Quaker Oatmeal packets
First, I need to rant about how Firefox crashed while I was writing this (it was trying to download and open a PDF that contained reference material for this post), and then how Blogger’s “Recover post” feature failed to recover anything. Oh, wait, the 3-word title was preserved! Lucky me. Hey, Googlemeisters, are you aware of this problem with the supposedly improved Blogger?
So, here goes again:
Traditionally, if a package of plain Acme Yummies sold for $2.99, Acme Yummies With Almonds might sell for something like $3.29. But in the last few years I’ve noticed that manufacturers have made things easier for everyone by keeping the price constant but varying the quantity, e.g. $2.99 for both, but contents of 350 g and 320 g respectively.
Quaker Instant Oatmeal is now like this. A box of Regular contains 12 packets, while the flavoured varieties each contain only 10. So far so good.
However, the different flavours have different costs. Rather than further varying the number of packets, which would be a reasonable (and consistent) solution, the “brilliant” “geniuses” at Quaker have chosen to vary the amount you get in a single-serving packet! Here in Canada (the numbers are different in the USA, though the structure is the same), Maple & Brown Sugar packets contain 47 g, while Peaches & Cream packets contain only 32.5 g!
32.5 g isn’t enough for me for breakfast, so I only buy the flavours that have at least 45 g, which is only three of them that I’ve seen. Too bad, as Peaches & Cream used to be my favourite. And no, I’m not going to solve the problem by using two packets at a time, because 65 g is too much.
To further show how confused this all is, remember how I said that a box of Regular has more packets than a box of flavoured? My guess is that the “brilliant” “geniuses” wanted to appeal to the frugal buyer by providing “extra packets” in Regular. In fact, each Regular packet contains only 31.25 g. That’s even less than Peaches & Cream. Per gram, Regular is actually priced significantly higher than Maple & Brown Sugar or Raisins & Spice.
So, here goes again:
Traditionally, if a package of plain Acme Yummies sold for $2.99, Acme Yummies With Almonds might sell for something like $3.29. But in the last few years I’ve noticed that manufacturers have made things easier for everyone by keeping the price constant but varying the quantity, e.g. $2.99 for both, but contents of 350 g and 320 g respectively.
Quaker Instant Oatmeal is now like this. A box of Regular contains 12 packets, while the flavoured varieties each contain only 10. So far so good.
However, the different flavours have different costs. Rather than further varying the number of packets, which would be a reasonable (and consistent) solution, the “brilliant” “geniuses” at Quaker have chosen to vary the amount you get in a single-serving packet! Here in Canada (the numbers are different in the USA, though the structure is the same), Maple & Brown Sugar packets contain 47 g, while Peaches & Cream packets contain only 32.5 g!
32.5 g isn’t enough for me for breakfast, so I only buy the flavours that have at least 45 g, which is only three of them that I’ve seen. Too bad, as Peaches & Cream used to be my favourite. And no, I’m not going to solve the problem by using two packets at a time, because 65 g is too much.
To further show how confused this all is, remember how I said that a box of Regular has more packets than a box of flavoured? My guess is that the “brilliant” “geniuses” wanted to appeal to the frugal buyer by providing “extra packets” in Regular. In fact, each Regular packet contains only 31.25 g. That’s even less than Peaches & Cream. Per gram, Regular is actually priced significantly higher than Maple & Brown Sugar or Raisins & Spice.
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