anyway) but I don’t think it’s quite that big. [/QUOTE] I got a follow-up message from Fresh Direct on the price differential, to go along with the response from Birds Eye about the product difference: > [@](#): > > Hi, > > My name is Yves, and I work at FreshDirect. Your blog entry caught our attention…and after some investigating, it turns out that the regular product is deeply discounted - hence the 53% price difference between the regular and the deluxe peas. > > The regular product is normally priced around $1.99, which would bring the price difference to 15% instead of 53%. > > There is no scam here as you seem to think. This is just us trying to get the best prices for our customers, as we always strive to do. > > Thank you for being a valued customer! So the “regular” peas are being discounted from MSRP by Fresh Direct more so than the “tiny tender peas”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-an-over-53-price-premium-for-the-deluxe-version/449869.md?page=1)