On Mar 1, 6:55*am, George wrote:
DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Feb 29, 3:55 pm, George wrote:
DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Feb 29, 10:45 am, George wrote:
DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Feb 29, 8:27 am, George wrote:
Doug Miller wrote:
In article , franz fripplfrappl wrote:
Take a walk down the aisles in a grocery store sometime. *A pound of
coffee is about 9 ounces. *5# of sugar is 4#. *Prices are more or less
the same.
Utter nonsense. A pound is sixteen ounces. Five pounds is five pounds, not
four. If you buy a bag of sugar that is _plainly_marked_ "4 pounds" thinking
it is five, you need to be looking in the mirror for the source of that
problem.
It is still dishonest no matter how you look at it. I am quite capable
of reading labels. A short quantity non-standard packaging is simply
wrong. A quart should be a quart. Not 28 oz *"at everyday low prices".
Ironically it is everybody's friend *the big box store (they tell us
that frequently so it must be true) that is behind this.
My buddy works for a company that manufactures packaging equipment. One
of their customers asked to have a "4 up" line installed. Usual
packaging for their product is "6 up" or a six pack. The reason was
because walmart had decided they could screw their customers thinking
that people wouldn't notice that the canned items were in a 4 pack and
think their buddy walmart was helping them with "low everyday prices".
* It didn't work and the supplier took a serious hit because of the
money they had to spend on the line.
It is still dishonest no matter how you look at it.
How is it *dishonest* if the package is correctly marked as to the
amount of product it contains?
Because it deviates from normally accepted standards/practices.
Lets say that you have been driving through "Smithville" every day
forever. One night "Smithville" changes all of the speed signs to
reflect a speed which is now 20 MPH lower.
The next morning you are driving through "Smithville" and are pulled
over for speeding. The officer points out the new signs and then issues
a ticket. Would you accept the ticket, plead guilty and pay the fine or
protest it because of lack of notice?
Or lets say that you have been parking in "Brownville" forever to do
errands etc on your way home. The "Brownville" parking rules have been
free parking after 6PM forever. They change the rules without any
announcement and you find a $45 ticket on your car. Would you pay it?
I am quite capable of reading labels.
Then what's the issue? You read the label, you know how much is in the
package and how much it costs, you make a decision as to whether to
buy it or not. Next!
A short quantity non-standard packaging is simply wrong.
What's the standard? If you are referring to the de facto standard
that certain products have always been packaged in certain amounts,
then look up the definition of de facto. It's an agreed upon standard,
not anything legal. If everyone packages ice cream in 56 oz packages
from now on, that will eventually become the de facto standard.
A quart should be a quart
A quart is a quart. 28 oz is 28 oz. Please give us an example of a
product that is labeled as quart but only contains 28 oz.
I've said it before and I'll repeat it here in case it was missed:
If you shop by unit pricing, it doesn't matter if the package is 28 oz
or 32 oz. You're paying for what you're getting - no one cheated, no
one lied. They simply raised the price by charging you the same amount
for less product - but they clearly informed you of the price increase
by posting the unit price on the shelf right next to the product.- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -
Are you really expecting an answer to those questions?
If I must...
To keep it simple, here's a short program I wrote:
PSL = Posted Speed Limit
DS = Driver's Speed
IF DS PSL Then Driver Guilty of Speeding
How would you like it to read?
PSL = Posted Speed Limit
DS = Driver's Speed
IF DS PSL Then
*If Driver has been driving the route every day forever then
* *Driver Not Guilty of Speeding
*Else Driver Guilty of Speeding
Gimme a break. The town has no *obligation* to inform drivers of a
change in the speed limit or of the parking rules. Would it be nice if
they did? Sure. Do they try to do it in most cases? Sure. *However,
it's the obligation of the person driving the route or parking his car
to read the signs and follow the rules or risk paying the
consequences. Just like it's the obligation of the shopper to read the
labels and determine for themselves how much they're getting and how
much they're paying for it.
Tell that to the local "Smithville" that installed lower speed limit
signs and didn't follow the state's required procedure that requires
that a flasher be attached to the signs for so many days to call
attention to the change. All of the speeding tickets that were issued in
the reduced speed area were invalidated.

Ya know, by your logic, we shouldn't have to pay the same price for
the smaller package because they didn't tell us beforehand. Let me
know how that works out for you.
Please don't put words in my mouth. I never said anything nonsensical
like that.- Hide quoted text -

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I stand corrected on the speed limit issue, as least as far as
"Smithville" is concerned.

Please don't put words in my mouth. I never said anything
nonsensical like that

Then what was your point in bringing up the speed limit and parking
issues? I'll trust your assertion that there is a state required
procedure related to traffic law, but as far as I know there is no
such procedure governing the size of an ice cream container.

You gave 2 examples of changes that came without notification and
asked if I would pay the fines. If you're not implying that I should
also not have to pay for the smaller packages because I wasn't
notified, how are those examples related to this discussion?

I gave those as examples of human nature. Your claim was that it wasn't
dishonest to shrink packages because people could read the labels. Once
people have learned something we don't examine the minutia each time and
just go on with life. So when we buy the "gallon" ice cream we reach for
the package that has always represented a gallon.

Just like when you twist a light bulb to the left to remove it without
lifting up the lamp to read the instructions. Or you put food in a
microwave and don't pour over the manual for 5 minutes because you
"know" what to do. *Or you know that the pedal on the right is the
throttle (in left side operator cars) without needing to look for
instructions when you get in a car and when they drive through an area
that has the same posted speed forever we proceed as normal unless there
is something to call our attention to the change.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Your claim was that it wasn't dishonest to shrink packages because
people could read the labels

And I will continue to claim it isn't dishonest. What isn't true? Is
the container labled with a weight that differs from the actual
weight? Does it ring up at the register differently than the price on
the sign? Does it not contain the product that it says it does?
Where's the lie?

Deviation from the norm is not dishonest. Deviation from the norm is
called change - sometimes for the better, sometimes not, and sometimes
it really makes no difference at all.

It was once the norm that women and certain minorities could not vote.
Then we "deviated" and things got better.

It was once the norm that teachers could take certain actions when a
student disrupted the class enough that the other students couldn't
learn. Then we "deviated" and things got wor - errrr - things changed.
(I'll leave that discussion for another thread.)

Once people have learned something we don't examine the minutia
each time and just go on with life.

Being observant is not the same things as examining the minutia. What
I get for my hard earned money is very important to me, so while I'm
pretty sure that the power level of my microwave isn't going to change
each time I use it, I can't be as confident about the price and/or
quality of my purchases. Therefore I stay observant when I shop. I
compare the unit prices, I carefully examine any package that says
"new and improved" - basically I'm careful that I don't get "fooled"
by gimicky marketing strategies.

So when we buy the "gallon" ice cream we reach for the package
that has always represented a gallon.

Pop quiz: What company registered the slogan "An educated consumer is
our best customer"?