So I’ve been buying 220g bags of Ruffles potato chips for $4.79 at No Frills (a value-based franchise banner under Loblaws that operates in Ontario). This is one of many products that seems to be towing the line of not going over the $5 threshold.
Now the bags of Ruffles sold in the same store are 200g (almost a 10% reduction in volume) for the same price. I suspect the same applies to other Frito-Lay products. (I noticed the Flammin’ BBQ flavour of Ruffles was weighing in at 190g.)
As we’ve seen with other products, I think the choice of going to 200g from 220g is an intentional number choice that they believe people are less likely to notice than 199g for example.
Shame on Frito-Lay, Shame on Loblaws. I’m in my 30s, and I’ve never experienced @#%! relentlessly getting incrementally more expensive like things have the last few years. It’s wild and it unsettles me, as I know it’s just about unchecked greed, and wouldn’t bet on it slowing down any time soon.
Gotta add that if the political right wing had their way since the beginning, there probably would not be any objective indicator of weight that corporations could not fudge, let alone things like salt, fat and sugar.
Even so, corporations find the way to lie and mislead in any way they can, regarding consumers as suckers.
For example, use two types of sugar so neither exceed the red flag threshold, and slap a “low sugar” label on the box/bag/can.
“So, technically, we’re not lying, see? It’s low on this one, and low on that one. Not guilty! See?”