Food Price Inflation Hidden in Packaging
Food Price Inflation Examples
How long can they continue to hide food price inflation?
Can you say, “Food packaging schemes”?
I often notice that while food prices in general continue to creep higher, the packaging is cleverly shrinking or hiding the fact that there’s less food inside.
The stealthy shrinking packaging may go unnoticed for awhile – until a threshold is triggered when you suddenly realize what’s been happening.
For example, I noticed a particular brand of peanut butter on the shelf that I had bought a few years ago. Since my recollection of the flavor was savory, I decided to buy it again on a whim. The price seemed fairly reasonable… until I picked it up and realized that the jar was smaller than it used to be! I could instantly ‘feel’ that the diameter of the jar was narrower than before. I just knew it was different. That’s food price inflation.
Another example, the other day I made myself some Linguini with clam sauce. I opened a so called 6.5 ounce can of chopped clams. The can gives the appearance that there’s plenty of food substance in there. Well guess what? After you open the can and use the cover to squish out the liquid, there’s barely any meat in there compared to the visual of the can itself (image shown above)! So I scooped out and measured the weight of the meat with my digital scale. No, it wasn’t 6.5 ounces, it was actually 1.7 ounces!!
Weird Package Weights Disguise Food Price Inflation
Do you remember when foods were packaged in # of ounces (without decimals) that made sense? Numbers like 16 oz. or 12 oz. etc…
Nowadays there are all sorts of crazy package sizes. 14.3, 12.7, 9.8, anything goes…
What is the sense of a 14.3 ounce food package weight? Most likely this product was once packaged in a 16 ounce containment. Where did the 1.7 ounces go?
The answer is simple. The slight reduction enables a disguised food price inflation. Packages (or at least the weight therein) are getting smaller and smaller.
Now lets do the math. Lets say that product xyz is priced $3.00 (same as it was 4 months ago). However instead of being packaged as 16 ounces, now it’s only 14.3 ounces. Some people may not notice the small change in weight because of the clever way that the container and labels are redesigned to create the appearance that it hasn’t changed.
Well, that difference in weight (1.7 ounces) is almost a 11 percent food price increase! This is a major way in which food companies have been hiding food price inflation.
Double-Whammy (Price Increase – Smaller Packaging)
Nowadays, not only are the packages getting smaller, but they are also raising food prices. A double-whammy. That $3.00 product not only went up 11 percent because of a downsized package, but they also raised the price to $3.29, (an 8 percent price increase)! Add both together the total food price inflation has gone up 19 percent in this example!
Another way of saying this is that the purchasing power of your dollar has decreased by 19 percent, in this example.
They Make It Difficult To Know
When comparing similar food products on grocery store shelves to determine the best price between them, you really need to read the shelf tags to determine the price per unit (make sure the units are the same – they sometimes confuse the issue here too).
The problem is, the methodology is sometimes different from one product to another. Sometimes it’s price-per-ounce, other times it’s price-per-serving (which is arbitrary).
One thing that I’ve noticed is that in addition to package downsizing, the (arbitrary) serving sizes are changing – and often do not match from one product to another. This makes it really difficult to efficiently determine cost comparisons from one product to another.
What Can We Do About It?
Now that we see what is happening with food price inflation, what can we do about it?
Well, we can’t stop the tide. However we do know that prices will continue to rise while packaging shrinks.
So, if you think about it, the more food that you buy now (before further price inflation), the less it will comparatively cost in the long run.
That means stocking up (where you can) to save for later.
This accomplishes two things:
1. You save a bit of money in the long run.
2. You’re building a deep pantry for preparedness.
See who controls the food supply: List of Top 50 Supermarket Grocery Chains
More: How Grocery Inflation Is Being Covered Up
More: Food Prices Going Up – A Good Reason To Acquire Food Storage
Yeah, I do a slosh test and see if I can figure out which one has less liquid. : ) I heard a couple of weeks ago that John (?) of shadowstats says inflation is 10%
One of the supplements that i take went from 250 to a 200 count and up $3.00 in price.
This may not be scientific, but I remember when a can of soup would serve two people and $20 of assorted food would fill a large paper bag. But in all fairness, I did find one piece of meat in a can of chicken and rice soup the other day – but I don’t buy too many cans of food anymore – not worth it.
When did bacon go from a pound to 12oz’s ????
William:
The same time it went from $3.33 to $5.99 per pound.
Let’s Go Brandon
Ours has been 12 oz for years. Part of the shrinkflation thing.
I don’t remember the brand, I occasionally buy lasagna, huge hassle making that just for myself.
So, I had one in my freezer and forgot about it for a few months.
I bought another and put it in the freezer on top of the old one, huge size difference
and the price of the newer product was higher
then I noticed it on other pre packaged things.
Some were what I’d call drastic and this was a couple years ago.
This “trend” is accelerating.
Size matters.
It is not just food that is shrinking. A few months ago I bought a new Fram air filter for my 2010 F150, and it had the same part number as the Fram air filter it was replacing. Guess what? The new filter (a flat panel filter) was only 2/3 the thickness of the old one, and as such only had 2/3 of the filtering capacity of the old one. The price was also higher, both of them purchased at Walmart about 8 months apart. Now I wonder what Fram is doing with the oil filters, particularly since they seem to have about 4 models at 4 price points for each fitment. Do the bottom-feeder priced filters even have any filter media in them? I may have to cut some apart and do an internet expose…….
Also, this trade war thing..
Prices will go up right ?
Prices go up, but when things settle prices will not fall to what they were.
Retailers and manufacturers will use the trade war to increase profits
after things normalize.
Prices will drop some but not back to what they were.
I would agree that inflation is in the 10% range and a lot more on various things . The very deceptive food packaging schemes with less product inside have been happening for quite a while . Does anyone remember the 3 # coffee can ? Today coffee is usually 26- 32 ounces per container . We try and look at the cost per ounce when buying foodstuffs . Always have a calculator with you while shopping .
Food is generally a necessary purchase and buying in quantity usually is a cheaper route to go . I never thought that I would look at food as an investment item but we certainly do now . We buy bulk on several items and that does save us money . We also try to grow as much of the food we need and preserve it .
The inflation statistics put out by the federal folks is pure hogwash , it is not the real world . If they reported truthfully they would have to raise the S.S payments to retirees and that would deplete whatever is left in the S.S. account much faster . Inflation of prices is devaluation of the dollar .
Happy shopping
There is nothing in the SS account but IOU’s, no matter what they tell you. Money goes in, it’s pulled out immediately and put in the general fund. The initial fund was used to repay the war debt after WWII and the money never paid back.
They definitely have their ways. I ordered some Pepto-Bismol individually wrapped packets for travel emergencies. The box they came in was only 1/4 of the way full. I got what I ordered and expected so I was satisfied. But why such a large box? People who buy things in the store could be easily mislead.
Yesterday at Costco a guy commented on my cart, says “you know, we are open every day”
I just said, “ever hear that saying when there is no more there is really no more”
He didnt get it, so as i was walking away from the checkout he made another similar comment, i just said, maybe you should ask the people of Venezuela how that worked out,,,,
But hey, the gubbermint says theres no inflation,
I would have said I don’t want to waste time and gas coming here every day.
Good day, Everyone,
I went to one of the grocery stores that Ken has on the top 50 list above…
The price of 1 organic grapefruit was $7.99 (whoa)
An organic cucumber $3.99
The discount grocery chains definitely have a place
I can get one full pound of organic gluten free pasta with a BBD at least 2 years out
for $1.99 (amazing) at Wallyworld it is $3.16 at another grocer $4.49….
I work at a discount store, we are ever increasing in business, we are getting some better brands, things sell fast, some products are good, some not so healthy….
PS Hope to post more on weekend discussions more, once things settle down a bit…
There is just a lot going on, but our immediate family is well….
Good Shepherd bless you…
Measured the true weight of cosco chiken breast in a can advertised as 12.5 oz… dumped the water out then weighed the meat only it was around 10 oz…. I guess my protein resupply plan during a SHTF scenario will be to eat the neighbor’s cat :(
Trap the birds when they come thru in the spring….tastes like chicken is what friend said.
WHAT!! What’s wrong with eating the neighbors dog? There’s more meat there for one, and two, you won’t be bothered with that pesky barking. Poor little kitty cat. Besides, kitty will keep the mice and rats down.
BigBadCat
Well, NRP can attest….the “rolls” for tp have gotten shorter in length and wider in girth, providing about 30% less paper per roll! easily compare an old roll to a new one and see the loss.
Soups have a significant amount less of meat in them. Juices significantly more water percentage etc. Even bleach bottles are smaller than they used to be.
I think “shorter in length and wider in girth” comes with age. *runs for cover*
Lauren:
No need to run from the truth LOLOL
I agree I had to pretty much do a no shopping all summer due to reduced funds coming in, well the other day I went to the store and got some T.P. it has gone up a good five dollars from when I last bought it ( and it hasn’t been that long ago). And I have really noticed the size differences compared to things I have had I storage for a few years. Everything smaller and more expensive. I have also noticed that when things go on sale they are more now then they used to be. ( I do most all my shopping of sales so I have a pretty good idea of what the sale prices use to be.).
P.W. you are so right on the beach I remember a few years ago you could get a large bottle of bleach for a dollar now a small one is around 3.
I did read something the other day that prices are expected to go way up by the years end because of all the droughts and all the flooding. I also heard that a lot of rice crops were ruined because of flooding and that rice is getting ready to go way up. Hoping to add more rice this weekend just in case.
Ranchers wife
IF you have a Cash & Carry close by, check out their monthly/weekly specials. It is for restaurant owners but the public can purchase there. You must pay with cash or a CC, no debit cards are taken, but a great way to stock up on items. I have signed up with them using email account only for businesses, they send me the current sales ads an you can view on line before shopping.
When it comes to milk, fresh vegetables they carry a wonder supply an have a reasonable price point. Basically I have stopped shopping at grocery stores for our produce, rice, beans and pasta, almost forgot beef in bulk packaging.
Breads I use the Franz’s day old bakery for dh’s cookies, and I am able to take fresh bread to the rest of the family, plus our house hold every two weeks less than $20 cash.
Love bargains, when I shop,,I shop like there is no tomorrow. (it also keeps me out of town for longer periods of time this way).
Antique Collector,
We don’t have one wish we did.THere is something similar about an hour and a half away and we go there which isn’t very often, we do stock up on a few things. All we have is Wally World, Safeway, and City Market ( Kroger) So I watch for sales at City Market and but 2 0r 3 cases of whatever. They have been super good about ordering for me if they don’t have enough in the back. When I lived in Texas there was a day old bread place not too far from my house and I loved it but we don’t have one here either guess we are too small :( . I love bargains also and love to stock up when I find them. Haha I still have a massive amount of candy canes I got on clearance a few years ago after Christmas for 10 cents a box. They are great for breaking up and using in cookies or melted down to make marshmallows with. We are fortunate enough to grow our own beef so I don’t have to buy that.
Ranchers Wife, also on the bleach .. Standard brand name bleach was 6% active ingred., not long ago they came out with concentrated bleach was 8.5% or similar. Now 6% is marketed as concentrated… and had to search several bottles and “scents” to find any percentage at all…. and the generic products have no percentage marked, but only say “compare to______” Looks like we all need to start stocking and making our own bleac to know what we have.! … some generics have about 1.5% active ingred. That is not inflation but THEFT!
Just Sayin,
Thanks, I have to admit I hadn’t really looked at the percentage of bleach I just assumed they were all the same. Well I just went and looked at my cheaper bleach I got at Wally world and it doesn’t even have a percentage on it betting it is pretty low I always figured the scented ones were weaker. Going to have to pay more attention from now on. Good grief a person shouldn’t have to look at every label when they go to the store.
Ranchers wife
It is amazing what one can learn from looking at the labels be it from everyday household products(bedding-furniture) to food labels.
One of my business classes in college was to check out labels on different products, due a report where it originated, what company had the marketing label for said good or product.
Food labels started when dh was limited on the amount of sodium in his daily diet, one learns to scan the item for sodium an other hidden additives. It is the name brand canned items that taste the best, upon inspection one will discover they have large quantities of salt, especially green beans.
Many packs of bacon are 12 oz. instead of 16 oz. Some drinks are 11.7 oz. instead of 12 oz. We don’t buy anything that is not on sale but when it is on sale we buy cases. DW used to work at a grocery store and always knew what was coming on sale and would order extra cases for us. She lost her job but we still watch for sales. We get e-coupons for some stores. Yes I know they can track what you buy but for many things it doesn’t matter. Who cares how many bottles of laundry detergent we have. BTW we have not bought laundry detergent in over 2 years.
I have a recipe for corn pudding from my mother in law. When she gave it to me, the recipe called for a 16 oz can of canned corn. The can size is now 13 oz. Pretty soon I’ll have to add 2 cans to make it. I occasionally purchase bagged salad at WalMart – used to be 98 cents a bag – now $1.49.
I have had the same problem- recipe calls for a say a 16oz can of something and it’s a lot smaller with less in it- can wreak a recipe!
I remember in the last year someone sued DG over the 5 oz. tuna that wasn’t!!
My wife was opening two cans of tuna to make sandwiches for our lunch this last week. I asked if someone else was coming for lunch? She showed me how much water was in each can and how little tuna. I could not believe how things have changed in food packaging and the price increase.
Speaking of tuna, Chicken of the Sea used to always come in 7 oz. cans. Around 2012, they went to 5 oz. Picked up some the other day, they’re now 4 oz. Of course, the price is about the same if not a little higher.
I read the ingredients on a package of some beef rice vegetable mix. Well the beef was at the very end and it was listed as beef POWDER. What the heck is beef powder?
sadly beef powder is comprised of all the garbage scraps left over from butchering that is then cooked into a paste and dehydrated!
Ugh, that is nasty. I will be reading packages a little closer from now on.
PW
Thank you for that information. PG is correct Yuck! No wonder I read the ingredients on the packages before we purchase them.
My favorite is BBQ seasonings, and the first ingredient is salt.
You can buy the seasonings and mix your own. MUCH cheaper, and you can adjust to your taste. Most BBQ recipes you need to add vinegar and/or ketchup as well.
I remember when a hot dog was fifteen cents. Funny, the hot dog is pretty much the same but now costs a couple of dollars. The value of the dollar is dropping.
Money in the bank will lose its value. Stored food (yes, I’m thinking about my freeze dryer) will only increase. The faster the dollar loses its value, the faster my stored food increases in value.
Stay frosty.
I, too, notice this more and more. Going on for several yrs now, it has been as you describe, only getting more so as time goes on. I suspect they are doing it bit by bit, thinking we are all to stupid to realise. Another favorite (not), they will market and item, or have on the can/container…..”Now has only 200 calories (as opposed to old one having say, 400 calories for ex)….thing is,—-of course it has less calories, it is half the size..
Food inflation is amazing; food is something that everyone needs …. Right?
The nice thing about a Deep Pantry is; not needing to buy something “right now”.
Having the choice to wait till something goes “on sale” is nice, Buy in Bulk, Buy on-sale, Buy to restock NOT to ‘make a meal’.
Find places to buy; like Wheat at the ‘Mill’, Beans at the local farms, or Beef from a Rancher.
Growing your own food is GREAT; unfortunately a lot just can’t for some reason or another. BUT do your homework, and buy smart.
Someone mentioned TP, yes TP and many other products are a “must have”, like soap. So unless you have alternatives then Stock up now, the pricing will NEVER go down, or the sheets of TP get bigger. And honestly if sheets get any smaller I’m in trouble cause of how big of an AZZ I am…. HAHAHAHA…. Is 600 rolls really enough?
A simple example of buying in Bulk, I just received a pound of Cloves, Cinnamon, Allspice, and Nutmeg, The total cost of all was right at 1/3 the cost of buying each in those tiny bottles at Safeway (equal amounts). 1/3 THE COST !!!!
Same way with meat, I usually buy a full beef in the Fall every third year; 1/2 the cost of Store Bought meat including processing. Check out the cost of a T-Bone sometime at Safeway.
Yes it takes Planning, Yes it takes storage room, and Yes it takes an investment; BUT aren’t you going to spend that $$$$ anyways? AND if you store “stuff” right it will last for years and years.
PS; If your planning on purchasing anything from China (and please don’t start about Chine Crapo) one had best do it soon, 10% tariffs this month, and 25% more the end of the year. COUNT on higher prices.
Yes, I have definitely noticed ( a long time ago ) that buying spices in bulk SAVES LOTS OF $$$. It’s amazing the markup on the typical grocery store size spice bottles.
Browse Bulk Spices on Amazon
Ken;
Should have added for all, Store Whole Spices whenever possible, and Vac Seal them in glass jars, they will store a LOT longer and stay fresher.
And yes I’m a spice nut, love to add a touch of spice to life so to speak :-) :-)
Good idea but be sure to buy a quality brand and can use it inside a year as spices do degrade in time. The budget spices are cheap because they use inferior product, kinda like paint, you get what you pay for…
Boy, we could ride on this all day and night. They just remolded the Kroger’s here in town. Finished this past winter. The prices have been going up and up and lately the jumps make you stop in your tracks. Mr. likes the Jell-O sugar free puddings. They were $1.09 then 1.29 now, NOW they are 1.69. Walmart sells it for .73 cents. I complain to the manager, sometimes, he now goes down another aisle if he sees us! I especially like to get em when one of the big badges is standing there too! When I asked him about all of the items they used to carry and now do not he explained that they use Plan a Grams now. This means the whole company now stocks the shelves according to the national averages so to speak. It does not take into consideration the local market but the national market. I just told him I do not prefer Walmart but the Plan a Grams are sending me there more often. blank stare
Hahahhaa….I quit trying to help our local store manager be reasonable and stock things we would buy. In fact, I quit buying locally altogether for their failure to stock items I am interested in. Now, I shop whenever I am out of district at another job site! AND, I am finding what I want without having to resort to Wally World.
Adapt & Overcome ;)
At least you told him! That’s good! Too many ‘good people’ remain silent on issues that are important…
You are right Ken, we need to let them know when we see a problem.
Problem is that in a big store like Wally World the local people have no power to make any changes and the decision makers would not listen to him or her anyway.
What I think is the problem with the current business model is the idea that a company is more worried about satisfying the stock holders then it is the customers.
Once a company goes public and issues stock it is all about stock prices. The customer is not important, the quality of the product is not important,only the stock price is important and anything that makes stock prices go up is all they worry about.
This is why stock price will go up if a company fires a bunch of employees, it’s seen as a savings of money to not have to pay them. But in truth it lowers the quality of service the customer gets. The same thing applies to lowering the quality of ingredients or the size of the package.
All these leave the customer less happy but companies are very short-sided as far as future outlook and see these things as good for the company and it’s bottom line. But in truth in the end customers go looking someplace else to spend their money.
And once a customer walks away it’s very hard to get them back. But the bean-counters just can’t understand or see the long-term effects of screwing the customer over.
I have very little allegiance to any company or product any more because they have no interest in giving value or turning out a good product.
I’m of the mindset that I’m not abandoning them, but rather they abandoned me and I move on.
Mrs. USMCBG: They just remodeled the Kroger’s in my town also, except they call it “Fred Meyer” here. I also noticed that prices went up when they were done. And, if you don’t have one of their club cards, its even more. I have to go to Wally World to get the bigger share of my stuff.
My local Kroger just made the aisles wider and adjusted the displays so that about 1/3rd fewer products are on the shelf and there is little room for more than one case. Is Kroger facing a credit crisis and can’t carry the inventory any more? Also, they installed robot checkers and carry-around self-checking scanners for customers while reducing human-checkout to 3 lines at 5 stations, even when busy. This is at a very busy smaller store in a super-affluent neighborhood (97215) in Portland Oregon. A regular house in this ZIP code is $799K.
pdxr13
You asked if they are facing a credit crisis? I doubt it, but the bottom line has to be fulfilled some how.
Have you asked yourself where ALL your food comes from lately? Americans are so trained that their stores are always full of food that the shelves will never be empty. Most of your food products comes from foreign countries, along with what American farmers still produce. That production is going down as it is to costly for the FAMILY farm to compete against the mega corporation’s,
Read a posting by a dairy farmer where they are being passed up by this business. No longer will this company pickup the local American mom & pop dairy milk production. They are going with the mega businesses for their milk production. Which bringing’s into question where is their labor force coming from? Are the here legally?
AC
MOST of the huge dairies and huge chicken and beef packing plants have illegals working,
I personally cant stomach that BS, these producers should be shut down but government inspectors are paid to look the other way in the name of keeping the lines moving. These illegals often run on stolen SS info from long dead people, or even just those un lucky and unaware that their info was stolen
I hate the self check outs. Constant problems then you have to wait for the one person in charge of 10 scanners to come to you. The people in the lanes with actual people have huge cartloads of food. You end up spending alot of time in waiting to check out no matter how you do it. Plus, fewer jobs available.
Stephanie, Yep, there’s more of them all the time. At first when self checkouts started to appear (years ago), and when ‘they’ would try to corral you into those lines, I would say, “Do I get a discount if I checkout myself?” The person would look at me as though I had two heads (too dumb to understand what’s going on…)
Nowadays in some stores (e.g. some Wally World’s) there are not many ‘regular’ checkout lines compared to self checkout. More and more at Home Depot, and others.
Ken, have noticed same/had similar experiences. Especially the two heads one. Seems to be heading that way at many banks, too.
After dropping a few green backs, OK a lot of green backs in Costco. Here is what I noticed. It pertains to this discussion of hidden inflation which the consumer does not notice in their rush to pick up the product and be on there way.
NRP, sorry your tp (believe it is Charmin) is the same price, if you consider the prices, the big C was on sale 21.99 -$4=$16.99. Yet the paper allotment was half the amount as the Kirkland but under the disguise it is still appears to be the same amount & size. July purchased the C over the K, because the price (sale)was the same but the paper allotment was greater with the C.
When a half gallon of ice cream looks like a quart with a few extra scoops, you know they are cheating you.
I’ve been ordering from Amazon for so long I can’t remember. I like to look at my orders, say from 7 years ago, and hit buy again to compare prices. A real eye opener.
That’s not only smart, but avoiding “packaged” food is likely healthier too.
Here is a look at inflation measured over 24 hours – sort of. I grow my own beef here on the ranch and have it processed in a local meat butcher shop. My ( or anyone’s) cost to process a beef is $1.10 a pound ( any part of the cow) by hanging weight ( no guts, hide or head weight included). When I walk across the street to the food store, ground meat is $4.00 a pound and most steaks are $10.00 a pound or more. Now for my question; how much profit is there in a pound of meat that was alive and kicking 24 hours ago? Most of these food stores are connected to Wall Street. The local people are not raking in all that profit so “Do we really need Wall Street?” What has Wall Street done to improve our food supply to warrent that kind of price mark-up? I see this price mark-up in pork and chicken products as well.
We don’t eat KFC but maybe 4 times a year, sometimes just have to have some salt and grease, but LOL have you seen the size of the chicken now. Bantams not good ole momma fryers like it used to be. A bucket used to be full. Less weight, less oil, less secret spices and MORE LOTS more money!
I saw this coming several years ago in the cereal isle. The boxes started to be thinner in size then ice cream went from 1/2 gallon to 1.5 or 1.75 qts. We buy on sale in quantity.
We hand crank our ice cream, makes you appreciate it more and eat it slower!
Like everyone else I don’t like the prices going up.
But the blame goes mostly on the government and it’s out-of-control printing of money.
I use to eat out 3 or 4 times a week with my brother, not so much to eat as it was a get together with him. We were best friends and enjoyed the time talking and what not. He passed on from a heart attack in March of this year. Since then I have not been eating out as much, I’m down to once every 10-days or so.
Not eating out as much has really saved on my food cost as I now make most all my meals at home.
I also started to pack a lunch and this saved me a lot of money.
I tend to not worry about things I can’t change. And the price of food is something I can’t change other then making my own meals.
I also discovered Aldi stores and the prices there are lower then other stores and yet they still seem to have good tasting food.
I tried Save-A-Lot stores but noticed a much lower quality of taste in their food. It is inexpensive, but it is not that good.
Example: Cream Cheese from Aldi taste as good as Philly brand, from Save-A-Lot it doesn’t taste like anything at all.
I’m lucky in that I’m self-employed and can increase my income by quoting jobs a bit higher to cover things like food prices going up. I have been slowly doing this for the last 2-years and have not lost any customers so far.
Want to combat food prices? Come up with a side income and you can easily make up the increase of things like food.
Hot Dog and a Coke still $1.50 at our Costco…gotta be one of the best deals around..
Gotta pay attention at Wally World …while their per item price is often less you’ll find that the portion per package is also less..goes for can goods, dry goods by weight, TP sheets per roll, Paper towels per roll etc.
TP is hard to live without, but paper plates, paper towels are not nearly as necessary as many of us think they are.
People did not use them in the past. I think there has been a an artificially created demand for them over the last 50-years.
I’ve been very poor in the past, at that time I went without them.
I do handyman work for people that own Section-8 rentals and I notice that the people living in these homes don’t have paper plates paper towels & napkins.
When someone has little money it’s hard to spend what little you have on these items.
I can easily afford them now and use them but not like I did in the past. My view on using them now is that it’s wasteful and not all that hard to wash a plate.
And in the past I always used a paper towel at the rate of 5 or 6 of them a day. Now I use one every few days. And I use to use at least 3 paper plates a day, now I use almost zero plates.
My Dad grabs a lot napkins from fast food restaurants (like 30 of them at a time) when he eats at them.
Tommyboy
Maybe it is high time(actually past time)for spoiled American shoppers to find out that they can not have that cantaloupe on the shelf in January, or other exotic vegetables or fruits.
Many have come to the mind set anything they want will be available just go to the higher end stores. Remember when foods were being shipped in from foreign nations, my parents generation would not purchase it. Out of season here in America, but slowly the food industry taught shoppers if you want it. Don’t worry the grocery store will have it in stock, it may taste like cardboard but heck it is available to be purchased.