Mysterious Shrinking Food Containers

Food prices are up. Way up. If you want to know the reason, look at the SUV next to you. The demand for Corn Based Ethanol is driving away the production of valuable food products. But food is up more than most people realize. Why? The mysterious shrinking food container phenomena. The other day I was in the store buying some Orange Sherbert for a sick little kid. I noticed that some of the Round Major National Brand containers of ice cream seemed taller than the others. I looked closely. The "half gallons" (which shrunk a while back) appear to have morphed from 1.75 liter to 1.5 liter. Without any change in the "price". The Ice Cream was still $5.99 per container. The cost, on a weight basis, had increased by something around 12% (doing math in my head, I am guessing I am off by a bit... but that's close enough).

So its gone from 1.90 liters (half gallon) to 1.75 to 1.5 liters. Its now 20% smaller.

And its not just ice cream. We have the yogurt sold in non-standard sizes. 8 ounces is a cup. 6 ounces is a rip off.

Its time for action. In Europe the government has mandated mandatory sizes for certain types of products. For example, in Italy Pasta can ONLY be sold in 250g, 500g, 1 KG and multiples of 1 KG. It simplifies the job of the customer and makes price comparison fair.