please put a question mark after Ice Cream...I am not a valley girl. LOL

Nothing burns me up more than downsizing. It's happening everywhere. It's a rip-off and it's inflation that doesn't get figured into the inflation index, because it doesn't get recorded as a price increase. So, when it's pay increase time, you don't get compensated for downsizing price increases. It's criminial in my mind.

Ok, in defense of some ice cream companies...

My husband works for Schwan's. (Best ice cream you'll ever taste). Last year, the price of butter fat went waaaay up. Schwan's absorbed the cost (millions of dollars) for many months before they were finally forced to either raise the prices, or shrink the boxes. At first they raised the prices. People FREAKED out. (We're talking a few cents here.) Finally they tried lowering the prices and shrinking the half-gallon size. Very few people complained.

Sometimes consumers make it difficult on businesses, as well. Yes, Schwan's is a big company that makes alot of money. But they are a great company to work for, offer fantastic benefits (which they don't have to), and help with charities ALOT. But yet people will say, "they don't have to pass it along to the consumer." Well, sometimes, they do.

JMHO

Don't have Schwan's in my area, but you said they only raised a few cents. If so, why would people freak out? I would rather just pay a few cents more for the same size than to have them downsize and not tell me. Most of the time they downsize, but find a way to make the new container the exact same size as the old container. Seems deceiving to me. And, I feel if they just raise the price to begin with, they can in turn lower it when costs come down (LOL), but once it is downsized it seems to stay at the old price or even more. I don't mind companies who say they contribute to charities, but I get so mad when I see a big company logo on the race cars or on the athletes hats. I figure if they have all that extra money for advertizing they could give the consumers a break once in a while.

secapps,
You'd be surprised how many people care about nickel and dime price raises. I think Schwan's was 6cents? But most of their customers buy from them every other week, and many are older folks who have been buying for years.

Ruhbehka, I love Schwans! They also have GREAT lasagna! YUM, when is lunch???

I've noticed some companies are being sneaky about downsizing, such as making a container look the same size, but moving the bottom up a half-inch, when the outside canister looks the same. You actually have to look at the weight to see the difference. SIGH, just another annoyance of modern life!

Zest bath soap (and others I'm sure) downsized the bar of soap to make it "affordable". That's what they said when I wrote the company. They make it sound like you're having to borrow money for a bar of soap. OK, let's look at this. The price stayed the same for a bar of soap, but the size was 10% less. You still use the same amount of soap total, it's a function of the no. of showers you take (unless you decide to take less showers to save money, which I won't). And with a bar of soap, you typically toss the last little sliver, because you can't use it. Therefore, you are actually tossing a bigger percentage of the soap you buy and you end up having to buy MORE soap. And it means more trips to the store too, which cost you. So, it would have been cheaper for the consumer if they just raised the price 10% instead of being deceiving and making the bar 10% smaller. And do you think they changed the size of the box that the soap comes in? No, they didn't. I'd rather just pay the extra money.

This one really burns my butt. I occasionally like to have a bowl of cereal in the evening. Do you know how hard it is to find a good price on a box of cereal? We don't have kids and buying more than 1 makes no sence to us. Nowadays your forced to buy 5 at a time and talk about the size of the box. I know those have really shrunk. And it also seems to me the bags of chips have recently shrunk.

Reference dairy products - I can't understand why we aren't seeing a price decline - last year dairy producers were receiving $15-$19 per hundred pounds depending on milk quality, solids content and transportation and now it is $10.50-$12.50. TheyÂve seen a 30% decrease in income. Somebody out there is pocketing that difference!

I would not freek out over 6 cents. I think those people are nutty if they do. All they did was force the company to go to a smaller size to keep them quiet. I am with the rest who would rather see the same size and a price increase instead of shrinking sizes. Companies are so afraid of a price increase, but I think what they do in shrinking the size is worse. Just my opinion. It also makes it harder for us to compare prices. I do try to watch nickels and dimes, but I don't go crazy unless the price goes really high on something I buy. Then I try to find an alternative. I will have to try Schwans whenever I am in an area that has it.
It also annoys me that the boxes of cereal all seem to be the same size on the outside, but all are different weights.

Do you remember when laundry detergent started becoming "more concentrated, better for the environment"? I have a sneaking suspicion that this was just a ploy to get you to use more laundry detergent. A 40-use box shrank to about half its size (because the contents were more "concentrated"). But most people use more than the "recommended amount" suggested by the BOTTOM line on the scoop. Thus, the you to buy laundry detergent more ften, while the company gets laurels for being "environmentally friendly."

Please. If they cared about the environment, they'd be selling the stuff in bulk where you reuse your own container, not in cardboard boxes or plastic jugs. And not using petrochemicals and phosphates.

end $.02

Downsizing:

I have a recessed paper holder in my bathroom. When I first moved here 15 yrs ago, I had to use up part of the roll before putting it on the holder because it was too big to fit. As we all know, that changed over the years. When they came out with 'double' rolls, I had the same problem. Not anymore, the 'double' rolls have plenty of room on the holder from the very beginning, plus they've made the cardboard center larger. I may have to buy t.p., but I don't have to buy ice cream!!

Darigold icecream which I only buy when on sale CHEAP beats Schwann's very expensive icecream IMHO. Tastes vary. As for the concentrated detergent, someone explained to me once that it saves on shelf/warehouse space and shipping which are very expensive and smaller packages cost less for the company to produce. I prefer to have less water in liquid detergent which I almost always use or less filler in powdered detergents and other cleaning products. Their motivation in producing the concentrated products is shady at best I'm sure but for once I like at least part of the outcome.

One of reasons for these price increases in almost all products is the salary of the CEO ($$$$$$$) and all his lackies and the cost of paying out high stock dividends.

But, in truth, many prices have dropped, when inflation is factored in, one example is gasoline !!.

And because of all this present day greed, the bubble will soon burst, and there will be trouble.(revolution)

I agree with the greedy CEO comment. They are robbing the consumers of their money, the workers of pay, benefits, medical, pension, vacation and almost everything. These people should be in prison. Not just Ken Lay, but almost ever single CEO in America.

That's a good one gadgets. My husband keeps saying we are using so much toilet paper all the time as the rolls run out so fast. I wonder how much they have cut down on them in the past 10 years.

Get out that ice cream maker! Last summer Walmart had a pretty nice one for $15. Makes good ice cream too.

Earthworm, you are right on target. What gets me the most about all this is politically we are told inflation is under control. I do not believe this because hidden inflation is never accounted for. The middle always gets squeezed. The corp. are sending jobs overseas, they have overseas corp. tax # to not pay taxes in the US. Ever wonder how we will be able to pay for the products when our pay goes down and prices go up. Oh, by the way in the homeland security bill there is a section that allows corporations to be incorporated out of this country to avoid taxes. Go figure, now I feel safer. Sorry guys, lost myself for a moment. As you can see I have pent up anger, lost too much money on all this stock market deregulation fiasco.
We would pay more for Schwan's icecream, We love it.

I just read about this in our local paper last night. I know, just another goudge to us working stiffs. I know a lot of people are incredibly busy and don't have time or want to bother, but I've really become a stickler about what I buy. I truly believe in sticking up for myself with my buying dollar. I know it's only one person but at least I make myself feel better.

And don't even get me started on CEO's and corporate greed. I vented on another post about that because of what my husband and dad are going through right now.

Such is life. I'm going to have a glass of wine (whine!)

Ice cream is sold by volume, not weight.

We used to get hand-packed ice cream at the ice cream store, which was a lot heavier per size of container. Substantially higher price, as well.

It was locally produced, by people who felt it necessary to provide a quality product.

Guess what - they sold several years ago to a national dairy. Not the same quality product, now.

The regular pack of ice cream has a lot of air mixed into it. Cold air.

If you need hot air - visit a politician.

joyful guy