Downsized packaged grocery products

Have you noticed any recent examples of reductions in the amount of product in packaged grocery items? If so please share information about them here. For example what was the reduction and did the selling price also change?

The current increases in the cost of producing some grocery products here is highly likely, as is happening in the USA, to result in some grocery manufacturers reducing the amount of product in packages.

Especially if the selling price does not also change, it can be difficult for many consumers to spot the sneaky price increases resulting from quantity downsizing.

So, it is important to let consumers know when this has occurred and to also remind them to regularly:

  1. Look at how much is in packages.
  2. Check and compare the unit price (price per unit of measure (for example per 100g, per kg or per litre) that many supermarkets have to provide instore and online for pre-packaged grocery items whenever a selling price is displayed.
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I was at the checkout in a small local (ish) supermarket yesterday: the customer in front of me, held up a Freddo Frog - it was tiny!! Looked like 1/3 of the size of the last F/Frog I bought… didn’t check to see what price it was, but the customer & checkout operator were both appalled.

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Cadbury Dairy Milk (plain chocolate) Share Packs used to contain 18 little packs, then reduced to 15-now they’re down to 12. Pretty sure weight used to be 188g (for the 15?)-now 144g. Price unchanged.

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Hiya @ijarratt

There have been some examples provided in the past on this site about reduced sizes/weighs of product. These are the ones I could find easily for you, there may be more:

“Nude by Nature” product size shrinkage - SpotAShonky - Community (choice.community)

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Thanks for reminding me about these posts containing examples. I had forgotten about some.
Since many are old and I really new new examples, after consulting with bmays I decided to start a new post and he may add links to previous ones on the same or a similar topic.
Here is a link to a recent US TV story which IMO shows how current examples of downsizing can be of great interest to the media and so get the message across to consumers about the benefits of looking at how much is in packages and checking and comparing unit prices.

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No worries but some may still be useful as a history of the changes occurring. It isn’t a recent trend but it may be one gathering pace. Heheh when is a kilo not a kilo? When a supermarket sells it with a symbol on it!

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I have grocery dockets going back a few years. I will have a look at 2022 vs 2021 where I have weights on the print-out. I suspect that the frozen chips we occasionally buy went from 1kg to 750g. Cadbury chocolate, that we rarely buy, has been reducing in size. I see the 400g Family Block is now 360g or so and selling for $7.50. Unfortunately, I don’t buy much packaged goods, but will see what I can come up with.

Yoghurt tubs reducing in content was what set my mother off on a life-long consumer advocacy and her membership of Choice (from the second edition).

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One possible strategy is to look through the recent archives of local papers with digital access. It might take some time to find the best of the bunch. 5 minutes turned up this add from our local,
https://gcnews.com.au/edition-archive/

Zeroing in on the 500gm Froot Loops from Jan 2020, we’re not quite so Fruit Loopy today looking at Woolies on line. We’ve lost 40gms of loopiness since. :joy:

Nutri Grain appears to have had a similar diet loosing 40gms to be 765gms pack weight.

Oreo Cookies are now 133gm most common variety vs 137gm 2 years prior.

Lipton Ice Tea is still 1.5l today as far as I can establish.

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Kellogg’s Corn Flakes

In Woolworths last week, there was a sign advertising “Only at Woolworths 920g value pack” for $5.50. Shelves just contained the replacement “Only at Woolworths 890g value pack” for $6.50.

Coles does not stock those sizes but the price for a 725g pack recently increased from $4.50 to $6.30.

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Thanks. Good idea.

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Yes the large pack size in Woolworths is not the same as elsewhere.
Thanks for the example. There was a 3.3% reduction in content, an 18.2% increase in the selling price, and the price per 100g increased by 21.7% from 60 cents to 73 cents.

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Wondering if any one knows when the Nutrigrain pack shrank from 805g to 765g - a 5% drop - and what the regular price last was at Woolworths or Coles for the 805g pack. Currently, the regular price of the 765g pack is $9.50 at Woolworths and $8.80 at Coles.

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Regarding cadbury sizes i remember block sizes were 250gm many years ago and all they have done is reduce the size. The spokesman said kt was rising costs. Currently block size is only 180gm. Nestle is the same size is no different cost is high. I guess either buy it or not. Share packs have reduced i think eg twirl flake. Cherry ripe. All chocolate products have shrunk in size.

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The Woolworths website shows that size as being out of stock and doesn’t show a price. However, the google reference linking to the website shows a price of $8.50.

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Thanks. That’s very helpful.
That would mean that the pack size has shrunk by 5%, the selling price has increased by 11.8% and the unit price by 17%. So, the downsizing hides some of the real price increase for Woolworths shoppers wanting to buy the amount in the previous pack size.
It will be interesting to see what happens to the amount in, and the price of, the other pack sizes.

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I have compared our purchases for 2021 & 2022 at our main (independent) supermarket looking for goods that have reduced in size. I don’t buy much in the way of packaged goods, and tend to buy the same size, brand & product (eg mid sized tinned Black & Gold sweetcorn kernels).

The good news is that none of the products I buy have reduced in size. The only exception is a Golden Circle can of sliced pineapple in natural juice that seems to be 432g on 14/7/21 and 440g before and after. It was in a “$2 sale” and may have been a special buy or parallel import, or just a typo. As it seems unusual to go to all the trouble of reducing by 8g.

I suspected that BirdsEye chips - rosemary & parmesan were 800g and are now 600g, but if it happened, it must have been 2020 or earlier.

Maybe the Big Two supermarkets have the volume and clout to get manufacturers to reduce sizes, whereas the independents take the “usual” stock and can’t play the shrinking game.

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Another possible source might be shopping dockets over time. We don’t keep our paper copies past a few weeks. Perhaps some of those who shop on line have a digital archive (conformation emails) of prior purchases? Or do Woolies and Coles systems not work that way?

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On occasions, I buy Arnotts ginger nut biscuits. It seems to me that individual biscuits are smaller than they were years ago. Is it my imagination?

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I don’t know about size but there are 4 different recipes for them based on State preferences. They make one type for Qld, one for NSW, one that is SA preferred and a Victorian recipe.

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