User Tag List

+ Reply to Thread
Page 4 of 7 FirstFirst 1234567 LastLast
Results 31 to 40 of 67

Thread: Why must some companies make price increases that are sneaky--not straightforward?

  1. #31
    Points: 119,195, Level: 83
    Level completed: 85%, Points required for next Level: 455
    Overall activity: 57.0%
    Achievements:
    SocialCreated Album pictures50000 Experience PointsOverdriveVeteran
    Cotton1's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    24503
    Join Date
    Dec 2018
    Location
    Mid-South
    Posts
    33,227
    Points
    119,195
    Level
    83
    Thanks Given
    27,222
    Thanked 24,512x in 16,036 Posts
    Mentioned
    146 Post(s)
    Tagged
    1 Thread(s)
    Quote Originally Posted by pjohns View Post
    I think that those who orchestrate the downsizing really do not give the American people--for the most part--credit for being much more advanced than, say, Pavlov's (rather famous) dogs.

    Does anyone really imagine that it is reasonable to think of typical Americans as being so abysmally ignorant (or even stupid)?
    I simply dont observe amount
    I'm yo.
    This my brother yo
    We yo yo

  2. #32
    Points: 52,081, Level: 55
    Level completed: 76%, Points required for next Level: 469
    Overall activity: 0.2%
    Achievements:
    SocialVeteran50000 Experience Points
    jet57's Avatar Banned
    Karma
    2378
    Join Date
    Jun 2017
    Posts
    19,121
    Points
    52,081
    Level
    55
    Thanks Given
    1,698
    Thanked 2,368x in 2,004 Posts
    Mentioned
    284 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Quote Originally Posted by pjohns View Post
    One practice that I simply despise is downsizing.

    I do understand that inflation is a reality; and that companies must, therefore, periodically pass along those higher costs--including wholesale costs of the product itself; labor costs; rent on the building (if it is not owned outright); and any other costs associated with the production of goods.

    But a straightforward price increase is certainly an honorable way to achieve that.

    Downsizing, on the other hand--in the apparent hope that many people will just not notice the slightly smaller package--is not really honorable.

    For instance, the 23.6-ounce container of body wash that I regularly purchase is now just 22.0 ounces. (The container it comes in is of an irregular shape--so I really cannot describe it by the typical geometric terms--but the new bottle is designed just like the old bottle.)

    If the company had simply increased its wholesale price by less than seven percent, so that its retail outlets might increase their own price from an even $3.00 to $3.26, it could have achieved the same end--but without any deception.

    I suppose that I just do not like deception in marketing.

    Correction: I know that I do not like deception in marketing.
    Deceptive marketing is a regular practice because people don't pay attention and companies want bigger margins.

  3. The Following User Says Thank You to jet57 For This Useful Post:

    John Galt (12-13-2020)

  4. #33
    Points: 61,084, Level: 60
    Level completed: 37%, Points required for next Level: 1,266
    Overall activity: 18.0%
    Achievements:
    Tagger First ClassSocialVeteran50000 Experience Points
    pjohns's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    14536
    Join Date
    May 2012
    Location
    Tennessee
    Posts
    7,907
    Points
    61,084
    Level
    60
    Thanks Given
    19,470
    Thanked 4,230x in 2,709 Posts
    Mentioned
    42 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Quote Originally Posted by barb012 View Post
    If a large number in our population had noticed it, they are still powerless to stop it. How many times in empty words to the public that they have the power to change how our government performs in what the people want? It is an illusion that the public have any power unless they have a big bank account balance.
    Well, we could stop it by refusing to purchase the downsized product.

    In the particular case that I mentioned, however, it is a bit more difficult: The private-label brand that I mentioned is an even $3.00, whereas the national brand that it mimics--almost perfectly--is $6.00; and the 1.6 ounce difference (23.6 ounces to 22.0 ounces) does not justify a change of brands.

    I guess what I am saying is that I would prefer not to cut off my own nose just to spite my face.

  5. The Following User Says Thank You to pjohns For This Useful Post:

    John Galt (12-13-2020)

  6. #34
    Points: 61,084, Level: 60
    Level completed: 37%, Points required for next Level: 1,266
    Overall activity: 18.0%
    Achievements:
    Tagger First ClassSocialVeteran50000 Experience Points
    pjohns's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    14536
    Join Date
    May 2012
    Location
    Tennessee
    Posts
    7,907
    Points
    61,084
    Level
    60
    Thanks Given
    19,470
    Thanked 4,230x in 2,709 Posts
    Mentioned
    42 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Quote Originally Posted by carolina73 View Post
    Consumers are not that smart for the most part. The cheapest cost is the highest value and that is seldom a consideration in a purchase. The market leads you buy the newest in fashions and styles. As soon as they saturate you with it then they change it and make you replace what you just bought.

    I am going through this with a kitchen remodel right now with my wife.

    Gray is the color. No that was last year. Lowes even sells gray prepainted cabinets now to show how out of style gray is. Marble is out, Granite is out. Quartz is in. You can put a hot pan on it. You better not put a hot pan on the counter that we just paid $6000 on! Remeber all those red appliances the wanted to sell us to replace all the stainless appliances they sold us? The ones that you have to polish 5 times a day if you touch them. Maybe I'll go back to my burnt orange cabinets and my avocado Formica counters that I had in my first place and wait for them to come back into style. Dang that was ugly.
    Perhaps I am just out of step here.

    I really do not care even a nickel just whether my kitchen (or anything else, for that matter) is now "in" or "out."

    And I could not possibly care any less what the neighbors (or friends, or anyone else) might think.

    In short, I emphatically decline to be preyed upon by some slick salesperson--or by anyone else.

  7. The Following User Says Thank You to pjohns For This Useful Post:

    Peter1469 (09-24-2020)

  8. #35
    Points: 61,084, Level: 60
    Level completed: 37%, Points required for next Level: 1,266
    Overall activity: 18.0%
    Achievements:
    Tagger First ClassSocialVeteran50000 Experience Points
    pjohns's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    14536
    Join Date
    May 2012
    Location
    Tennessee
    Posts
    7,907
    Points
    61,084
    Level
    60
    Thanks Given
    19,470
    Thanked 4,230x in 2,709 Posts
    Mentioned
    42 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Quote Originally Posted by Cotton1 View Post
    Pj. Youre better off using less product and investing the difference
    Although my total income is far from impressive--including Social Security, it is merely $3,715.93 per month (or $44,591.16 per year); and my wife has only her Social Security check (plus an occasional check from the church, for sometimes playing the piano there), I always put aside more than $1,000 each month into savings. (Sadly, it is not paying much now--some places, such as Discover, have a much better rate--but I want to be able to access my money anytime, immediately.)

  9. #36
    Points: 61,084, Level: 60
    Level completed: 37%, Points required for next Level: 1,266
    Overall activity: 18.0%
    Achievements:
    Tagger First ClassSocialVeteran50000 Experience Points
    pjohns's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    14536
    Join Date
    May 2012
    Location
    Tennessee
    Posts
    7,907
    Points
    61,084
    Level
    60
    Thanks Given
    19,470
    Thanked 4,230x in 2,709 Posts
    Mentioned
    42 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    There is actually a broader point than just downsizing: It is the compromising of quality.

    That body wash that I mentioned previously--which had been downsized a bit--has also been watered down considerably.

    I just opened it yesterday--and noticed it immediately. And my wife also noticed it--and was quite upset by it.

    Yes, I like low prices. But when that means compromising quality, that is no bargain. Not really. It is just cheapness.

  10. #37
    Points: 143,765, Level: 91
    Level completed: 20%, Points required for next Level: 2,885
    Overall activity: 79.0%
    Achievements:
    Social50000 Experience PointsOverdriveVeteran
    carolina73's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    43659
    Join Date
    Sep 2019
    Posts
    57,490
    Points
    143,765
    Level
    91
    Thanks Given
    56,067
    Thanked 43,664x in 28,251 Posts
    Mentioned
    154 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Quote Originally Posted by pjohns View Post
    There is actually a broader point than just downsizing: It is the compromising of quality.

    That body wash that I mentioned previously--which had been downsized a bit--has also been watered down considerably.

    I just opened it yesterday--and noticed it immediately. And my wife also noticed it--and was quite upset by it.

    Yes, I like low prices. But when that means compromising quality, that is no bargain. Not really. It is just cheapness.
    You are the exception not the rule. Most people do not buy quality.

  11. #38
    Points: 61,084, Level: 60
    Level completed: 37%, Points required for next Level: 1,266
    Overall activity: 18.0%
    Achievements:
    Tagger First ClassSocialVeteran50000 Experience Points
    pjohns's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    14536
    Join Date
    May 2012
    Location
    Tennessee
    Posts
    7,907
    Points
    61,084
    Level
    60
    Thanks Given
    19,470
    Thanked 4,230x in 2,709 Posts
    Mentioned
    42 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Oh, and this one is annoying, I think:

    My wife and I have been purchasing some store-brand facial tissues (often called "kleenexes; although that is actually a brand name).

    They come in a square box.

    Usually we get them from either Walmart or Kroger.

    And I had long assumed that they were just the same--except for a slight price difference.

    Well, I was mistaken.

    Upon closer examination, the Walmart tissues are 80 to a box; whereas the Kroger tissues are just 65 to a box.

    But the boxes look just alike. So that is not easily discernible.

    Whoda thunk it?

  12. #39
    Points: 61,084, Level: 60
    Level completed: 37%, Points required for next Level: 1,266
    Overall activity: 18.0%
    Achievements:
    Tagger First ClassSocialVeteran50000 Experience Points
    pjohns's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    14536
    Join Date
    May 2012
    Location
    Tennessee
    Posts
    7,907
    Points
    61,084
    Level
    60
    Thanks Given
    19,470
    Thanked 4,230x in 2,709 Posts
    Mentioned
    42 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Another deception: I purchased Mucinex DM today--actually, it was a store-brand knockoff--and the package appeared to contain 16 (or perhaps 20) pills. (The doctor had given me six free ones; but I had exhausted them.)

    When I got home, however, I discovered that only seven--seven!--were contained in the package.

    All that wasted space--well, not wasted if the manufacturer's intent was to deceive the consumer.

  13. #40
    Points: 19,637, Level: 33
    Level completed: 99%, Points required for next Level: 13
    Overall activity: 0.1%
    Achievements:
    10000 Experience PointsVeteran
    John Galt's Avatar Banned
    Karma
    2146
    Join Date
    Dec 2019
    Posts
    6,982
    Points
    19,637
    Level
    33
    Thanks Given
    2,038
    Thanked 2,137x in 1,724 Posts
    Mentioned
    26 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Quote Originally Posted by pjohns View Post
    One practice that I simply despise is downsizing.

    I do understand that inflation is a reality; and that companies must, therefore, periodically pass along those higher costs--including wholesale costs of the product itself; labor costs; rent on the building (if it is not owned outright); and any other costs associated with the production of goods.

    But a straightforward price increase is certainly an honorable way to achieve that.

    Downsizing, on the other hand--in the apparent hope that many people will just not notice the slightly smaller package--is not really honorable.

    For instance, the 23.6-ounce container of body wash that I regularly purchase is now just 22.0 ounces. (The container it comes in is of an irregular shape--so I really cannot describe it by the typical geometric terms--but the new bottle is designed just like the old bottle.)

    If the company had simply increased its wholesale price by less than seven percent, so that its retail outlets might increase their own price from an even $3.00 to $3.26, it could have achieved the same end--but without any deception.

    I suppose that I just do not like deception in marketing.

    Correction: I know that I do not like deception in marketing.
    Nothing new. Toilet paper sheets get smaller and smaller each year. In the seventies, a can of coffee was 1 lb. Now it's about 12-13 ounces.

    I recently noticed that a two pack of my deodorant offers two 2 oz. sticks, as opposed to the single 2.3 ounce stick. I never bothered to read the size.

  14. The Following User Says Thank You to John Galt For This Useful Post:

    pjohns (12-14-2020)

+ Reply to Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts