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There is an article in the Wall Street Journal today that kind of boggles my mind. And I don't take kindly to having my mind boggled. Although as I think it through, the article does lend weight to my assumption that the majority of Americans are sheep.
The article (I would link, but WSJ is a subscription site.), entitled Taking the Value Out of Value-Sized is in the Personal Journal section. The point of the article is that the "Value Size", the "Bulk Packaging", the "Family Two-Pack" version of any retail product is not always going to be cheaper than buying the equivalent number of the "regular" sized version. And no one really notices. We've become such a nation of bigger is better that now consumers are just blinded by the sheer size of a product that we buy it without doing the actual math. No one is noticing that the real bargain is the medium-sized brands. The article cites a number of examples but I'll only hit on a couple here. One gum-chewing consumer found out that the Wrigley PlentTPak that regularly buys at 17 sticks of gum for a dollar doesn't measure up to just buying the regular packs. He could buy four five-stick packs for that sam dollar and get three extra sticks. The best part about this example was that he didn't discover it. A cashier pointed it out to him. Another glaring example from the article showed that the big 53-ounce can of Van Camp's pork and beans didn't measure up when compared to their standard size can. The big can sold for $2.06 but if you bought four of their smaller 15-ounce can at 44 cents apiece, you got seven more ounces and 30 cents back in your pocket.
So what does this mean? The people who make these products blame the retailers. The manufacturers say that they offer suggested retail prices, but the stores are free to set the prices how ever they like. But the retailers claim that the medium sized products are still the products that move the fastest and therefore managers are offering their discounts on those products strictly based on volume moving out the door. But ya know, if those economy sized packages didn't sell enough they manufacturers wouldn't make it. So obviously those behemoth packages of 37 rolls of toilet paper and the industrial drums of pickles are being purchase by someone.
My theory on this is that retailers are taking advantage of society's sheep mentality that Costco, Wal-Mart and the rest of the monster retailers have fostered. As a consumer, the message in these places has always been "if you're buying in bulk, you're saving money." But because this mindset is in place, retailers can now subtly adjust prices that take advantage of both the smart shopper and the sheep. When the sheep buys the larger Economy Size version, they are paying more per unit (ounce, pound, whatever). And chances are, in the case of perishables, the sheep aren't going to use all of that product before it spoils anyway. That brings in return customers. The advantage the retailer gets when the smart shopper buys the medium sized version of the product is that they move more individual units out the door which on paper makes them look great.
The article also points out another reason that the modern sheeper, excuse me, shopper isn't paying attention. The advent of the insidious bar code has pushed the printed price off of the packaging. The arguement is that a decade or so ago, the price was right on the package. Now, if the little price label isn't on the shelf right under the product, time-pressed shoppers will just grab the big package on the assumption that bigger is better.
By the way, it isn't just retail that is guilty of the "bigger is better" brainwashing. I mean, there's the whole fast food "SuperSize" thing. But the thing that baffles me is the movie theater thing. They keep pushing the "Value Deal" (quite annoyingly, I might add) where they will give you a vat of soda and a garbage can full of popcorn for less money than the normal, human sized portions. But in this case I just don't get it. Where is the advantage for them to sell more bad popcorn or syrupy water for less money? Anyway, a large chunk of this society has fallen for this bigger, bigger, bigger and more, more, more mentality without ever really stopping to ask themselves a few questions. Like, duh, do I really need this much of anyone product at one time? And, double duh, If I DO need this much, am I really paying more to get the behemoth packaging? But, no people are all Must. Consume. Mindlessly. Which, in the end, is what retailers, ad agencies and manufactures are counting on.
I can't believe I wrote a semi-serious entry and used the phrase "double-duh".
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