We Are Being Taken For A Ride!

[Iamcazzy]

What is going on with basic grocery stuff lately? I go to the supermarket to buy orange squash and find something called "double concentrate" which is supposed to be twice as strong as standard squash so I only use half of it. It's twice the price of normal squash. Where has this stuff come from? Why was it not available years ago on the shelf? It can hardly be something that's just been invented.

Kitchen towels are similarly anachronistic. Why are they 2-ply and 3-ply at a premium price whereas years ago it was single ply or nothing. The same seems to apply to toilet paper.

Vinegar is continually being reduced in acidity.

Bakery bread in some in-store bakeries (notablly Asda)is positively pale in colour compared to what it was a few years ago.

Jacob's Cream Crackers look positively anaemic nowadays. I realise that baking is costly but these manufacturers are getting away with murder!

[Iamcazzy]

It's fine for us who can afford to buy this double or triple toilet paper, but ask yourself what the little old lady on a state pension can afford. Some people don't have a choice.

[Alston]

Double strength Orange Squash will give the manufacturer a 50% saving in bottles...and put-up their profit, if it is sold at twice the original price.

Al.

[THECORBYLOON]

Iamcazzy, you could ask the same about a lot of things. Why were things not put in plastic rather than glass years before they were? The point about reducing the water content means it must go through another process which costs money but that is set against smaller bottles meaning more on each lorry so reduced transport costs. It can't have been that obvious because surely you would have thought about it before they did.

[pastafreak]

Mars bars are not reduced in size because Mars 'cannot afford' to make them as you say...it is so they can charge the consumer the same price,but for a smaller size.

[THECORBYLOON]

If the little old lady wants only one-ply, she can separate the layers of paper and get two or three rolls out of the one surely?

[pastafreak]

Arrgh..submitted too soon.....

As for the double strength squash-it's been around for a good 4-5 Yeats...so not that new. And I can't see the point of complaining about double/triple layer loo/kitchen rolls...something else that has been around for many years. It's al l about GI king the consumer. Hoice

[pastafreak]

Choice

*sigh*

[Iamcazzy]

Will it? I'm thinking in terms of Robinsons Orange Squash which is the prevalent squash that utilies this scheme. I don't accept for a moment that a 2 litre PET bottle that holds double concentrate orange squash is twice as costly to produce as a 1 litre PET bottle.

Robinsons tell the bottle manufacturer how much they are prepared to pay for their bottles. If they eat into the potential profit margin, they seek another manufacturer. They would be stupid to do otherwise in this time of austerity. Don't forget, we all have this inbuilt instinct that buying bigger means buying cheaper.

[douglas9401]

The little old lady could indeed do that THECORBYLOON but any economies may be offset by her needing the nurse to file her nails to avoid digital throughput when applying said tissue.

[Iamcazzy]

Corbyloon, tell me what little old lady has the time or the inclination to separate the layers on a pack of toilet rolls. Do you know someone that sells the inner cardboard core to facilitate what you propose/

[pastafreak]

I think the little old lady would separate 'as needed'...not the whole roll at once....;-)

[THECORBYLOON]

The price of one compared to the other is not valid because the products are different and I don't claim to be an expert in the costings of plastic containers.

[Iamcazzy]

Corbyloon, plastic was expensive in the sixties, more so than glass for bulk container manufacturers. PET did not exist and other plastics were not totally inert when containing acidic products such as squash. Concentrated acids were confined to glass Winchester bottles until fairly recently.

Furthermore, glass has always been readily recyclable from an environmental standpoint and was so even in the sixties although the responsibility for recycling was directed at the manufacturer rather than the consumer. Plastic recycling is a relatively new concept due to the different types in use.

[THECORBYLOON]

Iamcazzy, she could, as suggested, separate the layers as and when or she could ask her neighbours to save the cardboard rolls for her. Not a problem, see?

[Iamcazzy]

Corbyloon,

"The price of one compared to the other is not valid because the products are different"

Sorry, the consumer hardly holds the container in high esteem regardless of whether it's made from glass or PET. Most people look for value for money. Plastic is cheaper than glass.

[THECORBYLOON]

Douglad, could the nurse not supply some rubber gloves to reduce any "incidents"?

[THECORBYLOON]

Douglad???..

[Iamcazzy]

Fascinating. Years ago little old ladies used to spend their time knitting quietly in the corner of the room. Nowadays, it seems it would not be unusual to find them unrolling toilet rolls.
Anyone seen that Andrex dog?

[THECORBYLOON]

You were comparing the price of a two-litre bottle of double strength squash against a one litre bottle of normal strength presumably in bottles of the same plastic, that is the point I was making. The larger bottle would be taller in height and the walls may be thicker because of the increased weight it had to contain but like I said, I'm no expert.

[Iamcazzy]

Funnily enough, I did think of this issue about squash years ago, but in my innocent youth, I thought that manufacturers were honest and removed as much water as practically possible during manufacturer. Therefore, the idea of concentrated squash was never in my mind.