When I left the country to go to West Germany, on July 31, 1980, the standard, cardboard container of Dannon Yogurt—then the king of the industry—was eight ounces.
I believe a container cost 50 cents, but don’t quote me on that.
I used to see secretaries who were dieting, who would subsist on a container of Dannon for lunch. How on earth could they do that? They must have been in foul moods all afternoon.
When I came home on August 26, 1985, Dannon containers held only six ounces. Did the dieting secretaries now eat two Dannons for lunch?
Reducing the size thusly was a backdoor 25% price hike.
Shrinking contents of a food product is part of a two-stage price increase strategy. First, reduce the amount, while keeping the retail price the same; second, a few months later, raise the price.
A few months ago, Dannon reduced the size of its already tiny portions to 5.3 ounces. That’s a backdoor 11.7% price hike.
At WEJB/NSU, we haven’t shrunk the container to six ounces, let alone 5.3 ounces. We still give you the full eight ounces!
Please hit the PayPal Donate button at the top of this page, and make a generous donation to WEJB/NSU.
I thank you, and your posterity will, too.
Sincerely,
Nicholas Stix
Postscript: Although the fundraising was sluggish, at first—as always—the pace has since picked up, with old friends and new making contributions of all sizes. Thanks to you all!
What's going on with the blogsite?
ReplyDelete--GRA
I remember those waxed-paper Dannon yogurt containers: an honest, adult-sized full cup, and in an 'eco-friendly' container before anyone really gave a damn about that yet.
ReplyDeleteRemember their 'coffee' yogurt? Fantastic flavor, no 'non-fat' varieties then either.
They messed with the amount, the container material, the Dannon logo, and the simple, plain flavor varieties - there's no way their sales went up after this.
GRA,
ReplyDeleteTPTB just restored it, but who knows for how long?