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Lame way to save money? — Brooklynian

Lame way to save money?

gretch
gretch
edited November -1 in Park Slope
I went to buy a sandwitch at my favorite sweet store on the corner of 9th st. and 6th av. I always order the same one and I took it home, and surprise, surprise---the size of the baquett was half of the one I had before!

Or at least, I thought so. I am not sure if it was just one time, or if it was just in my head, or they actually shruk the size of sandwitch in order to save money or something. I am just wondering---anybody have had noticed something like this?

Comments

  • good one
    good one
    I've noticed it on EVERYTHING these days. Take a look at your 1/2 gallons of ice cream. tell me what you see/think!
    cans of canned food have gotten smaller, bread slices are smaller prices higher, pizza slices smaller, prices higher, a pound doesn't even seem like a pound anymore. almost like a square foot...except when you buy real estate cause somehow those sq ft are bigger than they really are!!!
  • drunken revival
    drunken revival
    I am really excited for this thread...

    Or wait, can we cut it short and simply state that: the economy sucks. Companies, both large and small have fixed overheads and their respective owners have boat payments to make and a lifestyle they are unwilling to abandon. When times get tough there is one tried and true way to survive - stick it to your best customers.

    Some businesses will survive and some will die. In the end we will be better off.

    As a business owner the best possible thing you can do right now is give more to your customers, sacrifice, and if you make it through you will be stronger when the next storm comes.
  • daver
    daver
    Drunken Revival wrote: As a business owner the best possible thing you can do right now is give more to your customers, sacrifice, and if you make it through you will be stronger when the next storm comes.
    KEY!

    And unfortunately, it seems that most consumers these days are WAY more driven by the bottom line than by who stuck with them instead of sticking it to them. Hence the success of WalMart and its ilk.
  • drunken revival
    drunken revival
    Daver, I'm not sure I understand your point or your comment...

    Walmart has succeeded by delivering a superior customer experience, shitty products, and really really low prices.... so, in effect, they do give their customers more (just more pieces of shit, which for much of this country is just absolutely good enough)
  • daver
    daver
    The point is that the majority of today's consumers could give a shit about shitty products, I don't believe your comment that Walmart has a superior customer experience, unless you are speaking only in terms of price, and that the only thing that matters is really low prices for said pieces of shit.

    If, as a business owner, you give more to your consumers to make yourself stronger when the next storm comes, you'd better hope that you have more to give them then too. Because they, as a whole, don't really give a shit about your sacrifice and are _much_ more interested in buying the shitty thing the guy next door is selling for a dollar cheaper.
  • drunken revival
    drunken revival
    The only thing that matters to a customer is value (whether that be real or perceived).. they are concerned with what they get as a function of what they give. Keep in mind that shoppers also pay with their time and sacrifice other, more rewarding activities when shopping.

    On Walmart I am mainly speaking about price but also about product selection and other minor shopping aesthetics I mainly assume that shoppers there are self selected into being quite impressed with pieces of shit.

    So, back to value. If you keep your sandwich the same size as always while everyone else shrinks, you, in effect, are delivering more value. I've noticed that Beet on 7th and 9th St. has been doing just this...
  • daver
    daver
    I disagree about value for the general consumer these days, it seems to be PRICE. Hence, by this reckoning, some place that keeps their sandwiches bigger and at a higher price while everyone else shrinks but has a lower price... The bigger price place eventually loses. Given enough examples of this across the board, etc. And Captain Doorknob will stand twenty minutes in line at Walmart after spending another twenty minutes finding a parking spot and walking over fifty acres just to save a dollar on his whatzits that is crappy from China and breaks in nothing flat anyhow.

    But hey. Maybe Beet will buck the trend. It certainly _has_ happened in isolated pockets, but it is bucking the tend.
  • drunken revival
    drunken revival
    Right, well I believe you are taking a rather limited view of the situation.

    Also, your evidence is anecdotal at best. Think about the idea that luxury products and brands almost always weather economic storms better than rival knock offs.
  • daver
    daver
    Drunken Revival wrote: Right, well I believe you are taking a rather limited view of the situation.

    Also, your evidence is anecdotal at best. Think about the idea that luxury products and brands almost always weather economic storms better than rival knock offs.
    This is a good starting point: Book.

    From there you can move on to my Grandfather's hometown in rural IL and the surrounding community. From there a good place would be some locally owned chains in my hometown of Phoenix, AZ and the impact there. A good counterpoint would be a study of Ocean Beach, in San Diego, where I know that as of a few years they had still managed to stem the tide. For how much longer, who knows?

    But yes, it is more complicated than a few lines on a message board.

    Luxury products and brands may do _better_, but look at some of these stores outside NYC. They have gone to ground (think Sears/Kmart) or folded altogether, as basically all the upscale department stores did in general malls in PHX years ago.

    NYC is a special case though, because things are different here.
  • veets
    veets
    This is one rare ocassion where I agree with Drunken Revival. These are very hard times economically and voting for the "right" candidate (guess who I am voting for) will not change this situation quickly.

    Especially in our little PS economy the perception that you are satisfied with product, even though you might be paying top dollar for whatever it is, will keep you that Loyal Customerl. That strong, returning customer base can be the survival of a small business.

    Taking this in a personal direction .. i went to C Town today to get some staple grocery items like bananas, coffee, salmon for dinner.. and while at that check out line ( where they set up all those impulse purchase products) saw these biscuits.. Buerre Madelaine or something like that they called them. A French import and it was close to $7 for the bag. In a flash I bought them. Why? In a moment of rembrance of things past flashed on Proust and my whole literary self overwhelmed my pocketbook. . Yep, far from a mass marketing technique! My point is when you get past the buying staples in the food thing or any other, even if you think you are not the kind of person that will fall for the mass cultural/TV (don't even have one) blah blah culture.. the oddest thing will attract you and you will buy something on impulse. It was just an odd shopping moment for me, especially since I don't eat refined sugar so I bought them for the other people that live here and drift through and not even for myself! This last paragraph may seem like I am bringing this thread off topic.. but think about it.. not.
  • daver
    daver
    We'll see what happens. I hope y'all are right. I foresee bland chain change and crap in the future, but only because I've seen it before elsewhere. But here _is_ different, I suppose, and my dern crystal ball is broke. I'm not holding my breath, and I'll keep hope alive. :mrgreen:
  • booklaw
    booklaw
    I submit that there are two different markets in the US: the Affluent, and Everyone Else.

    The Affluent can afford to buy expensive biscuits on impulse (no offense, please, Veets... I occasionally do that stuff too). Some of them respond to "Platinum Experience" Lexus ads on tv. They are insulated, to varying degrees, from the economic constraints that force Everyone Else to shop at Walmarts.

    Many of us in PS go to expensive restaurants two or more times a week, spending $50 per person without hesitation. For many Americans, $50 or $100 may be a week's food budget for the family.

    That's why WalMart and Costco on the one hand, and Coach and other Miracle Mile-type stores can both thrive during recessionary times... two entirely different markets.
  • gretch
    gretch
    I am not necessarily affluent, tough surviving in NYC area may be already considered as so---point is, I am not rich after paying all the bills and stuff. I cannot afford $50 twice every week at all.

    Having said that, I do shop at favorite shops around the neighborhood, sometime not necessarily cheepest--in that sence, I am putting some other thing than "value" (means lower price, in this context) --such as supporting local economy, buying from people you know, or enjoying experience of shopping at nicer store, and so on. To some store I am "loyal cusomor." I think PS economy, with many small stores, is mostly supported by that kind of mentality.

    So going back to the original post, I guess what upset me a bit (if what I experienced was true) was that they just shrunk their sandwitch sneaky way, meaning decreasing value of the product, and charging the same, and acting nothing happened to the customor who likes their products and come there to expect certain kind of products. It feels a bit like it is some kind of betrayal to the affection and loyalty of the customor. Understanding the economy is though, I think I would rather have paied 25 sents more to same size sandwitch if I had to. The store I am talking about is clearly aiming at higher end market (like a lot of PS stores are), they should pay more attention to the value they provide rather than the slight change in price---to keep their customors coming through the tough time.
  • slopestar
    slopestar
    good one wrote: I've noticed it on EVERYTHING these days. Take a look at your 1/2 gallons of ice cream... a pound doesn't even seem like a pound anymore.
    I realize this is a side issue given that this thread quickly became a macroeconomic and social class debate, but a half-gallon is necessarily a half-gallon, and a pound is necessarily a pound. All states have departments of weights and measures that will investigate any drift in standard units of measurement.

    Probably the most famous such case is the Arizona Department of Weights and Measures vs. the 36 inch sandwich. They tested 36 inch sandwiches from 9 shops and found that 7 of the 9 were not even 34.92 inches (the minimum tolerance for 36 inches); Subway was the biggest violator measuring only 2 ft 8.5 in.

    This might explain why many sandwich shops have small and large, as opposed to 6-inch and 12-inch sandwiches, and that "pre-cooked weight" disclaimer we see everywhere. This is something we all need to keep in mind next time we pay for a pint of beer, a hand-packed quart of ice cream, a 16 oz. coffee, or even 30 minutes of parking.

    Shrinkage is one thing, but weights and measures are not up for debate.♦

    http://www.linksmarker.com/Others/Subways_3-foot_sub_sandwich_falls_short_The_box_isnt_even_3_feet/
  • good one
    good one
    granted slopestar but all I meant was what was once a 1/2 gallon of ice cream is now 1.5 quarts. I just meant that they are charging more and you are really getting less but it looks like you are getting a 1/2 gallon...
  • drunken revival
    drunken revival
    Slopestar,

    You make some good points, thank you.

    Personally, shrinkage has never been an issue for me... I know a full 9inches when I see it.
  • daver
    daver
    Drunken Revival wrote: Personally, shrinkage has never been an issue for me... I know a full 9inches when I see it.
    Dude.

    I _told_ you to stay off my fire escape.

    Some people. :mrgreen:
  • apollonia666
    apollonia666
    This is a pretty well-documented phenomenon:
    http://consumerist.com/tag/grocery-shrink-ray/

    Oh, and usually when someone talks about "shrinkage" in the context of retail and restaurants, they're talking about theft - either by employees or by shoplifting.
  • calm head
    calm head
    If I had a choice between raising prices or smaller portions, I'd pick smaller portions. This country is too fat anyway. The portions have been larger than they should be for ages. It's about time people stop eating like gluttons and learn to eat standard portions.

    my 2 cents
  • veets
    veets
    calm head wrote: If I had a choice between raising prices or smaller portions, I'd pick smaller portions. This country is too fat anyway. The portions have been larger than they should be for ages. It's about time people stop eating like gluttons and learn to eat standard portions.

    my 2 cents
    Well in certain products of course you are right but,, The standard can of chock full of nuts coffee (for instance) usta be a pound and has not been a pound for some time. They certainly didn't lower the price on the can when they made that change. It isn't like I am gonna put more or less tablespoons in the gold folter to make a pot of coffee. So.. that has no connection with our gluttonous country.
  • raw
    raw
    Drunken Revival wrote: I am really excited for this thread...

    Or wait, can we cut it short and simply state that: the economy sucks.
    Amen.
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