Have you noticed how consumer goods are shrinking without you knowing it? Just the other day, my wife pointed out to me how much narrower a roll of toilet paper is these days. I almost didn't catch it. But suddenly, I noticed how much more room is left on the roller after you put on a new roll. I am certain the roller mechanism did not elongate on its own. No, we are getting less toilet paper for our money.
It doesn't stop there. Our newspaper is suddenly an inch or so narrower, too. The print is smaller and I now refer to it as "The Daily Pamphlet." Less bang for our subscription buck.
This isn't the end of it. Many of the things we've been buying are shrinking in size, weight and quality, only it takes a while for the American consumer to figure it out. Maybe that's why so many food packages boast "10% More Free!" Yeah, 10 percent more of the 20 percent you've downsized your products. No can of coffee is ever a pound anymore. It's 12 ounces. And, many are 11.5 ounces. What a deal.
It's all about getting less for more. Gasoline comes to mind. Heating fuel, too. Utilities by and large raise their rates whenever they feel like it. If we conserve too much, like many of us have to in these chaotic economic times, the corporate world has to make up for it somehow. So, they give you less for more while making you think you're getting a steal. I'm no dummy. But, it doesn't matter, because what can I do about it? The same as you: nothing.
Many stores are playing the price-cutting game. They have hundreds of "lower prices." Are they really lower? Or, are they just more reasonable like they used to be? Wal Mart plays that game better than anyone by undercutting just about everybody. But, as you probably well know, they do it at the expense of running roughshod on the entire economy from shuttering small businesses to doing most of their business with China resulting in catastrophic American job losses. I won't get into the gigantic trade deficit they've created along the way, or the untested safety of their Chinese products.
Price trickery has been around as long as there have been goods to sell and customers to buy them. But, it's getting out of hand. Club cards here, discount warehouses there, rebates, sales, shrinking product sizes, misleading content labeling, and on and on.
The good news is, this whole circus of product deceit has led me to become a much more discerning consumer. So, when I buy something in a smaller package touting "25% More Free!" despite being wise to the con, thus getting less for more, at least I know I'm being duped. A small victory to be sure, but I'll take 'em whenever I can get 'em.
