"Some settling may occur."
That excuse may be valid for cereals and other bulk-packaged groceries, but not for individually wrapped portions like these granola bars.
There's no deception in the labeling of the package, which did, as advertised, contain six pouches of two 1.5 oz bars each, but the package is inappropriately large. The most common explanation would be that Target subjected their product to a "grocery shrink ray." Alternatively it may be that the product used to be sold in boxes of eight, or that a surplus of unlabled boxes of that size were available and were used rather than discarded. We'll see if the package shrinks with time.
Addendum: Reader mehughes124 provides the explanation in his comment.
i have gotten used to seeing statements on cereal boxes like 'enlarged to show texture' and 'may settle during shipment' and 'packed by weight not volume'. so the corn flakes are not as big as they look on the cover. however, i was truly dismayed to read, on cereal box showing pieces of cereal floating around the giant spoon with the cereal bits that 'cereal pieces do not fly without assistance'. how can i enjoy my morning cereal? if they can come up with a cereal that snaps and crackles and pops, surely they can come up with a cereal that can fly? or at least jump out of the spoon?
ReplyDeleteI-)
if you do the math (6 x 1.5 ounces = 9.0 ounces / 252 g) - but the box clearly states that the net weight is 8.9 ounces / 252 g. in this case, it is more economical to buy the individual bars rather than the box.
ReplyDeleteI-)
look shifty to me as well as 1.5 ounces is a tiny bit over 42.5 grams. 6 bars of 1.5 oz, should be coming in a fraction over 255 grams... gee imagine that, they short folks a few grams every package.
Deletethe reason for the space in packaging is likely due to standard box and shelving sizes among box maker, distributor, and retailer,
and that a big box gives the impression that you are getting a lot inside.
DeleteI-)
Hmm.. a couple of idle questions...
ReplyDeletea) I'm curious -- was the box bought at sea level? I've noted that sealed packages (such as these appear to be) expand substantially at altitude. Cities like Denver or Albuquerque are around a mile in altitude, and such expansion in the packaging is very very common. How much does an individual package expand at altitude? You could see such an expansion in shipping across the country by surface freight, and even more if done via air (unlikely for cereal bars...)
b) Are there standard sized boxes for shipping? Would it make sense to have one box say 7" in size, and another 6" and another 6.5" in size? I don't know -- but if you package things into standard boxes, you tend to always pick one box size larger to make sure things fit. Do they have standard size boxes on the shelves at supermarkets? Are they sized for standard boxes? I note most cereal boxes are in one standard size, and from memory, I think similar cereal boxes come in standard sizes?
c) Regardless of the above thoughts, it costs the company manufacturing the cereal bars and distributing them more money if you package it inefficiently. That is, you pay more money to ship the cereal bars since you are paying for additional cardboard to package air, and you put fewer cereal bars on a truck to transport them, since you are shipping air in the unfilled boxes. So why are they doing this? Its a highly competitive industry, and companies like Target are scrapping it out for a few percentage points of profit for commodities like food items -- so why are they paying to package and ship air? Is it because they get more sales by having a bigger colorful box? or is it because its cheaper to handle standard sized boxes? or it is because it costs more money to redesign the box than savings are worth? I don't know. . but its an interesting question..
b) Not to
I work in marketing in the consumer packaged goods world.
ReplyDeleteThis decision is probably a mix of a number of factors, but really the most important determining factory for establishing box sizes is what kind of shelf space it needs to take up.
Conventional wisdom would suggest that you'd want to minimize packaging for cost savings (both in production, shipping and storage) and therefore maximize the number of packages you can have on the shelf. In reality, your product's packaging is your billboard to customers, and it's competing with a whole lot of other billboards in the same space.
Furthermore, considering that Target is in the business of creating generic versions of all sorts of goods, they almost certainly just model their packaging sizes after whatever the leading products in whatever category they are creating a package for.
On a related tangent, there is a a documentary called "Beer Wars" that is all about the world of craft beer, and in it a major craft brewery owner discusses how the major brewing companies create and distribute a wide range of products not only for "portfolio diversity", but also to take up as much real estate in the grocery aisle as they can. When Anheuser Busch says to a grocery store, for instance, that they can buy Bud Light for $X, but they can have it for 10% off if they also stock Bud Light Lime and Bud Light Margarita Whatever, then the grocery store is much more likely to give up their coooler space for their improved margins on a known best-seller than take a chance on an unproven smaller craft beer. Very anti-competitive and anti-consumer, but it's legal because it isn't really spelled out in the contracts.
The CPG world is full of this kind of underhanded salesmanship of large company's flexing their leverage. It's quite an uphill battle for start up companies to get any real estate in grocery and convenience stores.
You're continuing the tradition at TYWKIWDBI of some reader always having a definitive answer to the questions I pose.
DeleteThank you, mehughes124.
Somewhat off-topic, but back in the 70s I met a graphic designer who had been tasked by Canada Safeway to redesign their house-brand canned tomato labels. When he submitted his designs, he was told "Wow, these are beautiful labels. But we can't use them."
ReplyDelete"Why not?"
"These are crappy tomatoes. With labels like these, the customers will be expecting a better quality of product."
The realities of marketing and selling.