Best Foods - Hellmans Mayo

Dimitri said:

6.25% price increase.

Rat [censored]

Only buy when 2-for-1.

Quoted message said:

That's like the 11 ounce pound of coffee.

Buy green and roast your own. $5lb.

nb

"Dimitri" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Subtle price change.

The new quart jar is 30 ounces.

6.25% price increase.

Rat [censored]

What kind of work do you do, Dmitri?

Dimitri said:

Subtle price change.

The new quart jar is 30 ounces.

6.25% price increase.

Rat [censored]

That's like the 11 ounce pound of coffee.

Thanks for pointing that out. I would have never thought of looking for that. I
just checked my recent mayo purchase (Safeway store brand) and it is still 32
ounces.

It's like the half gallon of ice cream in the new "convenience sized" 1.75 quart
package.

When will the new 100 ounce "convenience sized" gallon of gasoline hit the
market? ;-)

--
wff_ng_7 (at) verizon (dot) net

"wff_ng_7" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:Gxl4i.4948$qp5.2303@trnddc03...

Quoted message said:

Dimitri said:

Subtle price change.

The new quart jar is 30 ounces.

6.25% price increase.

Rat [censored]

That's like the 11 ounce pound of coffee.

Thanks for pointing that out. I would have never thought of looking for
that. I just checked my recent mayo purchase (Safeway store brand) and it
is still 32 ounces.

It's like the half gallon of ice cream in the new "convenience sized" 1.75
quart package.

I find it odd that so many people expect cost-of-living raises, but are
annoyed when a package gets smaller.

Quoted message said:

I find it odd that so many people expect cost-of-living raises, but are
annoyed when a package gets smaller.

Yeah! After all, what is the point of being able to afford more if you
don't spend it! Yay!
Are you really this stupid? Is anybody?

JoeSpareBedroom said:

wff_ng_7 said:

Dimitri said:

Subtle price change.

The new quart jar is 30 ounces.

6.25% price increase.

Rat [censored]

That's like the 11 ounce pound of coffee.

Thanks for pointing that out. I would have never thought of looking for that.
I just checked my recent mayo purchase (Safeway store brand) and it is still
32 ounces.

It's like the half gallon of ice cream in the new "convenience sized" 1.75
quart package.

I find it odd that so many people expect cost-of-living raises, but are
annoyed when a package gets smaller.

Because subtly changing the package size is a deliberate attempt at deceiving
the customer. They are hoping no one notices. If they are so innocent, why don't
they just raise the price?

And don't say that the new smaller packages are the result of customer demand.
Was anyone clamoring for a 1.75 quart " convenience sized half gallon"? A 30
ounce "quart"? I don't think so.

By the way, wages have lagged inflation for quite some time now, so deceptive
practices like downsizing products are important issues. Those toward the upper
end of the income scale have not been affected by these trends, so they would
tend to think the issue is irrelevant.

--
wff_ng_7 (at) verizon (dot) net

"JoeSpareBedroom" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"wff_ng_7" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:Gxl4i.4948$qp5.2303@trnddc03...

Quoted message said:

Dimitri said:

Subtle price change.

The new quart jar is 30 ounces.

6.25% price increase.

Rat [censored]

That's like the 11 ounce pound of coffee.

Thanks for pointing that out. I would have never thought of looking for
that. I just checked my recent mayo purchase (Safeway store brand) and it
is still 32 ounces.

It's like the half gallon of ice cream in the new "convenience sized"
1.75 quart package.

I find it odd that so many people expect cost-of-living raises, but are
annoyed when a package gets smaller.

probably the same people who start cutting their workday short, so the boss
won't notice.

"wff_ng_7" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:ESl4i.10213$kf1.320@trnddc01...

Quoted message said:

JoeSpareBedroom said:

wff_ng_7 said:

"Dimitri" <[email hidden]> wrote:
> Subtle price change.
>
> The new quart jar is 30 ounces.
>
> 6.25% price increase.
>
> Rat [censored]
>
> That's like the 11 ounce pound of coffee.

Thanks for pointing that out. I would have never thought of looking for
that. I just checked my recent mayo purchase (Safeway store brand) and
it is still 32 ounces.

It's like the half gallon of ice cream in the new "convenience sized"
1.75 quart package.

I find it odd that so many people expect cost-of-living raises, but are
annoyed when a package gets smaller.

Because subtly changing the package size is a deliberate attempt at
deceiving the customer. They are hoping no one notices. If they are so
innocent, why don't they just raise the price?

Because they know EXACTLY what most people are willing to pay.

Quoted message said:

And don't say that the new smaller packages are the result of customer
demand. Was anyone clamoring for a 1.75 quart " convenience sized half
gallon"? A 30 ounce "quart"? I don't think so.

I never said it was due to customer demand.

Quoted message said:

By the way, wages have lagged inflation for quite some time now, so
deceptive practices like downsizing products are important issues. Those
toward the upper end of the income scale have not been affected by these
trends, so they would tend to think the issue is irrelevant.

Five years ago, it cost my company (and others) between $1.20 and $1.75 per
mile to ship product via common carrier truckers. Please tell me what we are
paying now.

In article <[email hidden]>,

Dimitri said:

Subtle price change.

The new quart jar is 30 ounces.

6.25% price increase.

Rat [censored]

That's like the 11 ounce pound of coffee.

I posted about the smaller jar recently. The other terrible thing is
that they changed the formulations on the Hellman's low/less fat mayos
too. It does not taste nearly as good IMO. I don't know about the
regular mayo, however, as I've not tried it yet. Damn! I am giving
serious thought to making my own. And btw, Cook's Illustrated no longer
rates Hellman's as the best of the common brands either.

Thai Kitchens little noodle boxes have also been recently changed for
the hugely worse (GAK!!!). It seems like most of these kinds of changes
to good products consist of supplanting quality ingredients with lesser
quality [censored] thinking that the customers will never notice the
difference.

JoeSpareBedroom said:

wff_ng_7 said:

Because subtly changing the package size is a deliberate attempt at deceiving
the customer. They are hoping no one notices. If they are so innocent, why
don't they just raise the price?

Because they know EXACTLY what most people are willing to pay.

Are you saying that people are so fixated on a specific price for an item that
they won't buy it for any higher price? Hogwash. There is absolutely no
difference whether the size is reduced or the price is increased. The only
possible motivation for reducing package size in most of these cases is
intentional deception.

The ONLY exceptions are in scenarios where the price is essentially fixed, so
package size must be decreased. That is fairly rare, but does occur in items
like those sold in vending machines that only accept coins in fixed fashion. No
way is that an issue on either the ice cream or the mayo cases.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

By the way, wages have lagged inflation for quite some time now, so deceptive
practices like downsizing products are important issues. Those toward the
upper end of the income scale have not been affected by these trends, so they
would tend to think the issue is irrelevant.

Five years ago, it cost my company (and others) between $1.20 and $1.75 per
mile to ship product via common carrier truckers. Please tell me what we are
paying now.

Are you suggesting that you would be justified engaging in deceptive practices
because your costs go up? If you can't find an honest and straightforward method
for covering your costs, you deserve to go out of business.

--
wff_ng_7 (at) verizon (dot) net

"wff_ng_7" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:hfm4i.10216$kf1.1328@trnddc01...

Quoted message said:

JoeSpareBedroom said:

wff_ng_7 said:

Because subtly changing the package size is a deliberate attempt at
deceiving the customer. They are hoping no one notices. If they are so
innocent, why don't they just raise the price?

Because they know EXACTLY what most people are willing to pay.

Are you saying that people are so fixated on a specific price for an item
that they won't buy it for any higher price? Hogwash.

Hogwash NOT. Manufacturers and stores know what RANGE will turn off
customers. Whether you believe it or not is completely unimportant. But,
what I'm telling you is a fact.

Quoted message said:

There is absolutely no difference whether the size is reduced or the price
is increased.

Correct. Either way, it's a price increase.

Quoted message said:

The only possible motivation for reducing package size in most of these
cases is intentional deception.

See below.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Five years ago, it cost my company (and others) between $1.20 and $1.75
per mile to ship product via common carrier truckers. Please tell me what
we are paying now.

Are you suggesting that you would be justified engaging in deceptive
practices because your costs go up? If you can't find an honest and
straightforward method for covering your costs, you deserve to go out of
business.

Scenario:

1) You need X amount of profit to stay in business.
2) There's a price increase in a raw material you cannot control. A big
increase.
3) You know your $2.79 product won't fly at $3.29.

You seem to have huge amounts of business acumen. What would you do?

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I find it odd that so many people expect cost-of-living raises, but
are annoyed when a package gets smaller.

Yeah! After all, what is the point of being able to afford more if you
don't spend it! Yay!
Are you really this stupid? Is anybody?

If they were honest they would simply raise the price not make the
package smaller.

On Mon, 21 May 2007 14:02:48 -0500, Emma Thackery <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Dimitri said:

Subtle price change.

The new quart jar is 30 ounces.

6.25% price increase.

Rat [censored]

That's like the 11 ounce pound of coffee.

I posted about the smaller jar recently. The other terrible thing is
that they changed the formulations on the Hellman's low/less fat mayos
too. It does not taste nearly as good IMO. I don't know about the
regular mayo, however, as I've not tried it yet. Damn! I am giving
serious thought to making my own. And btw, Cook's Illustrated no longer
rates Hellman's as the best of the common brands either.

Thai Kitchens little noodle boxes have also been recently changed for
the hugely worse (GAK!!!). It seems like most of these kinds of changes
to good products consist of supplanting quality ingredients with lesser
quality [censored] thinking that the customers will never notice the
difference.

I remember a commercial(?), where an employee had a great idea to
save the company money. They put one less olive in each jar that they
sold. Now, that does not sound like much, except when you realize how
many jars of olives they must sell per year. The savings to them
could easily be in the millions, and the customer will never notice
one olive less in the jar.

My preference is Hellman's. Unfortunately, here in Germany, it is
REALLY expensive. What did Cook's Illustrated rate as the #1 mayo? By
the way, making your own mayonaisse is extremely simple and you can
vary it up quite a bit--use rosemary, basil, etc..., to make a great
sandwhich spread.

David

JoeSpareBedroom said:

wff_ng_7 said:

Are you suggesting that you would be justified engaging in deceptive
practices because your costs go up? If you can't find an honest and
straightforward method for covering your costs, you deserve to go out of
business.

Scenario:

1) You need X amount of profit to stay in business.
2) There's a price increase in a raw material you cannot control. A big
increase.
3) You know your $2.79 product won't fly at $3.29.

You seem to have huge amounts of business acumen. What would you do?

The problem is you cannot base a long term strategy on deceptive practices. The
corporate graveyard is littered with the remains of businesses that lost the
trust and respect of their customers.

I recall one major change in warranty policy in a company I worked for. They
changed the terms such that onsite repair was no longer covered during the 90
day warranty term. This was to encourage the purchase of maintenance contracts.

Sure there was still a warranty. But on a $100,000 piece of equipment, who is
going to do parts exchange by mail. No one could afford the downtime.
Essentially the price of the equipment was raised by the cost of 90 days of a
maintenance contract.

The marketing people thought they were being very clever. Unfortunately the
sales force didn't think so much of it and rebeled. They knew the customer's
trust was more valuable to them than the increased profit. They refused to tow
the company line.

In the end, the company went under. Not as the result of any one thing, but
losing the customer's trust and respect was a significant part of it.

--
wff_ng_7 (at) verizon (dot) net

"wff_ng_7" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:oQm4i.3971$TU1.954@trnddc07...

Quoted message said:

JoeSpareBedroom said:

wff_ng_7 said:

Are you suggesting that you would be justified engaging in deceptive
practices because your costs go up? If you can't find an honest and
straightforward method for covering your costs, you deserve to go out of
business.

Scenario:

1) You need X amount of profit to stay in business.
2) There's a price increase in a raw material you cannot control. A big
increase.
3) You know your $2.79 product won't fly at $3.29.

You seem to have huge amounts of business acumen. What would you do?

The problem is you cannot base a long term strategy on deceptive
practices. The corporate graveyard is littered with the remains of
businesses that lost the trust and respect of their customers.

What makes you think it's deceptive? It's clearly labeled as being a
different size.

Also, you're pretending not to believe that manufacturers know what price
the market will bear. Why are you doing that?

And finally, in order to better address your concerns, what business are you
in? If retired, what business WERE you involved with?

Dimitri said:

Subtle price change.

The new quart jar is 30 ounces.

6.25% price increase.

I used to be a Hellmans fan, until I found the CostCo/Kirkland
mayo. It's better and cheaper. You just have to find somebody to
split it with as it expires quickly. 2 48oz(?) jars for ~$6.50

-sw

David said:

I remember a commercial(?), where an employee had a great idea to
save the company money. They put one less olive in each jar that they
sold. Now, that does not sound like much, except when you realize how
many jars of olives they must sell per year. The savings to them
could easily be in the millions, and the customer will never notice
one olive less in the jar.

Why don't they just grow the olives 4% smaller?

-sw

JoeSpareBedroom said:

wff_ng_7 said:

The problem is you cannot base a long term strategy on deceptive practices.
The corporate graveyard is littered with the remains of businesses that lost
the trust and respect of their customers.

What makes you think it's deceptive? It's clearly labeled as being a different
size.

If you can't see why it's deceptive, you must have gone to the Alberto Gonzales
School of Ethics. There's a big difference between what is legal and what is
ethical. The labeling is certainly legal, but it is far from ethical.

Clearly labeled as to size? When there has been an industry convention
stretching back perhaps over 100 years as to what a "quart" container of mayo
means? You're proposing a world where a consumer has to pick up every item every
time and read the label to verify its true size.

Quoted message said:

Also, you're pretending not to believe that manufacturers know what price the
market will bear. Why are you doing that?

These are not items where "what the market will bear" comes into play. It's not
a case where there is a point where the product is not bought at all because of
the increased price. It is a case where the product may appear to be cheaper
than the competitors who did raise their price (but did not change their size).
It's also not a case where some "magic" threshold is crossed, such as going from
a $19,999 car to a $20,000 car or a $299,999 condo to a $300,000 condo.

By the way, here's the official statement on Hellmann's size change:

--
"At Unilever Bestfoods we have always taken great pride in offering the highest
quality products at reasonable and fair prices.

Recently, inflationary pressures have brought about by the increased costs of
raw materials. Rather than raise our prices, we chose to slightly reduce the
size of the 32 oz quart and 16 oz pint. This is the first time in over three
years that we have had to increase costs to our consumers."
--

But what they don't say is they're counting on most consumers not noticing the
size change.

Quoted message said:

And finally, in order to better address your concerns, what business are you
in? If retired, what business WERE you involved with?

The computer industry. The company I worked for played many other games aside
from the warranty issue mentioned. Fooling with processor speeds by selling the
same machine with varying degrees of "crippling" to meet perceived price points
was another favorite. They also played games with employee benefits, making
reductions while touting them as "improved choices".

When you lose the trust of both your employees AND your customers, you are
doomed.

--
wff_ng_7 (at) verizon (dot) net

JoeSpareBedroom said:

wff_ng_7 said:

If you can't see why it's deceptive, you must have gone to the Alberto
Gonzales School of Ethics. There's a big difference between what is legal and
what is ethical. The labeling is certainly legal, but it is far from ethical.

Clearly labeled as to size? When there has been an industry convention
stretching back perhaps over 100 years as to what a "quart" container of mayo
means? You're proposing a world where a consumer has to pick up every item
every time and read the label to verify its true size.

How about a poster hanging over any item whose size has been changed? Or, a
personal letter sent to your home? Would either of those make you happy?

In case it isn't obvious, you have a completely different value system than I
do. You don't seem to have any problem with such practices. Is there a line
where you do consider something to be deceptive? Are the mortgage loan practices
with "teaser" rates misleading? Are the terms of payday loans predatory? Sure
all these things are perfectly legal, but all of them are "wrong" in my book. I
would hope people would aspire to have higher standards that just being "legal".

--
wff_ng_7 (at) verizon (dot) net