Misleading Packaging

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By JLP | June 22, 2006

This just makes me laugh. Yesterday I bought a “value-size” box of Nature Valley Sweet & Salty Nut Granola Bars.

Well today I opened the box and this is what I found:

I have only had ONE bar! The box is clearly twice the size that it needs to be. Why must they use such a big box for such a small amount of product? Of course there really is no reason other than to mislead people into thinking they are getting “more for their money.”

What about you? Have you come across any “over-packaged” items?

Topics: Miscellaneous |

Comments to “Misleading Packaging”

Herb Says:
June 23rd, 2006 at 8:41 am

I remember reading a while back that this is a classic gimmick that cereal makers use to increase margins. They don’t always increase prices, sometimes they just put less in the same-sized box so the average consumer is none the wiser but is paying the same for less cereal.

savvy saver Says:
June 23rd, 2006 at 9:49 am

My job has taken me to several cereal manufacturing facilities, and when those boxes are packed they are generally full. The contents really do settle during shipping.

However, I doubt the granola bars “settled”. Maybe that size box/packaging was cheaper for some reason, or they had a limitation with their packaging equipment? I’m trying to give them the benefit of the doubt… but it probably does have something to do with customer perception.

Jesse Says:
June 23rd, 2006 at 5:36 pm

It’s important that granola bars receive proper ventilation…um…erm…

Yeah…

Foobarista Says:
June 23rd, 2006 at 10:15 pm

That’s no valley - it’s the Grand Canyon

Ron Says:
June 25th, 2006 at 11:11 am

….just another indication of the society in which we now live…! The US Congress sells itselft to us as “doing the work of the people”…and yet all we have serving is “half empty boxes”…!

Sweet & Salty Lover Says:
June 29th, 2006 at 12:44 pm

I just love these bars. I always look at the quantity of bars.. the bar size.. or what ever I am looking at. It is just that easy these days.. since that is the thing.. that the box & bags when packaging an item are much bigger than they need be. It does not stop me from buying if I feel it is worth it.

Kenny Says:
July 4th, 2006 at 10:32 am

This is a common problem with breakfast bar boxes (granola, nutragrain, etc), and even happens quite often with vegitarian packaging(have you seen the size difference of 4 of them in a box?), to frozen fish/sticks/etc.

Its all about shelf space…in reality they could make the boxes thinner, and keep the width, or they could go the route that the PC Game makers went(boxes were shrunk in like 2001, due to cost of shipping sizes or something), which is form an industry wide crack down on the size of the boxes, especially since now more material is costing money, and let alone gas prices to move them accross the country you want to fit more on the truck to get it out and sold as much as possible.

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Misleading Packaging