Starship Asterisk*

Just the other day I was at the store and I notices yet another item that has shrunk over time.
Slim Fast used to come in a 6 pack of 11 ounce cans...now it comes in a 4 pack of 10 ounce bottles (for more money)
The large can of Tomato Sauce used to be 31 ounces...now it is 29 ounces (for more money)
My Dog Food used to come in cases of 24-15 ounce cans...now they come in cases of 12-13 ounce cans (for more money)
My shampoo used to come in a large 33 ounce bottle...that shrunk to 28 ounce...now it is 23.4 ounces (for the same price)
Finally...the 1/2 gallon of orange juice that used to be 64 ounces is now 59 ounces. Even the cardboard (Milk Carton) container is 59 ounces.

What have you noticed to be shrinking?

BMAONE23 wrote:Just the other day I was at the store and I notices yet another item that has shrunk over time.
Slim Fast used to come in a 6 pack of 11 ounce cans...now it comes in a 4 pack of 10 ounce bottles (for more money)
The large can of Tomato Sauce used to be 31 ounces...now it is 29 ounces (for more money)
My Dog Food used to come in cases of 24-15 ounce cans...now they come in cases of 12-13 ounce cans (for more money)
My shampoo used to come in a large 33 ounce bottle...that shrunk to 28 ounce...now it is 23.4 ounces (for the same price)
Finally...the 1/2 gallon of orange juice that used to be 64 ounces is now 59 ounces. Even the cardboard (Milk Carton) container is 59 ounces.

What have you noticed to be shrinking?

Yeah; and a 3# can of coffee grounds used to be 3#! Now; your lucky if you get 34 1/2 ounces! To top it off; when I was in high school I used to be 5' 10 1/2"; now my doctors tell me that I am only 5' 9"!

Yes, I've noticed. I used to buy 8-ounce containers of yogurt; no more! Now they are 4 or 6 oz.

A can of pumpkin used to be a pound of pumpkin, and now it's 13 oz rather than 16. Of course the recipe I've been using for decades for pumpkin bread calls for a 16 oz can of pumpkin.

And cans of cat food have less food in them now, too, so if a cat was used to getting one can/day, he likely now has to make due with less food, poor thing.

Orin has already mentioned coffee... hard to find a package that is a pound of coffee! I usually buy unground beans and prefer to get it from the bulk containers, but my local grocery store has not been keeping their bulk coffee bins stocked; it's been months. If I buy coffee there now, it has to be packaged, and not a pound.

1/2 gallon of ice cream is now 3 pints.

Man, they need to get their graphic designers to update the labels for you guys.

It's the way of nature...I shrank from 1.52 m to 1.50 m ...

Weight changes are in Germany occuring too!

And what's really funny is, when they write over years: It's new or with improved recipe over years.
Improved recipe: less valueable content than before

When laundry detergens declare over years that they wash more bright-white than before, we should all use sunglasses after washing clothes or we become blind

I did buy some new sheets at Target today for which the label claimed to be wrinkle-free. I knew that was a fallacy when buying it but there weren't any others to choose from and the gaping hole that suddenly appeared was growing by the inches every night so... *looks over at freshly made, wrinkly bed*

I'm not even sure what the big desire for wrinkle-free bed sheets is. I'll get annoyed by some seam in my pajamas but I can't seem to feel or be bothered by wrinkles. Reading a few reviews about sheets online, it seems that lots of people are on a quest for wrinkle-free sheets snapped close to the bed but few seem to be finding them regardless of quality, materials, or price.

However, I noticed the reason people are on this quest is because back in the 80s, these mythical sheets existed. So not only are things getting smaller, some of them are getting more wrinkly.

If only i could make good use of all this shrinkage and apply it to my waistline.

Beyond wrote:If only i could make good use of all this shrinkage and apply it to my waistline.

You would just get wrinkly.

Most would never notice, but lumber and other wooden building products have also been steadily shrinking for the past century or more. What we in North America call a '2 by 4' used to be rough cut in "green" lumber (fresh, un-dried) to at least 2 1/4" x 4 1/4" to allow for shrinkage and machining, to yield a true 2 " x 4" after drying. Then the sawmills realized they were paying for the shrinkage and the machining waste, so they started to saw it green at 2" x 4" and then let it dry and machine it, after which it was sold at 1 3/4" x 3 3/4" - but still called a '2 by 4' of course. And once that became the norm, they started to saw it out at that size and dry and machine it smaller still. Common '2 by 4s' now are about 1 5/8" x 3 5/8".

Plywood also shrinks. Here in Canada, where we're offically using the metric (SI) system but still have to submit to the will of the US market and so measure our houses and furnishings in foots and thumbs, our 4' x 8' sheets of 3/4" plywood are exactly 4' x 8' but only 18mm thick, the rest of the supposed 3/4" having been sanded off to the finished thickness. And this has happened quite quickly. I still have scraps of plywood and other sheet goods in my shop from several years ago which are noticably thicker than currently available products.

Chicken Little was wrong. The sky isn't falling; it's getting closer.

Rob

bystander wrote:

Beyond wrote:If only i could make good use of all this shrinkage and apply it to my waistline.

You would just get wrinkly.

I think i would opt for thin and wrinkly over smooth and not so thin. At least it would be a change of pace.

rstevenson wrote:Most would never notice, but lumber and other wooden building products have also been steadily shrinking for the past century or more. What we in North America call a '2 by 4' used to be rough cut in "green" lumber (fresh, un-dried) to at least 2 1/4" x 4 1/4" to allow for shrinkage and machining, to yield a true 2 " x 4" after drying. Then the sawmills realized they were paying for the shrinkage and the machining waste, so they started to saw it green at 2" x 4" and then let it dry and machine it, after which it was sold at 1 3/4" x 3 3/4" - but still called a '2 by 4' of course. And once that became the norm, they started to saw it out at that size and dry and machine it smaller still. Common '2 by 4s' now are about 1 5/8" x 3 5/8".

Plywood also shrinks. Here in Canada, where we're offically using the metric (SI) system but still have to submit to the will of the US market and so measure our houses and furnishings in foots and thumbs, our 4' x 8' sheets of 3/4" plywood are exactly 4' x 8' but only 18mm thick, the rest of the supposed 3/4" having been sanded off to the finished thickness. And this has happened quite quickly. I still have scraps of plywood and other sheet goods in my shop from several years ago which are noticably thicker than currently available products.

Chicken Little was wrong. The sky isn't falling; it's getting closer.

Rob

Hey Rob, what's a thumb?? I'm from the south side of the border, and the only time we use the term 'thumb' is after it gets hit by the hammer trying to drive the nail. Oh, and don't forget the quality of the wood goes down also when they use faster growing trees to try(?) to keep the prices down. And then there's trying to get straight 2x4's that don't look like they're heading for -warp- 6 or better
EDIT: Thumbs-->inches. Mine is 1-inch wide. Before application of hammer.

Gas prices But unfortunately they grow soon after. For one, a store in the boonies up north where my cousin lives sells ice cream (forgot the name of the store though), and one scoop used to be at least four inches in diameter. Nowadays it is only three inches in diameter for the same price (!) probably because they want to save money. Which is sad, because their ice cream is really good. Also have you noticed that the amount of plastic that most of these bottle companies use in their bottles is starting to shrink, too!

Less plastic in the bottles is fine, but not less ice cream per scoop. A heinous crime to be sure.

Beyond wrote:If only i could make good use of all this shrinkage and apply it to my waistline.

Maybe that can help u http://www.dailyhaha.com/_pics/ab-enhancer.htm

Just got back from the store and noticed the 12 pack and 24 pack soda boxes had shrunk to 8 cans & 20 cans respectively.(been a while since I bought Soda the cans are still 12oz though) Didn't see the pound coffee cans either, all 11oz.

I used to buy some headache relief pills called, appropriately, "Reliv". They used to contain three "sheets" of pills, each sheet containing ten pills. In other words, I got thirty "Reliv" pills for each package of "Reliv" that I bought.
Now the "Reliv" package is down to two sheets with ten pills each, so I get twenty "Reliv" pills for each package.

I couldn't find a picture of a "Reliv" package, so I'm showing you a (Swedish-language) package of Aspirin instead.






And these exclusive chocolate bars used to weigh 100 grammes. Now they are down to 70 grammes, for the same prize.








Ann

hey beyond; maybe you can use a good wrinkle cream on your tummy! That is if you get it to shrink!!!

orin stepanek wrote:hey beyond; maybe you can use a good wrinkle cream on your tummy! That is if you get it to shrink!!!

Orin, IF i ever get wrinkles on my tummy, i think a few bananna splits would take care of them.A much more 'tasteful' application then wrinkle cream.