Shrinking food dollar

[keird]

This thread started me on a Google quest on Do-it-Yourself outdoor pizza ovens and now I'm looking at Tandoor oven designs. Maybe I'll construct both some day.

My wife started baking bread because she was intrigued by some recipes. I bought a bag of whole wheat flour and some ingredients and she's making my sandwhich bread for less than I would buy in the store and it tastes better. I wonder if I could make my own Bologna 'cause I know a guy who raises pigs and beef cattle...

 

[MaxPayne63]

This thread started me on a Google quest on Do-it-Yourself outdoor pizza ovens and now I'm looking at Tandoor oven designs. Maybe I'll construct both some day.

My wife started baking bread because she was intrigued by some recipes. I bought a bag of whole wheat flour and some ingredients and she's making my sandwhich bread for less than I would buy in the store and it tastes better. I wonder if I could make my own Bologna 'cause I know a guy who raises pigs and beef cattle...

You're a lucky man.

She doesn't just make you a sammich, she makes the ingredients for that sammich, then makes you the sammich.

 

[max347]

But that's patently wrong too.

Shit gets LESS expensive to make over time when you factor in process/manufacturing improvements, better yield from those improvements, better streamlining of business models and distribution chains, depreciation of equipment used in manufacturing and distribution, etc.

Over time, the initial investment in business is recouped, so price should theoretically go DOWN, not UP.

All you're seeing instead is capitalism hard at work. Profits > anything else.

Yeah except you have only taken into consideration a fraction of what goes into business...

Gas prices go down recently? No huh?
People willing to work for lower wages? Nope, not that either.
Tax cuts? Ha. Ha ha.

Prices go up because prices go up. <---logic at work.

 

[Franz316]

It's combination of rising fuel prices, inflation(higher than what the fed reports), increasing energy costs, and attempting to maintain profit margins. Combine that with stagnant and declining wages and you have a real doozy! The recent stories of horse meat in place of beef and the watering down of beer are an extension of what we are seeing.

You can try your best to buy local and grow your own veggies but that only goes so far.

In the end, it's always the average working person who loses out.

 

[who?]

Are you sure the processes aren't already optimized?
SE may be special because it's cheaper.

 

[dmcowen674]

T9D
Member



Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 98


This really started happening huge in 2006 or 2007. The underlining economy was already starting to fall apart. The food companies were making cuts and cutting back on food to make it appear that their bottom line was still fine. Even though they had less sales they kept profits up by skimping the portions. It was just an illusion. Then everything crashed in 2008 and they couldn't hide it anymore or take anything more out. About every company was doing this kind of accounting.

I saw this trend in food and other companies falling apart at the foundation long before the public knew and the public crash came.

I kept telling people a crash was here and going to get worse, and they thought I was nuts.

Now it's getting worse with our dollar and the bad economy still dragging on.

With Gas and food getting really expensive it's getting a little worrisome.

When's it going to end? the quality of life is slowly going in the crapper (well has been for decades).

Just joined last month?

What were you doing for the decades before mentioned in your post?

What do you mean by worrisome?

What do you think will happen if anything?

 

[tcsenter]

Post Raisin Bran has been doing this for decades. "20% more raisins!", a couple years later, "25% more raisins in every box". If you factor all the "% more raisins in every box" together over the years, the fucking entire box should be nothing but raisins.

 

[eldorado99]

Post Raisin Bran has been doing this for decades. "20% more raisins!", a couple years later, "25% more raisins in every box". If you factor all the "% more raisins in every box" together over the years, the fucking entire box should be nothing but raisins.

you got a "lol" from me. :biggrin:

 

[Colt45]

really? Cuz they sure as fuck didn't feel the same.

They didn't feel the same because you bought a different fucking product which is what the guy you quoted was pointing out. The ones you didn't buy are still the same.

versus

edit:err, i guess you weren't the one that posted the pictures of the minis, maybe you did buy the medium ones and feel they are smaller. I don't think that's the case though.

 

[Jeff7]

Are you sure the processes aren't already optimized?
SE may be special because it's cheaper.

Or "special" in the "Special Fred" sense.

Post Raisin Bran has been doing this for decades. "20% more raisins!", a couple years later, "25% more raisins in every box". If you factor all the "% more raisins in every box" together over the years, the fucking entire box should be nothing but raisins.

K-mart's eternal "70% off all fine jewelry!" sale.
70% off of what?
20% more than what?


Other generic labeling fun:
Odd-sounding claim!*

But then nowhere on the packaging does it tell you what the asterisk means.
I guess it's finally reached the point where it's understood that if there's an asterisk after a statement, you should just assume that it's false.


"Recommended by 9 out of 10 doctors!*"
* - We actually asked 1024 doctors, but this statement is only considering a group of 10 of them, which happens to include those 9. You can thank our legal department.

They didn't feel the same because you bought a different fucking product which is what the guy you quoted was pointing out. The ones you didn't buy are still the same.
...

The chocolate problem I don't like is the PGPR thing.
"We want to use less cocoa in our chocolate products, but we still want to be able to call it 'chocolate,' and we don't want to have to legally refer to it as 'lying to consumers.' FDA, can you help us out here?"

 

[BoberFett]

It isn't profit that's the problem anyways, it is the expectation of constant growth in profits. If I sell 1M widgets at 10% margin this year and do the same next year in a private company I make money. Do it in a public company and you are a failure.

I won't argue with you there, the expectation of constantly increasing margins rather than stable, sustainable profits is a disease.

 

[rudder]

This trend goes way back. I would say 15 years at least.

The reductions people are noticing now are the second wave.

before the manufacturers would at least use the same size box.... now they have to use smaller containers and it is more noticeable.

 

[Joepublic2]

If the value of the dollar falls, that means in terms of equivalency the value of the food is going up.

Inflation, debasing, it's all the same. Long and the short of it is the value of the food is THE SAME. The companies are still giving you LESS of it, and charging you MORE for it, while their costs of providing it have GONE DOWN.

No, the value of the food is relatively static compared to the falling value of the dollar. Your 2013 dollar is only worth 3/4ths of a 2000 dollar (not sure on actual amount just an example). Their dollar costs have GONE UP because the last I checked they're still using the same dollars you're using, the same dollars that lose a significant chunk of their buying power year over year. That combined with higher energy costs (real higher cost even after factoring in inflation) explains most of these "increases". Your blame is completely misplaced, you should be pissed off at the govt. that is debasing your money and a financial sector out of control that allows absurd amounts of money (money that doesn't even represent any real value anymore) to be pumped into the commodities markets which hugely distort retail prices when those prices are in dollars.

 

[Miramonti]

Ice cream is one of the most annoying shrink rays.

Not only have most changed from 1/2 gallon to 48oz., most are noticeably lighter than they used to be, selling you air at ice cream prices (under the guise of 'whipped' or 'homestyle' etc. labels.)

 

[bigrash]

I don't mind them shrinking the content. But it doesn't make sense for the price to remain the same.

 

[*kjm]

Couple of dozen eggs with 1 roll of sausage??? LOL!

Heck I my cousin and his two sons work the farm and they would kill that off easy..... probably a loaf of bread to go with it and they are in great shape. Not everyone sits by a desk all day I would say they put in 16 to 18hr days.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

If we shop at a grocery store (Publix around here) we only buy BOGOs, and milk. So when a canned or dry good we use does a BOGO, we stock up. Everything else is a much better deal at warehouse clubs.

I noticed someone ITT mentioned thin steaks in the supermarket.. Sam's has Angus steakhouse thick cuts 1.5-2" thick. For up to $5-$7 per lbs cheaper than fairly untasty and thin Choice at Publix. They are finally building a Costco in west Melbourne, but I do not know if it will be worth the extra mileage to go or not. I will at least check it out.

 

[*kjm]

Our dollar sucks thanks to inflation. This is nothing new and has happened in the past. Stupid idiots in washington (and stupid people for voting for them) are partly to blame.

Yep the petroleum is going up so the farmers pay more for diesel and fertilizer. With so much darn corn going into our tanks it's killing them also. With the drought last year I know a lot of them are paying 3X what they did last year for bags of seed:thumbsdown:

Thats a big reason for the small boxes on the shelf and meat prices flying so high..... that and the weather last year.

 

[PowerYoga]

YAY! Let's pay more for AIR!!!

To be fair that's sort of a popular thing in Asia and europe way before it made its way into the junky hersheys stuff. Supposedly the air bubbles give a different texture to the chocolate. It just doesn't work with the disgusting chocolate hersheys uses.

 

[Oldgamer]

Yea when it comes to buying coffee, same thing. I found this which shows Folgers going down from 3lbs 4oz down to 3lbs.
http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/folgers-coffee-magic-shrink-ray-makes-more-from-less.html

Not surprising, the food companies are trying to get away with giving you less with packaging that is deceiving and looks like your getting the same or more. Same thing with chips. You don't get a half a bag of chips anymore, you get roughly 1/3 d of a bag, or less, with nothing but air pushed into the bag.

 

[Colt45]

"We want to use less cocoa in our chocolate products, but we still want to be able to call it 'chocolate,' and we don't want to have to legally refer to it as 'lying to consumers.' FDA, can you help us out here?"

Amen brother. Chocolate isn't supposed to taste like greasy sugar with 3ppm cocoa.

 

[Ns1]

They didn't feel the same because you bought a different fucking product which is what the guy you quoted was pointing out. The ones you didn't buy are still the same.

//

edit:err, i guess you weren't the one that posted the pictures of the minis, maybe you did buy the medium ones and feel they are smaller. I don't think that's the case though.

Your edit is correct. I'm not talking about the mini packages, I'm talking about the foil wrapped peanut butter cup minis of my childhood.

maybe my hands are just bigger now.

 

[Sonikku]

The 8 year old children it is meant for? What adult eats Fruity Pebbles or any other breakfast candy?

The kind that know good tasting cereal when they try it. That's who.

 

[Jeff7]

Amen brother. Chocolate isn't supposed to taste like greasy sugar with 3ppm cocoa.

"Made with real cocoa!" - meaning that there was some cocoa sitting somewhere in the same room as the manufacturing operation.

 

[Fritzo]

Heck I my cousin and his two sons work the farm and they would kill that off easy..... probably a loaf of bread to go with it and they are in great shape. Not everyone sits by a desk all day I would say they put in 16 to 18hr days.

I'm saying they're eating that many eggs and only one roll of sausage. It's like saying "Here's your 1 pound of scrambled eggs and 1 strip of bacon".