I was in the local Loblaws, and saw some KD, 3 for $4.98, or $1.99 each . I thinks, "buck sixty-six a box, what can go worng?" So I grab three from the display. And, like all of us, pay the bill, pocket the receipt and go home.
Then, later, I look at my receipt in detail, because I do that more often now with all the talk of inflation and deceptive businesses increasing profit margins by feeding on the inattention of the hapless shopper - me.
And, they did. They charged me 1.94 for one box, which had a different product identifer than the other two boxes (all in the same display, with a 3-for price tag). But, now, I only had two boxes of the stuff that is on special, so I do not get the three-for price, just the unit price. Upshot, they charged 1.94 + 2 x 1.99 = 5.92 instead of 4.99, thereby dinging me for nearly a dollar. Recall this is a store run by the immensely wealthy Weston family.
So, I go back to the store and get my full refund, because why would I accept this?
And I notice that the 1.94 price was for a 225 gram package, but the 1.99 price (or 3-for-4.98) is for the new 200g package. But, the boxes are the same size, and all of them are marked KD Original and other blah-blah, and who is going to notice the amount the contnet has shrunk?
That is not the only thing deflated. I am now without KD, and not sure I can buy it ever again.
So, the box content has shrunk and the price has gone up and there was some trickery in the grocery aisle. All the -flations in one transaction: greedflation, shrinklation, inflation, deflation. All for a few measly cents here and there, but it all adds up to shareholder happy-happy and CEO bonus-bonus.
I see this happen to us, and wonder if this cynical BS from the topmost is what has made so many bottommost people so annoyed that they now distrust gummit, corps, officialdom and go down rabbit holes looking for the information that will help fix this.
Some days later, I am looking at the multivitamins display. There is a box with a plastic bottle contained within, showing 90 caplets for such and so price. And, beside that box, a larger box, with a for sure larger bottle, with 150 caplets. So, I buys the bigger box, maybe on sale, maybe not. And when I get home I open the bottle, and tip its contents into the smaller 90 caplets bottle I have at home that still has enough caplets for another week. And all 150 caplets from the bigge bottle in the bigger box fit in the 90 bottle, with was in a smaller box, with room to spare.
So, the manufacturer (Jamieson) produces a bigger package, but the contents fit into the smaller package. We don't deserve this planet if the manufactures of product are going to fill it with waste so deliberately.
Which reminds me of the granola. We bought a box of granola, some luxe stuff. It had a little cutout in the lower half of the box front, and showed an inner bag (plastic) of granola. When we get it home, the inner bag just barely covered the window in the bottom half of the box. Thus, most of the box was filled with air, not granola, and this bigger-than-necessary box, half full of air, had been shipped from a factory with extra carbon costs for the extra packaging and less product (granola) per unit volume. We don't deserve this planet.