Archive for May 16, 2008
Let’s all pay more for less
by John Weckerle
This evening, NBC Nightly News reported that Kroger Foods, the owners of Smith’s in Edgewood, is experimenting with with 3-quart milk containers as a replacement for gallon containers – supposedly, according to anchor Brian Williams, as a means of reducing “sticker shock” and essentially making us not notice that we are paying more for less.
This is a trend that I’ve found offensive for years. Rather than raise the price up front, the strategy is to shrink the container, wait a bit, and then raise the price. Food companies seem to think that the American people are perhaps not bright enough to realize that the packages are getting smaller, and the prices are going up. Food costs what it costs, and families need as much food as they need. As prices go up, and container sizes go do down, we’re paying for more packaging and more transportation per unit of food contained therein.
Thanks a lot, Kroger, and thanks to any others who are, in fact, making it that much more difficult for people to feed their families for the simple goal of hiding from us the fact that we’re paying more for less – no doubt, with no corresponding adjustment to profit margins. Just understand: we’re smarter than you think.