mikee

I agree, read the labels. You know the yogurt cups are indented when you buy them (but the quart size isn't). My peeve is they sell ice cream to consumers by the gallon (volume) but buy milk from the dairy by the pound (weight). And the creamery whips the ice cream full of air to expand the volume before packaging. Air is a cheaper ingredient than cream. Not sure if it's still allowed, but saw hot dogs being made once. They were shoveling ice into the mix. They were limited by law to only add enough water to allow for mixing. So, after mixing, they added "ice" not "water" to get around the law. Water is cheaper than beef.

Eric2018 Loc: Los Angeles, CA, USA

While we're at it, why is gasoline always priced with 9/10 cents at the end? Like, $5.99 9/10?
Or why are so many items $x.99 or $x.95?
We all know the answer is to make us "think" (without thinking) that the price is less. So the $9.99 item is "thought" of as $9, not as $10. And a gallon of gasoline isn't thought of as what it really is -- $6.00 per gallon, but as $5 per gallon.
Marketers use odd shaped packaging to make it look like we are getting more. For instance, a cone with maximum diameter of 3 inches contains one-third the volume of a cylinder the same height and diameter, and almost nothing is sold in cubes, because those "look" smaller.
The only time I've seen gasoline priced without the 9/10 at the end was during price controls after the Vietnam war when the Federal Reserve Bank didn't control the growth of the US money supply.
-Eric

sgt hop Loc: baltimore md,now in salisbury md

good questions.....

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Many, many YEARS ago, if an item was $1 people would leave a dollar on the counter and leave the store. At $.99, they waited for their change.

goofybruce

NOT OFFERING AN OPINION HERE, but there appears to be more than trying to "rip off" the consumer. The machinery to fill containers is built to the size of the outside package, so, for example, a machine designed to carry a 16 oz. container through the operation doesn't need to be tossed out if the same 16 oz. package has a "false bottom" so the container has just 15 ounces of product in it. A small machine can be added to the beginning of the line to insert the "new" bottom. With a product such as yogurt, you don't want air at the top since it will spoil, therefore you can't just "partially" fill the cup.
However, the print on the packaging doesn't require anything extra cost since it only needs a new plate to print the information --same ink, same size paper going through the print operation, etc.
HOWEVER, the packaging best have printed on it the "true" amount of product inside.
Since I don't eat yogurt (goes back to a summer of working in a cremery making yogurt and creamcheese), I will leave it up to someone else to do the survey to look at several brands to see if there is a difference in what is printed and the size of the container. Is Yoplait just 15 oz in a 16 oz container compared to Hood or some other brand? And are national brands getting smaller than regional or local brands?

goofybruce

A farmer is paid by the "hundredweight" because milk direct from the farm varies by weight because of the amount of butterfat in the liquid. A jersey cow doesn't produce as much volume as a holstein, but the milk is worth more since a jersey cow produces more butterfat. By the time the milk is processed at a dairy, the butterfat content is all the same, and the packaging equipment is designed for "gallon" jugs, so milk is sold at retail by gallon, half-gallon or even the ever-popular school size of half-pints. As for air, premium ice cream has less air than regular ice cream and you can tell by the price --- and taste.

CPR Loc: Nature Coast of Florida

There is a reason - to let any sediment settle to the sides.

Ava'sPapa Loc: Cheshire, Ct.

I get my cold cuts at BJs in Ct. and I have yet to have them sell me a pound of whatever meat or cheese that I buy. It's always a little bit more every time. It doesn't amount to much but I find it annoying. I'm sure management instructs them to do this. I don't imagine it amounts to a fortune but I'd like to know what it amounts to over a year.

rplain1 Loc: Dayton, Oh.

It has nothing to do with deception. Yogurt as well as Ice Cream will collect moisture on the bottom from condensation. The ridge prevents it from possibly soaking through the cardboard bottom and degrading the contents or having the bottom fall out when you pick it up.

KindaSpikey Loc: English living in San Diego

"Yoplait" uses plastic containers.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

It’s marketing. Buy by weight or volume and not visible container size.

Better yet, buy tubs of plain Greek yogurt and add your own fresh or frozen fruit, cereals, and flavorings. You won’t miss the artificial flavors, colors, conditioning fillers and other additives.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Separate issue.....

Could YOU accurately judge a pound of burger meat while it's coming out of the grinder?

jimward Loc: Perth, Western Australia

The indentation at the bottom of a wine bottle is to collect the sediment. Wine bottles contain the full amount stipulated on the label (usually 750mm in our metric country). I speak from experience. I have opened - and emptied - many bottles in my lifetime.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

In ancient times, wine bottles often were adulterated with wax to lower the volume of wine in the bottle. The Latin roots of the word "sincere" literally mean, "without (sin) wax (cere)." Thankfully, dimples in modern wine bottles have nothing to do with that.

rlv567 Loc: Baguio City, Philippines

Well --- here's a man who knows!!! He's been on a farm! And around cows and dairies.

Loren - in Beautiful Baguio City