Are the food makers squeezing us during the crunch?

The last time we had a downturn, a number of food producers looked to maintain (or increase) their profitability. In a buoyant market this is normally achieved by increasing prices. With the focus on prices and the cost of living this would not be a particularly sensible option - attracting negative media attention along the lines of "profiting whilst others suffer"


A number of major producers took a more subtle route - keeping the price same (or even advertising a small decrease) whilst reducing the quantity supplied.

A decrease in size from 440 grams (15.4ozs) to 400 grams (14 ozs) a decrease in size of around 9%. This means that there is a large increase in the profitability per product sold and customers also have to buy more to match their consumption or reduce consumption to match supply. Either way, profits increase.


I think I may have spotted another example of this recently. For convenience, I purchase supermarket medium sliced bread. I can't make any objective comparisons because I don't have any old loaves floating around but I think the bread is being sliced for thicker slices. I've noticed this when toasting the bread. It fills up more of the slot and makes nicer toast. However, it may be just a bit too thick for sandwiches.

From a manufacturing perspective, thicker slices mean fewer slices per loaf which means that although there is not a unit increase in the profitability of the loaf - the loaf is the same overall size - by using the bread at our normal consumption rates we'll go through a loaf quicker and buy more - increased turnover for the retailer and more profit for baker and retailer.

I'll be paying more attention in my future visits to the supermarkets and see whether I can spot any other wheezes.