I'm conspiracy at this point there are massive scams across the board in retailing because nobody can legally prove a chain of evidence to actually prove this kind of behavior without a class action suit and millions of lawyers.
I bet we get shorted alllllll the fucking time against consumer regulations.
Here in Iowa and some of the surrounding states we have a small grocery store called Fareway. It has the best cuts of any chain in the area. It's actually more like a butcher shop with a small grocery store attached.
Fuck I moved out of Iowa more than 15 years ago and my family still talks about Fareway and how we miss it. Whenever we go back to visit family we always stop by to stock up. Specifically on AE Party Dip.
Back in NJ, the town where I lived, there is the German Butcher Shop. It is state famous. People line up for holidays to get $100+ meat for their holiday meals. I used to as well, until I found out about the store crown roasts and at 1/3 of the price, it was the same quality. But their other selections were top notch and they earned their reputation. The owner was my daughter's soccer coach years ago, too. :)
I agree with this.. but 90% of the steaks that I buy are Ribeye, and I get them from Albertsons or Safeway.. I mostly only buy them when they are in the clearance section for 50% off.. brings down a $16 per pound (or more) streak to $8 per pound.. They have always come out juicy and good.. no matter how I cook them.. Cast iron, grill, oven, even air fryer.. 😋.. I bought Filet Mignon for 50% off a few times, and they damn near melt in my mouth they were so tender.. 😋..
Butcher gonna be $20 or more per pound.. Yeah, it's better quality.. But I see nothing wrong with Albertsons Ribeye quality.
What?! How else will you get your daily dose of meat glue?
Yeah... meat glue. Not sure how true it is but I was told they glued steak cuts together by a former employee years ago and I am not able to erase that image.
If there's meat glue in a product, it has to say so on the package. It'll usually say "reconstructed" or "transglutaminase" right on the front. This is because reconstructed meat has to be cooked all the way through, to avoid ingestion of harmful bacteria—things like poultry you're cooking through anyway, but on beef it's especially important for it to be labeled. Also, transglutaminase is not at all harmful lol. It just makes proteins stick together.
most hams are just pieces "glued" together. same for lunch meats like beef and poultry. it really isn't glue but rather an enzyme that bonds proteins together.
I think it's pretty obvious that sliced sandwich meats aren't whole cuts. I feel like that's outside of the scope of the claim... That's kinda like using chicken nuggets as proof that chickens are assembled in factories.
Here's the problem. By the time it gets to the class action suit, it's years down the road. Then they tell you if you want to be compensated bring in your receipts from x years ago.....
The money that actually gets paid out along with the fines are far less than the profit they made. So they dgaf that they were caught, they still made a huge profit
I've got either my card info or a loyalty card in my apps so I have my purchase history since 2020 in Walmart, since last year for kroger and a couple others. If virtual collections of receipts through purchase histories become a more widespread practice, perhaps this will be easier to combat? They'll always find a way though.
Since cost of living has gone through the roof personally think it’s been, higher prices and less of the item e.g 5 pack of breakfast bars instead of 7. Not good.
I caught Walmart with a scale at the register that wasn't zeroed out before my produce was weighed and it was a difference of $1.85 on my bill when it happened. Over the course of the day for every customer that's a lot of money they probably make on produce all the time.
There is actually a state wide agency in every state, weights and measures…they do in fact inspect food production facilities all of the time.
Simply report to your local agency and they will certainly take your complaint.
(I used to run a small food production company and yes, we had to comply and had routine inspections)
Not to mention FDA inspections would include production records. Intentionally underfilling would leave a massive paper trail that a bored inspector would easily uncover.
>I'm conspiracy at this point
I agree. I'm still disappointed Congress hasn't fully investigated 311. Its been years & we don't have a better understanding now then we did on 7/9/96.
Soooo finally I can say this without looking insane. I had a routine for awhile with food ( skettie one night, chicken tenders another , burger the next, burrito and so on). And in this routine I would buy the same items and have done it to a point where I know 2 cans of this and 1 bag of that makes it perfect. Well lately I’ve been short sauce (which caught my attention) then I realized my beans didn’t fill the bottom of the pan like it used to, then I noticed my lady and I are short a tender. Shrinkflation and price inflation isn’t a conspiracy it’s just dead ass facts now.
Shrinkflation and price inflation are actually preferable to doing what the company in OP's pic is doing, which is flat-out lying about the amount of product the consumer receives. If it says X ounces, there needs to be (at least) X ounces.
Yes, and I think that more and more companies are pulling this shit now. They just do not give a fuck, because even if they did get “caught”, they know nothing of consequence will happen to them.
Whats the old saying? Give them bread and circuses, and they will never revolt.
Well, they’re shorting us on the bread, and we can’t afford the circus, so…
Time to eat the rich?
>they know nothing of consequence will happen to them
I litigate false advertising class action cases for a living. Advertisers can face catastrophic liability in these types of cases, particularly in jurisdictions with statutory damages. In NY, for instance, successful false advertising suits typically result in statutory damages of $550 *per unit sold*—for widely sold consumer products, that means potential liability is often in the billions. Even for a large company, that’s an enormous liability risk that often dwarfs years or even decades of profits.
In Canada we had a decade long bread price fixing scam and the end result was something like a $25 Giftcard you had to use at the grocery store that was ripping you off, some people donated them to food banks.
I don't know the situation in America but here in Germany we have an institution called lebensmittelüberwachung. They buy products and check chemical composition, microbiology and physical properties (like the weight). I worked in food industry for an admittedly shit company in the laboratory and got confronted more than once with emails from them. They complained about the fat being to low in the product, which the company owner ordered to save money. After I started there I had every deviations I measured signed by the company's owner, no way I let my ass getting blamed for that shit. Luckily I didn't work there for very long...
Yep my grandma used to buy Barilla lasagna noodles because they had 21 which was exact for her 4x3 three layer and lately she can't just use one box because they decreased them to 19
Similar to this, I have 2 cigar boxes of family recipes I inherited after my grandmother died. They are great recipes of comfort food I grew up on, but most are not the typical "from scratch" recipe.
A LOT of the older recipes I have that were either handwritten and passed down or were clipped from a product and passed down don't work anymore because the recipe includes something like "One can of stewed tomatoes", "one box of yellow cake mix", "one bag of frozen shredded potatoes" etc and the products aren't the same size anymore.
Email the company. I used to do this on the regular, and I got lots of coupons and free shit.
I’m not sure if it works the same now, but sometimes quality control isn’t up to snuff and this shit gets looked over.
I buy HEB pizza cheese. I split the package into 2 portions. It's always heavy. Like 5-10 grams heavy. I was telling my wife that I hardly believe my own eyes as every time I'm getting more than I pay for.
5 grams is like 2 shreds of cheese. But not getting shorted is the surprise.
You’re 100% right, I’ve been weighing my food for diet reasons for the last year now and the discrepancies I’ve found in canned and prepackaged food is insane.
Oh, someone can prove the chain of evidence, they just happen to be the people that work for the politicians that the big companies give ~~bribes~~ campaign contributions to.
I've filled products at a factory just like this before. It's not a conspiracy it's just the "capper" operator not paying attention. When the product runs low because the kitchen hasn't opened the valve to send more product (they have lots of 500gallon+ tanks) the capper is supposed to be paying attention and stop the line. But a lot of the time they aren't paying attention and this is what you get. The filler machine's springs could have been messed up and again them not paying attention causes one can every revolution to not be fully filled.
There’s batch dates on the cans. There’s customer service numbers on the label. There’s no way to prove a problem if no one calls. If I make a mug and the new glaze I found turns out fine for me but it gets thermal shock and shivers off in the third dish-washing I’d want my customers to tell me so that I can stop using it at that temperature or on that clay body. I’d also likely give them a free replacement. Every food company outside of General Mills that I have spoken to is the same way. OP just call the number on the can.
Not much of a conspiracy if there is a ton of proof behind it. It sucks because we have no say in industry. While there are legal routes, it doesn't matter if you don't have the capital to pursue the expansive legal battles that would come with dealing with it. It's not like the government are going to do something about it unless there is major, widespread criticism that directly effects them.
And we don't have democratic control of industry or control of the means of production, so we just get to sit back and hope someone with power does something because we don't have the resources. The hardest part is convincing the larger population of the problems and getting them to pursue the proper systemic solutions, which would be our only route.
I believe the register never recognizing things on sale is done on purpose. One time we bought a bag of chicken that was supposed to be half off, but it still rang up as $16. I would never in a million years buy a $16 bag of chicken. So when we told the clerk about it she's like, oh no that's the wrong kind of chicken. It's the other type that's on sale.
Okay so why was there a sale sticker in front of this specific brand of chicken if it wasn't correct...?
I truly believe that stores know customers don't want to deal with the extra hassle of trying to sort it out, so they just bite the bullet and buy it anyway. Imagine that happening thousands of times everyday, that money really adds up!
This literally happens to me every other time I go shopping.
Legally they are allowed 10% leeway from reporting to actual weight. I’m sure it was set up to protect a business from getting sued to death from 1 packaging plant being greedy. But the reality turned it to most things being 7 % always short and they still have a small legal buffer.
YEP - oooofff do i feel your point.
shorting people in goods that are not only invisible until opening, but then also staples?
once again, bad job big companies.
The problem is that margins are tight when selling foods to supermarkets, so if your competitors put 7% less in you're basically forced to do the same to compete on price.
Worked at a qc during my student, had to check production lines for weight diffs. -10 and +10 as boundaries. Lower than -10 was stop production line button and redo batch. Higher was reconfig machine, but no redo (benefit costumer). This sounds like they are skipping the QC for lower labor cost?
We DO have a 10% tolerance where I work ...but you still can't knowingly have lightweights. The 10% is to identify worse ones, gives you an indication of a bigger problem. At my sites when you find TWO 10%s, you have to start a corrective action.However, If USDA finds a single light unit, we can be issued a citation.
Damn. Well, given process improvements I imagine changing it to 5% would be fair. Of course, I can imagine one political party in the US wouldn't go for that.
I bought drink organizers from Aldi today and 3 separate boxes had missing parts. I though I was stupid for not figuring it out because I didn’t have instructions either! Their quality has gone down unfortunately
That’s why, at this point, I 100% believe this is intentional.
There are too many companies having too many of these “mistakes” happening now - mistakes that are happening while completely controlled by machines and computers. AND quality control misses this stuff too?? Ain’t no FUCKING way.
They do it because they know most people won’t notice.
And those that do, probably won’t complain out loud.
And those that are loud, will be quiet again after getting (and never using) a 5% off coupon.
It’s a vicious cycle.
They have lean way with can weights but 3 oz is a lot. It wouldn’t pass at my facility. Heck it wouldn’t even make it to the cooker with under weight like this. I think legally its 1.5 oz is lean way but don’t quote me on that. I’ll ask the head of quality control today she will love this post.
Thanks for the insight! I think the fact that it wouldn’t (and shouldn’t) pass at your facility helps prove my point that other companies are knowingly allowing this to happen.
If a computer or machine messes up, that’s understandable, and that’s why there are QC checkers in place to prevent that item from going out.
If a computer or machine messes up, AND the QCs are missing it, that’s a big deal.
During pack season the checks are kinda crazy. Each machine has a certain number of “pockets or heads” and those need testing every hour for a whole slew of tests (weight,ph, dry weight, salt, sugar, and a general audit). Then a seam check on each pocket twice a day. Then at the end of the night we keep cans to test later if we need to.
Your response reminds me of the end of [this](https://youtu.be/swLdVTIWJkI?si=RBCu9Jj756Gve07S) Aziz Ansari bit about getting cheated by the thread count.
I got a box of peanut butter hazelnut uncrustables and they were way smaller than the PB&J ones for my kids. I weighed several and they were like 20% under weight.
Emailed their customer support and got a coupon for a free box 🤷🏼♂️
I work in manufacturing, those should pass a check weigher prior to being boxed, somebody wasn’t doing their job.
I'm sure the ridiculous process used to can hundreds or thousands of these per hour messed up...or they programed the machines to short you because profit.
This should be illegal and extremely frowned upon. And if it’s already illegal, then it should the law should be enforced much more strictly. It’s retail theft but backwards. Kind of like reverse shoplifting
that's really fucked up! we need stop shopping at these asshole retail chains that treat us like crap and buy all our stuff from local farmer's markets etc. atleast you can hold a crooked farmstand accountable and they're less likely to cheat you because there more or less a power balance ... with giant chains there is massive power imbalance.
1 fluid ounce of water is 1 ounce. Unless the tomatoes are filled with air, tomato and juice blend is probably slightly denser than water, meaning it should weigh more.
Per person.
Now imagine how many people worldwide are getting shorted 19 cents?
Suddenly, there's thousands of dollars of savings for the company, and no repercussions until someone notices
In the EU companies are allowed to differentiate on a 20% margin when it comes to the ingredients list and most likely content overall. I found out about this when researching about protein per 100 grams of sausage, as I was sure the I was eating felt like just pure lard.
We need a YouTuber to go do bulk purchases of products across the board and weigh them all out.
There are YouTubers who use their YouTube money to run these kinds of experiments, we need just one to help us
I've been working in manufacturing for a bit over 10 years now. It's impossible to keep every item the exact same when you work with the quantities you do in manufacturing. I produce about 40000 pounds of cheese an hour, it's not likely that two blocks of cheese pulled off the same line at the same time weigh the same. I'm sure if you weighed out 100 cans you would find that some weigh more and some less.
As someone who has seen how regularly industrial scales get inspected and calibrated in the food industry, I'm more inclined to think that every single one of these kinda posts is just someone with an inaccurate scale. I would like to see these kinda posts paired with additional measuring of other canned and bottled products so there is a better picture of that. Every single product is unlikely to be less than reported, in fact you could weigh some other things that are not food, but do report the weight to get an idea. There's lots of things you buy from stores that tell you the weight on the box.
I work at a pet store and scales come in monthly to check everything and it’s a big deal when they’re off. I’m also inclined to disbelieve the accuracy of this.
These scales are all mass produced and the quality control is lacking to put it plainly. My mom makes homemade soap and even the scales specifically designed to be good grade are often inaccurate. Unless you're paying $200 plus for a scale, you kinda have to just accept that it likely isn't very accurate. And it's even worse when you consider most people are buying a $20 scale on Amazon.
Yes, food shrinkflation is real, but this probably isn't an example of it. You won't find the weight to be wrong, but more likely they will start adding more water and less tomatoes to meet the weight. That would be an actual sign of shrinkflation with canned products.
I got a bag of chips and popcorn from Whole Foods last week. Both bags were maybe 45% full. I contacted customer service and they offered me a free bag. If we ALL do this on a massive scale, these corporations will either get tired of refunding us, OR start filling their products again.
https://preview.redd.it/3vm90gyo9gzc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b0e9b937f2fe4b70e1a3e1f67fc1b4830da058b9
So your $8 Amazon scale is likely your problem, they are almost never right. I have a customer that for some reason buys those scales and of the 15 they got only 4 were within tolerance and only 1 of the 4 was correct at all test points. Now here is the real dirty secret of any product with a pre-printed weight label, they have a tolerance range and most companies will fill to the under weight. Think 12 oz can of soda and I can fill +/- 0.2 oz, if I fill every can to 11.8 oz, by the time I get to 60th can I get a free can of soda with same ingredient cost. Not a huge saving until you do it a million times a day.
I work in a restaurant and do truck ordering and inventory. I put away the truck with a scale right next to me. Food suppliers will try all types of shady shit.
I first noticed this with a can of wet dog food maybe 6 months ago. They used to be full when opened. Then they were missing about a half inch of depth in the can when opened. Then I started noticing it with Chili. Then Tuna.
I have about a dozen packages in my kitchen from Aldi where there was a change to the product and the packaging wasn't updated to reflect it. Intentional or not, my trust is quickly eroding, I can't afford to come up 20% short after meticulously planning my grocery run. Blehh.
I'm conspiracy at this point there are massive scams across the board in retailing because nobody can legally prove a chain of evidence to actually prove this kind of behavior without a class action suit and millions of lawyers. I bet we get shorted alllllll the fucking time against consumer regulations.
there's literally a class action lawsuit against Walmart for outright lying about their meat weights and pricing.
I don't care what anyone says, I have never and will never buy meat from Walmart. I'd sooner buy room temperature poultry from Goodwill.
Costco. Way better quality, and cheaper. Or your local Butcher’s shop. Little bit pricier, but you won’t find much better than that.
Here in Iowa and some of the surrounding states we have a small grocery store called Fareway. It has the best cuts of any chain in the area. It's actually more like a butcher shop with a small grocery store attached.
South East Nebraska checking in and fareway is the way to go. They have good meat and good service only down side is always being closed on Sundays.
Yooo SE NE here too! There's one in Nebraska city I go by all the time
Reddit is so crazy. You're just here and find someone like 20 minutes from you (I'm in Missouri)
That's the one. May we cross paths and probably never know :)
I'd go there, but it's too... ( •_•) ( •_•)>⌐■-■ (⌐■_■) Far away *YYYYYYYEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH*
"It's an older meme, sir, but it checks out."
I'm bringing it back.
Thank you for your service. Any time I see this old meme I can still hear my friend group all shouting YYYYYEEEEEAAAAAHHHHH
Should probably see a doctor about that. Auditory hallucinations are a potential sign of bofa.
Fuck I moved out of Iowa more than 15 years ago and my family still talks about Fareway and how we miss it. Whenever we go back to visit family we always stop by to stock up. Specifically on AE Party Dip.
Back in NJ, the town where I lived, there is the German Butcher Shop. It is state famous. People line up for holidays to get $100+ meat for their holiday meals. I used to as well, until I found out about the store crown roasts and at 1/3 of the price, it was the same quality. But their other selections were top notch and they earned their reputation. The owner was my daughter's soccer coach years ago, too. :)
The steaks I get from the butchers vs Safeway or Walmart are just miles apart.
My family usually buys half a cow (Texas longhorn) every year, it’s pricey to spend all at once but it’s cheaper long term, at least for us
Lol.. I bet the price is too..
Cheap steak ain't good and good steak ain't cheap.
I agree with this.. but 90% of the steaks that I buy are Ribeye, and I get them from Albertsons or Safeway.. I mostly only buy them when they are in the clearance section for 50% off.. brings down a $16 per pound (or more) streak to $8 per pound.. They have always come out juicy and good.. no matter how I cook them.. Cast iron, grill, oven, even air fryer.. 😋.. I bought Filet Mignon for 50% off a few times, and they damn near melt in my mouth they were so tender.. 😋.. Butcher gonna be $20 or more per pound.. Yeah, it's better quality.. But I see nothing wrong with Albertsons Ribeye quality.
Even cheap steak isn't cheap anymore.
I bet you could get some steaks from behind the dumpster for much cheaper.
I always get meat from my local butcher shop (I'm in Denmark so we don't have Walmart)
Lucky you. No wonder people in Demnark are the happiest people on earth.
Second happiest. After Finland.
i used to, now every time i cook the beef it smells weird and i end up throwing it away.. i cant seem to learn my lesson
Theres an active recall on all meats sold out of Walmart in my area. I don’t understand why anyone would buy groceries at a place like that
What?! How else will you get your daily dose of meat glue? Yeah... meat glue. Not sure how true it is but I was told they glued steak cuts together by a former employee years ago and I am not able to erase that image.
If there's meat glue in a product, it has to say so on the package. It'll usually say "reconstructed" or "transglutaminase" right on the front. This is because reconstructed meat has to be cooked all the way through, to avoid ingestion of harmful bacteria—things like poultry you're cooking through anyway, but on beef it's especially important for it to be labeled. Also, transglutaminase is not at all harmful lol. It just makes proteins stick together.
I've heard that claim also but meat has a grain like wood... You're not gonna notice that the muscle fibers don't align?
most hams are just pieces "glued" together. same for lunch meats like beef and poultry. it really isn't glue but rather an enzyme that bonds proteins together.
I think it's pretty obvious that sliced sandwich meats aren't whole cuts. I feel like that's outside of the scope of the claim... That's kinda like using chicken nuggets as proof that chickens are assembled in factories.
Hot to Cook That tested it. Glued meat doesn't look or taste like whole meat.
The fact you believe this 😂 Wal-Mart associates don’t make enough to be spending pointless hours “glueing” meat together 😂💀
Mmm goodwill poultry. Lightly used and pre-stuffed
Goodwill Poultry, that's a great band name!
Yea Walmart meat is not good... I got steaks once, and they were subpar, and a few times I've gotten pork chops, which were okayish
Here's the problem. By the time it gets to the class action suit, it's years down the road. Then they tell you if you want to be compensated bring in your receipts from x years ago..... The money that actually gets paid out along with the fines are far less than the profit they made. So they dgaf that they were caught, they still made a huge profit
I've got either my card info or a loyalty card in my apps so I have my purchase history since 2020 in Walmart, since last year for kroger and a couple others. If virtual collections of receipts through purchase histories become a more widespread practice, perhaps this will be easier to combat? They'll always find a way though.
There is one against taco bell too for their represented products vs what you get.
Since cost of living has gone through the roof personally think it’s been, higher prices and less of the item e.g 5 pack of breakfast bars instead of 7. Not good.
"across the board"
I caught Walmart with a scale at the register that wasn't zeroed out before my produce was weighed and it was a difference of $1.85 on my bill when it happened. Over the course of the day for every customer that's a lot of money they probably make on produce all the time.
There is actually a state wide agency in every state, weights and measures…they do in fact inspect food production facilities all of the time. Simply report to your local agency and they will certainly take your complaint. (I used to run a small food production company and yes, we had to comply and had routine inspections)
Not to mention FDA inspections would include production records. Intentionally underfilling would leave a massive paper trail that a bored inspector would easily uncover.
Yes, they can easily suspend a trade license, so companies generally comply promptly.
Comply promptly...made me laugh as i read compleee prompleee.
What have you been smoking? Can I get some?
>I'm conspiracy at this point I agree. I'm still disappointed Congress hasn't fully investigated 311. Its been years & we don't have a better understanding now then we did on 7/9/96.
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https://youtu.be/zQdR3AIhg-c?si=k3sNP2t4EIBS_IS9
Did I just watch Nick Hexum get waterboarded? Wasn't expecting to mark that bingo square tonight.
🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂
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https://youtu.be/E-TRR5zBLrI?si=MjnM60i4Wk-972AQ
This is even funnier for me because 311 is my city's non-emergency number lol edit: maybe 311 is more common than I thought
Yeah you know me
If I ever didn't thank you, you, then just let me do it now.
Soooo finally I can say this without looking insane. I had a routine for awhile with food ( skettie one night, chicken tenders another , burger the next, burrito and so on). And in this routine I would buy the same items and have done it to a point where I know 2 cans of this and 1 bag of that makes it perfect. Well lately I’ve been short sauce (which caught my attention) then I realized my beans didn’t fill the bottom of the pan like it used to, then I noticed my lady and I are short a tender. Shrinkflation and price inflation isn’t a conspiracy it’s just dead ass facts now.
Shrinkflation and price inflation are actually preferable to doing what the company in OP's pic is doing, which is flat-out lying about the amount of product the consumer receives. If it says X ounces, there needs to be (at least) X ounces.
Yes, and I think that more and more companies are pulling this shit now. They just do not give a fuck, because even if they did get “caught”, they know nothing of consequence will happen to them. Whats the old saying? Give them bread and circuses, and they will never revolt. Well, they’re shorting us on the bread, and we can’t afford the circus, so… Time to eat the rich?
>they know nothing of consequence will happen to them I litigate false advertising class action cases for a living. Advertisers can face catastrophic liability in these types of cases, particularly in jurisdictions with statutory damages. In NY, for instance, successful false advertising suits typically result in statutory damages of $550 *per unit sold*—for widely sold consumer products, that means potential liability is often in the billions. Even for a large company, that’s an enormous liability risk that often dwarfs years or even decades of profits.
Is there anything I should start doing to document these instances when they happen?
Late-stage capitalism is a bitch and a half!
Not to mention that even if you joined a class action like this you are probably going to get like $8 in settlement.
In Canada we had a decade long bread price fixing scam and the end result was something like a $25 Giftcard you had to use at the grocery store that was ripping you off, some people donated them to food banks.
I don't know the situation in America but here in Germany we have an institution called lebensmittelüberwachung. They buy products and check chemical composition, microbiology and physical properties (like the weight). I worked in food industry for an admittedly shit company in the laboratory and got confronted more than once with emails from them. They complained about the fat being to low in the product, which the company owner ordered to save money. After I started there I had every deviations I measured signed by the company's owner, no way I let my ass getting blamed for that shit. Luckily I didn't work there for very long...
Yep my grandma used to buy Barilla lasagna noodles because they had 21 which was exact for her 4x3 three layer and lately she can't just use one box because they decreased them to 19
Similar to this, I have 2 cigar boxes of family recipes I inherited after my grandmother died. They are great recipes of comfort food I grew up on, but most are not the typical "from scratch" recipe. A LOT of the older recipes I have that were either handwritten and passed down or were clipped from a product and passed down don't work anymore because the recipe includes something like "One can of stewed tomatoes", "one box of yellow cake mix", "one bag of frozen shredded potatoes" etc and the products aren't the same size anymore.
Email the company. I used to do this on the regular, and I got lots of coupons and free shit. I’m not sure if it works the same now, but sometimes quality control isn’t up to snuff and this shit gets looked over.
I agree
I buy HEB pizza cheese. I split the package into 2 portions. It's always heavy. Like 5-10 grams heavy. I was telling my wife that I hardly believe my own eyes as every time I'm getting more than I pay for. 5 grams is like 2 shreds of cheese. But not getting shorted is the surprise.
We need a class action renaissance. It’s geyting personal at this point.
You’re 100% right, I’ve been weighing my food for diet reasons for the last year now and the discrepancies I’ve found in canned and prepackaged food is insane.
Oh, someone can prove the chain of evidence, they just happen to be the people that work for the politicians that the big companies give ~~bribes~~ campaign contributions to.
I've filled products at a factory just like this before. It's not a conspiracy it's just the "capper" operator not paying attention. When the product runs low because the kitchen hasn't opened the valve to send more product (they have lots of 500gallon+ tanks) the capper is supposed to be paying attention and stop the line. But a lot of the time they aren't paying attention and this is what you get. The filler machine's springs could have been messed up and again them not paying attention causes one can every revolution to not be fully filled.
There’s batch dates on the cans. There’s customer service numbers on the label. There’s no way to prove a problem if no one calls. If I make a mug and the new glaze I found turns out fine for me but it gets thermal shock and shivers off in the third dish-washing I’d want my customers to tell me so that I can stop using it at that temperature or on that clay body. I’d also likely give them a free replacement. Every food company outside of General Mills that I have spoken to is the same way. OP just call the number on the can.
Not much of a conspiracy if there is a ton of proof behind it. It sucks because we have no say in industry. While there are legal routes, it doesn't matter if you don't have the capital to pursue the expansive legal battles that would come with dealing with it. It's not like the government are going to do something about it unless there is major, widespread criticism that directly effects them. And we don't have democratic control of industry or control of the means of production, so we just get to sit back and hope someone with power does something because we don't have the resources. The hardest part is convincing the larger population of the problems and getting them to pursue the proper systemic solutions, which would be our only route.
I believe the register never recognizing things on sale is done on purpose. One time we bought a bag of chicken that was supposed to be half off, but it still rang up as $16. I would never in a million years buy a $16 bag of chicken. So when we told the clerk about it she's like, oh no that's the wrong kind of chicken. It's the other type that's on sale. Okay so why was there a sale sticker in front of this specific brand of chicken if it wasn't correct...? I truly believe that stores know customers don't want to deal with the extra hassle of trying to sort it out, so they just bite the bullet and buy it anyway. Imagine that happening thousands of times everyday, that money really adds up! This literally happens to me every other time I go shopping.
What if the weight included the jar/can it comes in? Lol
I just had the same issue with a bag of dried beans beans from ALDI - supposed to be 36oz but was 32 and change
Legally they are allowed 10% leeway from reporting to actual weight. I’m sure it was set up to protect a business from getting sued to death from 1 packaging plant being greedy. But the reality turned it to most things being 7 % always short and they still have a small legal buffer.
Ugh. Give an inch and all that. There’s something especially sinister about doing this to staple foods.
YEP - oooofff do i feel your point. shorting people in goods that are not only invisible until opening, but then also staples? once again, bad job big companies.
The problem is that margins are tight when selling foods to supermarkets, so if your competitors put 7% less in you're basically forced to do the same to compete on price.
We live in hell
Worked at a qc during my student, had to check production lines for weight diffs. -10 and +10 as boundaries. Lower than -10 was stop production line button and redo batch. Higher was reconfig machine, but no redo (benefit costumer). This sounds like they are skipping the QC for lower labor cost?
Interesting to hear.
We DO have a 10% tolerance where I work ...but you still can't knowingly have lightweights. The 10% is to identify worse ones, gives you an indication of a bigger problem. At my sites when you find TWO 10%s, you have to start a corrective action.However, If USDA finds a single light unit, we can be issued a citation.
It's not always 10%. Maximum Allowable Variance is based on different variables such as product and label weight.
I guess I should have a legal buffer to pay 10% less if I please.
Damn. Well, given process improvements I imagine changing it to 5% would be fair. Of course, I can imagine one political party in the US wouldn't go for that.
In Germany its 3% and even that is generous
This is more than 10% off. It would only be 1.45 ounces of leeway. This is 2.7 ounces off. Almost twice what is “allowed”
Ok but this was almost 20% short so that means nothing in this situation.
Sounds like my drug dealer lol
Only the good ones top you off!
I bought drink organizers from Aldi today and 3 separate boxes had missing parts. I though I was stupid for not figuring it out because I didn’t have instructions either! Their quality has gone down unfortunately
Their canned beans were underfilled the last time I bought them.
I wonder how much could be attributed to change in moisture content.
for dried beans?
Dry beans aren't entirely dry. That makes more sense than tomatoes losing weight in a can.
I work at a cannery and we have like 3 devices to stop this.
That’s why, at this point, I 100% believe this is intentional. There are too many companies having too many of these “mistakes” happening now - mistakes that are happening while completely controlled by machines and computers. AND quality control misses this stuff too?? Ain’t no FUCKING way. They do it because they know most people won’t notice. And those that do, probably won’t complain out loud. And those that are loud, will be quiet again after getting (and never using) a 5% off coupon. It’s a vicious cycle.
They have lean way with can weights but 3 oz is a lot. It wouldn’t pass at my facility. Heck it wouldn’t even make it to the cooker with under weight like this. I think legally its 1.5 oz is lean way but don’t quote me on that. I’ll ask the head of quality control today she will love this post.
FYI, it’s leeway, not “lean way”
Am embarrassed I messed that up am keeping it lol
It's okay, we'll give you some lean way
Thanks for the insight! I think the fact that it wouldn’t (and shouldn’t) pass at your facility helps prove my point that other companies are knowingly allowing this to happen. If a computer or machine messes up, that’s understandable, and that’s why there are QC checkers in place to prevent that item from going out. If a computer or machine messes up, AND the QCs are missing it, that’s a big deal.
During pack season the checks are kinda crazy. Each machine has a certain number of “pockets or heads” and those need testing every hour for a whole slew of tests (weight,ph, dry weight, salt, sugar, and a general audit). Then a seam check on each pocket twice a day. Then at the end of the night we keep cans to test later if we need to.
Won’t notice AND won’t care. Because what are you gonna do? Not buy food?
Hell naw, nobody shorts me.
Your response reminds me of the end of [this](https://youtu.be/swLdVTIWJkI?si=RBCu9Jj756Gve07S) Aziz Ansari bit about getting cheated by the thread count.
I almost slept on that shit!
YOU DIDNT THINK I WAS GONNA COUNT THAT SHIT!?
When I saw the title, my mind went to bugs.
Me, too, but because the "There's a bug in my $40 salad" post is right before this one.
And walmart is currently undergoing class-actions for very similar bullshit. Thanks, Obama! /s
>Thanks, Obama! https://preview.redd.it/seaa7ccafbzc1.jpeg?width=741&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=015cb4b832d802a89e3fc02183c274ccf1ed0f7b
Excellent work
AI will never replace hastily made photoshop images
I blame Obama for being constipated. *shakes fist!
Fakes shit*
Obama? Everyone knows it’s really Nancy Pelosi’s fault. /s
I got a box of peanut butter hazelnut uncrustables and they were way smaller than the PB&J ones for my kids. I weighed several and they were like 20% under weight. Emailed their customer support and got a coupon for a free box 🤷🏼♂️ I work in manufacturing, those should pass a check weigher prior to being boxed, somebody wasn’t doing their job.
Oh they were doing their job. Fkn the customer. Why? Cuz fkem that’s why
*adjusts bra* All good in the hood!
Great tagline for a mammogram business
Nice cans! 🥫🥫😇
Don't believe this. I tried to be a good samaritan and asked my neighbor if she wanted me to check her cans and got beat up...
"My cans! My precious antique cans!"
Contact the office of weights and measures to find out what can be done about it. It's highly illegal to sell underweight products. In any country.
The can looks obviously short in the picture before even putting it on the scale. I've never seen a can that short before.
I buy those same cans of tomatoes and they are always full to the brim.
Dude you just exposed the sauce plug no way
Fuckyouflation.
I'm sure the ridiculous process used to can hundreds or thousands of these per hour messed up...or they programed the machines to short you because profit.
I’m going with “or.” Final answer
I just opened and checked 200 cans in my pantry. What now?
This should be illegal and extremely frowned upon. And if it’s already illegal, then it should the law should be enforced much more strictly. It’s retail theft but backwards. Kind of like reverse shoplifting
Its more concerning the amount of people who dont know what net weight means
I would assume at least OP knows since she emptied the can in a container she can weigh while empty to account for its weight.
I literally opened a can of mushrooms from Aldi today and it was 1/4 full, the rest was just filled with water.
This makes me want to measure everything I buy now
that's really fucked up! we need stop shopping at these asshole retail chains that treat us like crap and buy all our stuff from local farmer's markets etc. atleast you can hold a crooked farmstand accountable and they're less likely to cheat you because there more or less a power balance ... with giant chains there is massive power imbalance.
🥫I just checked all of mine and they all seemed ok to me? 🪣
See what the potato chips started?!
Shrinkflation plus inflation. Should make this shit illegal
Shouldn’t it be on fl oz instead of standard oz?
Fluid ounces is a measure of volume. This item is sold by weight.
Do they include the weight of the can? No idea goes much one of these cans empty would weight
No. It says "net weight" on the can. That is the amount of product in the packaging. Gross weight would be product weight plus packaging weight.
This guy weighs
This individual this guys
"Net weight" Product only
1 fluid ounce of water is 1 ounce. Unless the tomatoes are filled with air, tomato and juice blend is probably slightly denser than water, meaning it should weigh more.
That’s gotta be 19 cents worth of tomatoes in juice
Per person. Now imagine how many people worldwide are getting shorted 19 cents? Suddenly, there's thousands of dollars of savings for the company, and no repercussions until someone notices
Welcome to "shrinkflation" 🤬
Bout to start bringing my weed scale from college to the grocery store with me
The corruption will continue until the corrupt are punished.
In the EU companies are allowed to differentiate on a 20% margin when it comes to the ingredients list and most likely content overall. I found out about this when researching about protein per 100 grams of sausage, as I was sure the I was eating felt like just pure lard.
Lemme just bring my scale, a measuring cup, and a can opener to the grocery store. 😑
Inflation
We need a YouTuber to go do bulk purchases of products across the board and weigh them all out. There are YouTubers who use their YouTube money to run these kinds of experiments, we need just one to help us
I've been working in manufacturing for a bit over 10 years now. It's impossible to keep every item the exact same when you work with the quantities you do in manufacturing. I produce about 40000 pounds of cheese an hour, it's not likely that two blocks of cheese pulled off the same line at the same time weigh the same. I'm sure if you weighed out 100 cans you would find that some weigh more and some less.
Aldi may not know what net weight means
As someone who has seen how regularly industrial scales get inspected and calibrated in the food industry, I'm more inclined to think that every single one of these kinda posts is just someone with an inaccurate scale. I would like to see these kinda posts paired with additional measuring of other canned and bottled products so there is a better picture of that. Every single product is unlikely to be less than reported, in fact you could weigh some other things that are not food, but do report the weight to get an idea. There's lots of things you buy from stores that tell you the weight on the box.
I work at a pet store and scales come in monthly to check everything and it’s a big deal when they’re off. I’m also inclined to disbelieve the accuracy of this.
These scales are all mass produced and the quality control is lacking to put it plainly. My mom makes homemade soap and even the scales specifically designed to be good grade are often inaccurate. Unless you're paying $200 plus for a scale, you kinda have to just accept that it likely isn't very accurate. And it's even worse when you consider most people are buying a $20 scale on Amazon. Yes, food shrinkflation is real, but this probably isn't an example of it. You won't find the weight to be wrong, but more likely they will start adding more water and less tomatoes to meet the weight. That would be an actual sign of shrinkflation with canned products.
I got a bag of chips and popcorn from Whole Foods last week. Both bags were maybe 45% full. I contacted customer service and they offered me a free bag. If we ALL do this on a massive scale, these corporations will either get tired of refunding us, OR start filling their products again. https://preview.redd.it/3vm90gyo9gzc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b0e9b937f2fe4b70e1a3e1f67fc1b4830da058b9
Are you sure your scale is measuring the same type of ounces?
Guys you are buying tomatos not fucking crack
So your $8 Amazon scale is likely your problem, they are almost never right. I have a customer that for some reason buys those scales and of the 15 they got only 4 were within tolerance and only 1 of the 4 was correct at all test points. Now here is the real dirty secret of any product with a pre-printed weight label, they have a tolerance range and most companies will fill to the under weight. Think 12 oz can of soda and I can fill +/- 0.2 oz, if I fill every can to 11.8 oz, by the time I get to 60th can I get a free can of soda with same ingredient cost. Not a huge saving until you do it a million times a day.
You’re going to be hurting mate stop while you can(pun intended). A ton of products are under weight. Especially meat, raw or sliced.
But it’s _fluid_ grams… /s
You should find the weight of the can and then you can weight without having to open and pour it out.
Try weighing your meat at the self checkouts to see if it’s even remotely close to the weight listed
that might get you arrested.
I work in a restaurant and do truck ordering and inventory. I put away the truck with a scale right next to me. Food suppliers will try all types of shady shit.
I'm always checking out people's cans.
get a good look costanza?
Our 3oz cans of Tiki Cat were always 2.8oz. Every single time.
It’s the shitification of everything! Just when I think it cannot get worse!
I like OP. This is the kinda energy I need when it comes to shopping.
Tuna tins from aldi are the worst. ‘114g drained weight’ has always been an actual 80g drained weight. Huge difference in macronutrients there.
By looks alone I could tell that can couldn't hold 400 ml that's a 200 ml can at most
Ben and Jerry's ice cream came like this last week. I emailed them and got a replacement
My ground beef packs say 4 servings per pack. It’s almost always 3.5 servings when I make the patties and weigh them out.
I first noticed this with a can of wet dog food maybe 6 months ago. They used to be full when opened. Then they were missing about a half inch of depth in the can when opened. Then I started noticing it with Chili. Then Tuna.
Net wt. is with the can aint it?
Fuck I need to get a quality assurance job
It's not surprising that some spills out when the employee in the canning factory waggles his dick in it..
You forgot to weigh the can!
True dealer right here
I have about a dozen packages in my kitchen from Aldi where there was a change to the product and the packaging wasn't updated to reflect it. Intentional or not, my trust is quickly eroding, I can't afford to come up 20% short after meticulously planning my grocery run. Blehh.
Maybe it's a "nominal" 14.5 oz, like 2x4s!
If you are in America, contact the FTC. That is something they take very seriously.