They're at it again - raising prices by reducing the weight of the product. This time the villain is an old friend of mine. I've been drinking Chock full o' Nuts, described on the label as "New York's coffee since 1932", since around 1960. By the way, it says on the can that "No, there are no nuts in here (it's a long story) ..." Maybe the story's on-line somewhere. No hazlenut or French Roast for me. I still drink their Original blend, a medium roast said to be their signature coffee known by generations of New Yorkers as the "Heavenly Coffee". One of the things I made sure of before moving to Nashville was that the stores here carried Chock.
I remember when they reduced the 1 pound cans to 13 ounces. I was shopping at a Stop 'n' Shop on Long Island at the time. The can was the same size. I can understand that because it would mean big bucks tooling up to manufacture a new size can. This morning I was shopping at Kroger's and saw that they were selling the big Chock for $12.35. (Publix was selling it for $9.99 and recently had it on sale for $6.99.) So I picked up the can and took off my glasses for a closer look. Much to my surprise, the net weight of the can is now 33.9 oz. For quite a few years now, the large can of coffee has been 39 oz., down from the 3 lbs it was when the small can weighed a pound. I still have one 39 oz. can in my pantry closet so the change occurred recently. Customers may not notice the weight reduction because at a quick glance 33.9 oz. can look an awful lot like 39 oz. If they were not trying to deceive the public, why didn't they reduce the weight to 34 oz. Was that extra .1 oz so vital to the company's financial well being? Raise the prices if you must, but don't be sneaky about it.
I found the following article on-line which mentions 10 more products that have reduced weights, including Tropicana Orange Juice which has gone from 64 to 59 oz.
Downsized: More and More Products Lose Weight
www.walletpop.com/.../downsized-more-and-more-products-lose-weight/
Comments