Shrinking produce and the 1% (price, discount, stores, selling)

[xz2y]

Everyone has experienced the "hidden" inflation in recent years of manufacturers "shrinking" the packages of everything from pasta to tuna fish to canned goods to ice cream. And using deceptive packing to try to trick people into thinking that the old 16oz package of pasta is really the same size as the 12oz package....or the old 1/2 gallon of ice cream that is now 1.5 quarts with a hollowed out bottom to look bigger, or the gallon water jugs that are 3 liters. The prices also went up on the smaller amounts, a double whammy: smaller packages and higher prices.

Well, now this concept is hitting produce. Yesterday I bought a pint of blueberries, which are in season around here at least, and 3/4 of the berries in this pint are about 1/4" in diameter, tiny little berries, with a 1/4 of the package more medium sized. I then walked around the produce section and low and behold, I saw a small, expensive 5oz package of "premium" blueberries, all of which were very large berries. So that's where the larger blueberries went! To the 1% "lux" market! How absurd is this? So, berry producers are now skimming off the biggest berries, jacking up the price, and repackaging them for the 1%!! Ugh!

I saw this happen in the last couple years with bagged produce such as potatoes and onions, for example. The last bag of yellow onions I purchased were no larger than golf balls. However, the "premium" yellow onions (larger, actually normal sized) were selling for 3 times the cost per pound individually. It's all a scam, folks. Crappier and crappier produce unless you are willing to pay the jacked up "gourmet" prices for what used to be normal sized produce.

[nitram]

It's the sign of the times now. Even yesterday I went out to the farm and saw they are using smaller people in the fields too. When they go to enter the fields they have to go through a station that says "no one over 4 foot allowed to pick"...gotta keep the wages down too.

[Pitt Chick]

Originally Posted by nitram

It's the sign of the times now. Even yesterday I went out to the farm and saw they are using smaller people in the fields too. When they go to enter the fields they have to go through a station that says "no one over 4 foot allowed to pick"...gotta keep the wages down too.

LOL!

[bumpus7]

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They do not care because they know you will buy it or do without.
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[PacificFlights]

Yep, as bumpus7 said, until you stop buying the items and others stop buying and they realize its because of these practices, they will not stop because it has not hurt them.

[xz2y]

Originally Posted by PacificFlights

Yep, as bumpus7 said, until you stop buying the items and others stop buying and they realize its because of these practices, they will not stop because it has not hurt them.

I think you're right on this. I shudder to think of how much produce gets tossed into locked dumpsters every night that could have been sold at a lower price. But no, the grocery chains would rather jack up the prices on the fancy produce, sell some of it and toss the rest. It's a terrible, wasteful system.

I've even gone to my local Farmer's Market at the end of the day when they are packing up their trucks with produce that sat in the hot sun all day, and they won't discount it. Not a dime. I just walk away at that point. It's just so wasteful. (The Farmer's Market where I live currently is really a boutique market with fancy overpriced produce, and the vendors collude on prices, so there is no competition, unfortunately.) Anyway, I hope my next place will have some space for growing my own veggies.

[motormaker]

In my area the food/produce you are talking about goes to various food banks.

[nancy thereader]

Yes, here too. That food goes to the food banks all over the county. It isn't really thrown out.

[Pitt Chick]

Originally Posted by nancy thereader

Yes, here too. That food goes to the food banks all over the county. It isn't really thrown out.

Same here.
Food banks and several group homes (like the homeless shelter, the battered womens shelter, etc)

[PacificFlights]

Originally Posted by xz2y

I think you're right on this. I shudder to think of how much produce gets tossed into locked dumpsters every night that could have been sold at a lower price. But no, the grocery chains would rather jack up the prices on the fancy produce, sell some of it and toss the rest. It's a terrible, wasteful system.

Yes, it is a terrible wasteful system, but its also a system created in large part by consumers. If a store was to lower prices to be within pennies of their cost, consumers will not see that store as operating on razor thin profit margins, they will see all the other stores as rip-offs and price gouging. That means they set that cheaper price as the standard price and assume anyone charging more is evil. What makes it even worst is on some products like produce, dairy and meats, losses are the highest because the product has a very short shelf life and subject to large spoilage. So you can;t expect them to sell at razor thin margins while still taking all the losses. If they were to lower the prices to the razor thin levels people want or expect, that becomes the new standard price and retailers have to cut something somewhere, or they have to raise prices on other products to cover those loses.