The Pie Is Getting Smaller.

I was at the supermarket this morning, picking up some staples and some sickie supplies for ojouchan. I also decided to grab some snacks I could take to work, for the times when my lunch and my tea isn't enough for the day.

Now, a while ago, candy prices at the supermarket went up a bit, a hike that seemed related to increasing gas prices. A little while later, they raised the prices in our building's vending machines as well, citing the same reasons. As a result, I haven't been buying as many candy bars. I do still keep an eye out for bargains though.

Today, I spotted Reese's Peanut Butter Cups for fifty cents. Which is okay, I guess, but not really something to make me pull out me wallet. However, I noticed that the wrapping looked a little wider, and upon closer inspection, it became clear that each package held three cups instead of the normal two. Enough to make my craving grab a pair on my way to the register.

I imagined that many people had been having problems justifying the price of the candy bars recently. Hershey probably thought that it would be better to start sending out a little bit more chocolate to get people buying the chocolate. It probably did lead to more profits on their side.

But then another aspect of the wrapper made it through my skull: it proclaimed that this package offered "40% more." Now, the old package had two cups, and the new package had three cups. That ought to be a fifty percent increase, right? But no, the wrapper makes it clear that you're getting "2.1 oz at the 1.5 oz price." In the old package, each cup was .75 oz, in the new one, it's .70 oz.

I don't imagine this is a coincidence, and I find it hard to believe that, when Hershey returns to two-cup packaging, the cups will regain the six percent that's been shaved off.

All I can think of is Jon Stewart from a few days ago:

Our economy has shrunk so much, it's no longer economy size: it's fun size. And as candy lovers know, that's the least fun size.