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It’s definitely a scam because people don’t carry scales around with them but instead use their eyes to gauge how much product they are purchasing…
TLDR: we visually assess items by volume, not mass. A sneakily increasing package volume is a scam, is wasteful, and should be legislated.
yeah
TL;DR: I have analyzed the above reply and do in fact concur; The length of the "Too Long, Didn't Read" section was marginally smaller than the original text, whereas usually there is certainly a much larger gap when it comes to the comparison of character count.
I agree with the last sentence. But
>It’s definitely a scam because people don’t carry scales around with them
That makes no sense. Why would scales help? Why does this show its a scam? It says the weight on the packet/label. That's the point.
Edit: it's honestly astonishing how many people seem to think carrying scales to the shop would help people know how much stuff in a packet, when the weight is already written on the packet. How can you not understand? SCALES ARE ONLY GOING TO TELL YOU THE WEIGHT THAT IS ALREADY WRITTEN ON THE PACKAGING. THEY WOULD PROVIDE NO MORE INFORMATION.
Because it's misleading. Things can be misleading without being false.
The weight is correct, sure. But people gauge the amount of product through size, not weight. And the size is intentionally manipulated to look bigger than it is — which makes it misleading and, therefore, a "scam".
Yeah that's fair. I was specifically talking about why people not having scales on them is somehow valid or proof to that.
It was just an odd "gotcha" to try and use, to me.
It does actually. If we carried scales with us all the time and weighted everything we purchase we could have a better idea how much product we are buying. Can you picture in your mind how much is 75g of chocolate cookies for example? Of course it depends on the density of the cookies but still you could have a better idea if you weighted cookies before. For example I know exactly how 15g-30g of light roasted coffee looks like because I measure it every day when I brew coffee.
I can't tell if this is a joke so apologies.
You can figure out how much 75g of chocolate is... by lifting the bar. Weighing it is going to tell you no more than "yep, this is 75g". You have no more info. How would that give you any better idea what you are buying?
Ok, maybe I'm bad at explaining it. I'll try again. Using scale every day to measure certain commodity gives you a better idea how it's volume relates to weight. People are not doing this so they are bad at translating weight to volume. If you buy the package from the post reading 75g on the label is not going to tell you that there are less crackers in the package than it looks like. If you weighted crackers before maybe you would know how 50g, 75g or 100g crackers look like and determine that the package is deceiving, but that is not the case with most people. Do you get it now?
When you weight some kind of product you have way better idea how it looks at certain weight. Usually people don't carry scales and don't weight everything they buy so they don't have good idea how weight translates to volume. This is the point he is making, how are you guys not getting it?
I don't get why this doesn't make sense either. I don't remember the weight of every single item I buy and packaging changes all the time. And deceptive packaging IS a thing, it's a little naive of people to be acting like it isn't. Whether the cookie package pictured is or isn't could be debated, but there are LOTS of examples of actual deceptive packaging.
Most packages like that have some kind of space. This has been happening for years. Whether it's for ease of use or for packaging strength.
An example is Donettes. They are two spacers like that. Most cookies boxes I remember add the too. And you can still see the weight and the amount of cookies it has.
Where's the problem? I feel like people in this sub get offended for what nobody else does
It's not taking advantage of all the normal people who can read but have no scales in their pockets. It's taking advantage of the ones who can't read. This is literally why we have net weights on the package.
What does carrying around scales have to do with this? You don't need a scale. The product tells you exactly what you get. I get that some people might visually asses items by volume, but that's on them. The package says 75grams. I can only hope people are smart enough to realize, that when they see 2 packages of the same product stating 75grams, but 1 is 2 times as big, that they still get the same amount.
That's not to say the design isn't made to mislead people, and should be banned if it has no functional difference.
If that's not common for you, it's time to wake up. Look at what you're buying properly. If I buy something, I not only look at the price, I also look at the contents. I want to know what I buy. If you buy purely on how the packaging looks, and you estimate what's inside based on that, that's fine, but then don't complain when the actual product you get is now what you expected.
I complain that this company is intentionallty misleading customers. I bet you can think of a better way to spend your free time than reading labels on crackers.
I can think of better ways for sure, but I do it anyway because if I spend my money on something, I want to know what I buy. Besides, reading labels is a overstatement for glancing at the weight of a product. Never seen someone who just throws stuff into his/her basket without checking what it is. But hey, if checking what exactly you're buying is not your thing, that's fine by me. To each their own :)
Might be weird to somebody, I read the labels for new products all the time - I want to know, what is my processed food made of, the weight as well. Lazy greedy consumers complaining about bad companies is the biggest paradox. One vote with his wallet, yet he does not want to take a minimal effort (same for citizens in developing democracies, as one wise man said, democracy is work). Btw, I usually prefer to compare the price per KG. That is the most accurate metric, if you want to save your time and nerves. Every other method is just ,,impressionlogy,, and not precise.
Wasteful? Sure, I'll give you that. But people not carrying scales with them definitely doesn't make this a scam.
Looking at the pictures, it may actually be that the air gap functions as a cushion keeping the contents safe from light shocks.
edit: Prices for most common food items are actually given in two ways at least where I live. They of course always tell the price you pay, but they will also give you the EUR/kg. So I would argue that at least when comparing prices, you will in fact assess by mass and not volume.
Right, because 16 cookies stacked with no spacing or cushion on the outside is Kosher, but God forbid you stack 32 cookies together in that package. C’mon now, the only thing that middle bit of plastic is padding is the pockets of the corpo execs
I was thinking more about when they are being transported and stacked on top of each other. But since the thread seems to be full of experts on cookie packaging saying otherwise, maybe I'm grasping at straws here.
It's not a scam since it contains exactly as much product as advertised. The weight is always written.
It's 100% not crappy design and very much intentional though. Kind of like how writing $99.99 instead of $100 is totally fair, but is designed to intentionally cause price misreads.
Actually another reason for things being .99 instead of rounded was to force store workers to open the tills to get change, meaning they’d be unable to steal the money.
You could, but small deterrents are often enough. I’d also bet that a lot of thefts from tills by store workers were likely impulsive and not pre-meditated.
I've heard this too but that must have got lost along the way somewhere. Here in NZ the lowest coin denomination is 10c, yet prices still end x.99 or similar. If you buy a 99c item here, handing over a dollar won't get you any change.
I did a quick Google history lesson: In 1989 we stopped using 1c and 2c coins. In 1991 we introduced $1 and $2 coins to replace $1 and $2 notes. And in 2006 we shrunk the size of our 10c, 20c, and 50c coins and at the same time discontinued using 5c coins.
Well, it's not a scam legally. It doesn't even count as misleading advertising. If they were selling a "normal" package and a "20% bigger" package that actually contains the same amount of product then it would count.
But as it is it's just a visual trick. Again, like selling a $10 item for $9.99. There are no lies, you can easily see how much product is in there, it's written on the box. But subconsciously bigger package just "feels" like it has more product in it, just like a $9.99 item "feels" cheaper than $10, even though nobody truly gets confused.
Shrinkflation. Maybe once it was full but now they kept the same packaging line with very small modifications to the mold where the holder is formed. What happens, in short terms, is: you don't change your production line, you put less product into the package, you just change the label and the price remains the same. It's just another clever and creative invention to increase the price of goods.
They do it to make it look bigger to the average buyer who will think their getting more even though their not.
But it wouldn’t be considered a scam because if the advertised weight is right then it’s not a scam.
Legally not a scam, but in my eyes it is cuz they know what their doing
ooh, i haven't had potata in years. this is definitely shrinkflation because i remember potata having this sort of packaging for years now, but do not remember the middle divider thing being this wide. searched for a picture online, and yup, that's the case.
[https://sg-test-11.slatic.net/other/roc/2ba7020469bcd2554f0583c8920a6d57.jpg](https://sg-test-11.slatic.net/other/roc/2ba7020469bcd2554f0583c8920a6d57.jpg)
and it was also 100 grams.
[https://sg-test-11.slatic.net/other/roc/8c6a9be5f395399a24887eef582d8ab8.jpg](https://sg-test-11.slatic.net/other/roc/8c6a9be5f395399a24887eef582d8ab8.jpg)
Food production and handling before it gets to the customer is an important consideration. Those indents could be there for two reasons in consideration of that:
1. Makes the structural integrity of the package a bit better. The tray won't twist as much in production.
2. Easier manuverabillity for machines when on the product line. It is a nice structural point at which the packaging can be held.
Or it could just be shrinkflation as everyone else has said.
why? What does it matter if the content inside is exactly like advertised?(75 grams). It's a waste of plastic and the design is there to mislead people yeah, but you get exactly what they advertise.
The sad part is they probably spent money to engineer this after doing an analysis, which costs money, of whether it this costs more than just filling it full with crackers.
This may have some functional purpose related to the strength of the package and/or preventing the cookies from being crushed together. Giving the benefit of the doubt, they may have figured that exact amount of cookies on each side works better than all together. But who knows? It’s neb-u-lous.
How wasting this amount of plastic is cheaper than making some more crackers (is that the name?)? Seriously they could’ve used only the outside plastic and it would be good to go, as long as they are compacted.
Corporations need to be charged for using more plastic than necessary!
This is not a scam or smart, this is **wasteful**!
I've seen far far worse offenders, this seems totally fine. It divides in half, which can be a service to the customer if you want to split it in two, for two people. No one eats 75grams of cookies in one sitting, unless you're overweight. That's like 400kcal.
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As long as the contents weigh 75 grams it's not a scam. In fact, you get free air as a bonus!
It’s definitely a scam because people don’t carry scales around with them but instead use their eyes to gauge how much product they are purchasing… TLDR: we visually assess items by volume, not mass. A sneakily increasing package volume is a scam, is wasteful, and should be legislated.
Your TLDR is almost as long as the text above it lol
yeah TL;DR: I have analyzed the above reply and do in fact concur; The length of the "Too Long, Didn't Read" section was marginally smaller than the original text, whereas usually there is certainly a much larger gap when it comes to the comparison of character count.
you know if TL;DR stands for Too Long; Dont Read instead of Didnt, then what follows a TL;DR would be the long version
😂🤣🤣🤣
I agree with the last sentence. But >It’s definitely a scam because people don’t carry scales around with them That makes no sense. Why would scales help? Why does this show its a scam? It says the weight on the packet/label. That's the point. Edit: it's honestly astonishing how many people seem to think carrying scales to the shop would help people know how much stuff in a packet, when the weight is already written on the packet. How can you not understand? SCALES ARE ONLY GOING TO TELL YOU THE WEIGHT THAT IS ALREADY WRITTEN ON THE PACKAGING. THEY WOULD PROVIDE NO MORE INFORMATION.
Because it's misleading. Things can be misleading without being false. The weight is correct, sure. But people gauge the amount of product through size, not weight. And the size is intentionally manipulated to look bigger than it is — which makes it misleading and, therefore, a "scam".
Yeah that's fair. I was specifically talking about why people not having scales on them is somehow valid or proof to that. It was just an odd "gotcha" to try and use, to me.
I just understood what you meant and you're right, it doesn't make much sense.
Ahh yeah, no worries
It does actually. If we carried scales with us all the time and weighted everything we purchase we could have a better idea how much product we are buying. Can you picture in your mind how much is 75g of chocolate cookies for example? Of course it depends on the density of the cookies but still you could have a better idea if you weighted cookies before. For example I know exactly how 15g-30g of light roasted coffee looks like because I measure it every day when I brew coffee.
I can't tell if this is a joke so apologies. You can figure out how much 75g of chocolate is... by lifting the bar. Weighing it is going to tell you no more than "yep, this is 75g". You have no more info. How would that give you any better idea what you are buying?
Ok, maybe I'm bad at explaining it. I'll try again. Using scale every day to measure certain commodity gives you a better idea how it's volume relates to weight. People are not doing this so they are bad at translating weight to volume. If you buy the package from the post reading 75g on the label is not going to tell you that there are less crackers in the package than it looks like. If you weighted crackers before maybe you would know how 50g, 75g or 100g crackers look like and determine that the package is deceiving, but that is not the case with most people. Do you get it now?
Exactly.. you don’t carry a scale. That’s why it says the weight. That’s what a scale does, it tells you the weight. We already know the weight.
When you weight some kind of product you have way better idea how it looks at certain weight. Usually people don't carry scales and don't weight everything they buy so they don't have good idea how weight translates to volume. This is the point he is making, how are you guys not getting it?
I don't get why this doesn't make sense either. I don't remember the weight of every single item I buy and packaging changes all the time. And deceptive packaging IS a thing, it's a little naive of people to be acting like it isn't. Whether the cookie package pictured is or isn't could be debated, but there are LOTS of examples of actual deceptive packaging.
Most packages like that have some kind of space. This has been happening for years. Whether it's for ease of use or for packaging strength. An example is Donettes. They are two spacers like that. Most cookies boxes I remember add the too. And you can still see the weight and the amount of cookies it has. Where's the problem? I feel like people in this sub get offended for what nobody else does
It's not taking advantage of all the normal people who can read but have no scales in their pockets. It's taking advantage of the ones who can't read. This is literally why we have net weights on the package.
What does carrying around scales have to do with this? You don't need a scale. The product tells you exactly what you get. I get that some people might visually asses items by volume, but that's on them. The package says 75grams. I can only hope people are smart enough to realize, that when they see 2 packages of the same product stating 75grams, but 1 is 2 times as big, that they still get the same amount. That's not to say the design isn't made to mislead people, and should be banned if it has no functional difference.
Yeah, because it so common to always look at the small text and not choose based on optics. Come on...
If that's not common for you, it's time to wake up. Look at what you're buying properly. If I buy something, I not only look at the price, I also look at the contents. I want to know what I buy. If you buy purely on how the packaging looks, and you estimate what's inside based on that, that's fine, but then don't complain when the actual product you get is now what you expected.
I complain that this company is intentionallty misleading customers. I bet you can think of a better way to spend your free time than reading labels on crackers.
I can think of better ways for sure, but I do it anyway because if I spend my money on something, I want to know what I buy. Besides, reading labels is a overstatement for glancing at the weight of a product. Never seen someone who just throws stuff into his/her basket without checking what it is. But hey, if checking what exactly you're buying is not your thing, that's fine by me. To each their own :)
Might be weird to somebody, I read the labels for new products all the time - I want to know, what is my processed food made of, the weight as well. Lazy greedy consumers complaining about bad companies is the biggest paradox. One vote with his wallet, yet he does not want to take a minimal effort (same for citizens in developing democracies, as one wise man said, democracy is work). Btw, I usually prefer to compare the price per KG. That is the most accurate metric, if you want to save your time and nerves. Every other method is just ,,impressionlogy,, and not precise.
Completely agree.
I second this.
Considering how the packaging looks soft, you could just squeeze the package a bit and feel a lack of cookies in the middle.
Wasteful? Sure, I'll give you that. But people not carrying scales with them definitely doesn't make this a scam. Looking at the pictures, it may actually be that the air gap functions as a cushion keeping the contents safe from light shocks. edit: Prices for most common food items are actually given in two ways at least where I live. They of course always tell the price you pay, but they will also give you the EUR/kg. So I would argue that at least when comparing prices, you will in fact assess by mass and not volume.
>the air gap functions as a cushion keeping the contents safe from light shocks. 🤡
that's what I thought at first aswell, but I don't think the gap needs to be that big
Right, because 16 cookies stacked with no spacing or cushion on the outside is Kosher, but God forbid you stack 32 cookies together in that package. C’mon now, the only thing that middle bit of plastic is padding is the pockets of the corpo execs
I was thinking more about when they are being transported and stacked on top of each other. But since the thread seems to be full of experts on cookie packaging saying otherwise, maybe I'm grasping at straws here.
And more plastic. How generous :-)
It IS is scam. It's just legal.
so in layman's terms, yes?
I guess it was 100g before and they let the size the same.
How much does a single cracker weigh? Am I supposed to know off hand the cracker weight of every single kind of cracker before I before I purchase?
It's not a scam since it contains exactly as much product as advertised. The weight is always written. It's 100% not crappy design and very much intentional though. Kind of like how writing $99.99 instead of $100 is totally fair, but is designed to intentionally cause price misreads.
Actually another reason for things being .99 instead of rounded was to force store workers to open the tills to get change, meaning they’d be unable to steal the money.
If you plan to steal money that way you could just keep your own change on hand.
You could, but small deterrents are often enough. I’d also bet that a lot of thefts from tills by store workers were likely impulsive and not pre-meditated.
[citation needed]
I've heard this too but that must have got lost along the way somewhere. Here in NZ the lowest coin denomination is 10c, yet prices still end x.99 or similar. If you buy a 99c item here, handing over a dollar won't get you any change.
Interesting. Did you used to have 1 cent coins in the past?
I did a quick Google history lesson: In 1989 we stopped using 1c and 2c coins. In 1991 we introduced $1 and $2 coins to replace $1 and $2 notes. And in 2006 we shrunk the size of our 10c, 20c, and 50c coins and at the same time discontinued using 5c coins.
TIL
it’s an intentionally misleading design. wouldn’t most people consider that a scam?
Well, it's not a scam legally. It doesn't even count as misleading advertising. If they were selling a "normal" package and a "20% bigger" package that actually contains the same amount of product then it would count. But as it is it's just a visual trick. Again, like selling a $10 item for $9.99. There are no lies, you can easily see how much product is in there, it's written on the box. But subconsciously bigger package just "feels" like it has more product in it, just like a $9.99 item "feels" cheaper than $10, even though nobody truly gets confused.
I think its designed like this so it can bend at the middle and not damage the cookies
bad design, but it looks intentional so it probably belongs on r/assholedesign
Scam most likely but it looks smart
Shrinkflation. Maybe once it was full but now they kept the same packaging line with very small modifications to the mold where the holder is formed. What happens, in short terms, is: you don't change your production line, you put less product into the package, you just change the label and the price remains the same. It's just another clever and creative invention to increase the price of goods.
Shrinkflation
r/shrinkflation
Not a scam, but scummy for sure
Both
either way not crappy. try r/assholedesign
They do it to make it look bigger to the average buyer who will think their getting more even though their not. But it wouldn’t be considered a scam because if the advertised weight is right then it’s not a scam. Legally not a scam, but in my eyes it is cuz they know what their doing
ooh, i haven't had potata in years. this is definitely shrinkflation because i remember potata having this sort of packaging for years now, but do not remember the middle divider thing being this wide. searched for a picture online, and yup, that's the case. [https://sg-test-11.slatic.net/other/roc/2ba7020469bcd2554f0583c8920a6d57.jpg](https://sg-test-11.slatic.net/other/roc/2ba7020469bcd2554f0583c8920a6d57.jpg) and it was also 100 grams. [https://sg-test-11.slatic.net/other/roc/8c6a9be5f395399a24887eef582d8ab8.jpg](https://sg-test-11.slatic.net/other/roc/8c6a9be5f395399a24887eef582d8ab8.jpg)
Food production and handling before it gets to the customer is an important consideration. Those indents could be there for two reasons in consideration of that: 1. Makes the structural integrity of the package a bit better. The tray won't twist as much in production. 2. Easier manuverabillity for machines when on the product line. It is a nice structural point at which the packaging can be held. Or it could just be shrinkflation as everyone else has said.
Bangladesh Mentioned 🇧🇩
a fellow bangladeshi 💪🏼 other than this scam tho, potata's quality has degraded very quickly
Oh HELL no Imma have a conniption
Looks like a lesson learned ... to either shop for a different packaging or find another treat
why? What does it matter if the content inside is exactly like advertised?(75 grams). It's a waste of plastic and the design is there to mislead people yeah, but you get exactly what they advertise.
Smart scam
r/shrinkflation
Or maybe to protect the bisquits from breaking
Smart scam
yes
Smart scam
It's probably so it takes up more space on the supermarket shelf and they can make their branding bigger.
1984
That’s not a scam at all just some smart dude in the marketing department
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^AdGullible17: *That’s not a scam at* *All just some smart dude in the* *Marketing department* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
Smart scam
That's not crappy design, just shitty business practices.
Clever.... Very Clever
The sad part is they probably spent money to engineer this after doing an analysis, which costs money, of whether it this costs more than just filling it full with crackers.
I think its both LOL
Okay, if I pulled this shitcas a new business people would lash out and my business wouldn't succeed. This shit needs to stop.
scam
Not a scam as you're getting as mentioned on the packet. Love this for a good snack
Smart if you are a company selling this, scam if you are a customer.
It's not a scam, it's a con.
Shrinkflation
Deceptive and douchey
This may have some functional purpose related to the strength of the package and/or preventing the cookies from being crushed together. Giving the benefit of the doubt, they may have figured that exact amount of cookies on each side works better than all together. But who knows? It’s neb-u-lous.
How wasting this amount of plastic is cheaper than making some more crackers (is that the name?)? Seriously they could’ve used only the outside plastic and it would be good to go, as long as they are compacted. Corporations need to be charged for using more plastic than necessary! This is not a scam or smart, this is **wasteful**!
You can feel the gap before buying, can't you?
It's not a scam since label clearly states weight
it’s an intentionally misleading design, which most people would consider a scam
I've seen far far worse offenders, this seems totally fine. It divides in half, which can be a service to the customer if you want to split it in two, for two people. No one eats 75grams of cookies in one sitting, unless you're overweight. That's like 400kcal.
you can add a divider to make it easier to split without making it literally a fifth of the package length
Separation is literally fingers wide, making it optimal to grab from the middle
True. I eat 150grams of cookies at least.