• SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world
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    7 hours ago

    Attempts to win back consumers through smaller package sizes and promotional deals went nowhere.

    They tried to win consumers by shrinkflation? Oh fuck them.

  • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today
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    9 hours ago

    “We’ve spent the past year listening closely to consumers, and they’ve told us they’re feeling the strain,” said Rachel Ferdinando, CEO of PepsiCo Foods U.S. “Lowering the suggested retail price reflects our commitment to help reduce the pressure where we can. Because people shouldn’t have to choose between great taste and staying within their budget.”

    What a fucking liar. They spent the last couple of years trying to find ANY other solution besides lowering prices, and now they are lowering them AFTER losing a billion bucks, and trying to frame it as trying to help their customers. No they aren’t, the bleeding has gotten so bad that they are now in a blind panic.

    I stopped buying their overpriced crap long ago. At Aldi, you can get a decent sized bag of the best kettle-cooked chips I’ve ever eaten for less than $2. A tiny bag of Lays, 20% of the size of an Aldi bag, is $3 or more. Pepsico can go fuck themselves with their predatory prices.

    • hansolo@lemmy.today
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      4 hours ago

      Translation: “YOY revenue is down and we fucked the consumer too hard, and this drop of lube in the form of coupons that steal your data didn’t seem to make them enjoy it more. Let’s try and recover shareholder value by dong the unthinkable…gulp lowering prices by a tiny bit”

    • YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today
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      8 hours ago

      As much as I will always have a purple shaped hole in my heart for the sweet chili flavor, I’m totally cool not ever eating them again. Every big company can suck my shriveled excuse for a phallice. I have seen that they will destroy anything and everything around them for a few extra hundredths of a percentage point in share prices.

      Side note, homemade tortilla chips with a little sprinkle of a ranch seasoning packet+cayenne>>>Doritos cool ranch.

      • deddit@lemmy.world
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        7 hours ago

        I’m never buying Lays chips again, I haven’t for over a year now. Never going back, they never needed to raise their price that much, greedy greedy greedy. They took the corpo idea of ‘never leaving money on the table’ and thought they could gouge us. They thought of us as stupid ‘cattle’ that would cower to their decades old brand. Fuck brand loyalty. Same thing for McDonalds, I haven’t been back there in over 4 years and I’m NEVER going back. NEVER.

        • Cherry@piefed.social
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          3 hours ago

          Yup. Once the routine is broken it’s broken. Living life without some stuff is actually easy and they have lost a customer for life.

          I’ve boycotted a few brands in the last 3/4 years, and I expected to miss them more. But in honestly I feel proud at my resolve and now I just think urghhh I don’t need that crap. If I feel an urge I’ll get a no brand. Used to visit maccas fortnightly. Lucky is it’s once a year. I’ve been buying Mexican or European cola…if I have to have it.

        • YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today
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          5 hours ago

          Right there with you on McDonald’s! I used to get a hot and spicy McChicken at least once every other week as a snack while running around. But after the staged bs with trump (not) serving all of 5 very obvious plants, they will not see another red cent from me!

      • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today
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        8 hours ago

        Side note, homemade tortilla chips with a little sprinkle of a ranch seasoning

        I like this idea, and I could think of a lot of interesting spice combos to use. I’m already partial to garlic and rosemary on fries in the air fryer, that would be great on tortilla chips.

        Do you fry them, bake them, what? Will they work in the air fryer?

        • YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today
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          7 hours ago

          Basic pot with corn oil. The tortillas themselves are incredibly cheap when you buy the packages, I cut them into sixths instead of quarters to feel fancy.

            • YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today
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              4 hours ago

              Dunno who downvotes an honest question, but I got you back on the better side of zero.

              Suffice to say most people will call me dirty, but I leave it as is most times. If I’m desperate and/or lazy and didn’t want to go to the store for more and it’s starting to taste funky, I ghetto clarify it with a 1:3 mix of cornstarch and milk respectively.

              Start with one drop off water from your finger in the cold oil and when you hear it start to bubble, kill the heat and add one more drop off water. When you hear it popping once every half second or so add a small amount of the milk cornstarch mix and stir vigorously. Strain through first a course sift then a fine one. The proteins in the milk and cornstarch will bind with all the nastiness and make the particles big enough to be caught by the filters and give you almost brand new oil assuming you don’t deep fry at 400+degrees.

  • aceshigh@lemmy.world
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    10 hours ago

    Why are adults still eating this crap? It’s going to cost you $6 now (including price drop) and thousands+ more because of health issues it’ll create in the future.

    Best thing inflation did was force me to learn how to bulk cook. I do take out and eat junk food a handful of times per year. My wallet is happy, and my bloodwork is looking good too.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      7 hours ago

      Why are adults still eating this crap?

      Because it’s a mix of sweet and salty, which scratches our instinctual desires.

      Best thing inflation did was force me to learn how to bulk cook.

      It has been a hobby and a passion for hundreds of millions of people going on 10,000 years.

      Retvrn 2 Tradition

      • Slashme@lemmy.world
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        6 hours ago

        Because it’s a mix of sweet and salty, which scratches our instinctual desires.

        And fat. Sweet, salty, carbs, fat. Ding, ding, ding!

    • MrShankles@reddthat.com
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      8 hours ago

      I’m trying to lower my blood pressure, and cutting back on sodium isn’t really a problem for me — cause I’m probably already under 2G a day (I rarely eat processed/junk food, and I only use the bare minimum of salt)

      Now smoking, drinking, lack of exercise, and (unhealthy levels of) stress… that’s what’s killing me, literally. But at least my salt game is chill

  • SirEDCaLot@lemmy.today
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    10 hours ago

    No surprise here. Their shit is overpriced and not in any meaningful way better than most competitors. Yeah there are some things like Fritos that are pretty unique, but potato chips are a dime a dozen and you can honestly get much better potato chips from other brands.

    • Skeezix@lemmy.world
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      11 hours ago

      The ceo grudgingly agreed to hold off on his 15 million dollar bonus for a few years so that they can lower the prices.

      • MJKee9@lemmy.world
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        10 hours ago

        Unrealistic fiction. You have to make your characters more believable. Ex: The ceo begrudgingly thought about someone besides a shareholder for approximately 3 seconds, farted, then signed an agreement to kill another grandmother.

    • innermachine@lemmy.world
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      13 hours ago

      Not to mention a lot of store brand chips are great too at a couple bucks a bag. Can’t justify 7$ for a sm bag of fritos especially if I sit there and put the whole bag in me in one sitting.

    • obvs@lemmy.world
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      13 hours ago

      Until fairly recently, Utz wasn’t available in a large part of the country.

      It is now, though, thankfully.

      And I know exactly what you mean. Utz chips are definitely better.

      I do wish the crab flavor was more available outside of the Central Atlantic region.

      • Tikiporch@lemmy.world
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        6 hours ago

        Walmart has the Crab Chips in 1oz. vending bags, 60ct for about $17. Cheaper than buying from the Utz website. I’ve bought them for years, never got a short dated box or anything. Only thing I’ll buy from Walmart.

  • Itdidnttrickledown@lemmy.world
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    18 hours ago

    Yup quit buying their stuff a while back. Insane prices and less product. Only a clueless idiot would think that would attract customers.

    • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world
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      13 hours ago

      Watching the prices go up and up while bags got smaller and smaller and smaller was infuriating.

      ‘Normal’ sized bags now are almost all under 200g now.

      ‘Family size’ are smaller than the old Normal sized bags

      I mostly buy store brand chips which remained reasonably priced now.

    • Pacattack57@lemmy.world
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      14 hours ago

      I didn’t want to believe it but the SNAP cuts really seemed to have a positive effect on prices. SNAP should be a tax break, not literally money in peoples pockets.

      • Ironfist79@lemmy.world
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        8 hours ago

        Nah, UBI should be given to everybody. It would boost the economy and allow people to buy basic things without worrying about starving to death.

      • obvs@lemmy.world
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        13 hours ago

        Except that’s absurd.

        A lot of people without income don’t actually file taxes.

        Your proposal just means the people who need it most would get jack squat and the people who itemize(who tend to have the most) would get the vast majority of the benefits.

        • Pacattack57@lemmy.world
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          13 hours ago

          Do you even understand taxes? Why would a person who earns enough money qualify for snap? When you inject money into the economy it creates inflation which is why a bag of Fritos was over $7. My example was one of countless ways to make sure the people who need snap get benefits. There is more than one way to skin a cat and don’t claim to have all the answers but to act like the way snap benefits were dispersed didnt have adverse effects on the economy is delusional at this point.

          • Cherries@lemmy.world
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            12 hours ago

            You aren’t wrong that putting money into the economy raises inflation. However, the inflation from SNAP disbursements is inconsequential compared to stuff like putting tariffs on everything or allowing corpos to raise prices out of pure greed. There’s really no point in examining SNAP’s effect on inflation when there are much more consequential concerns to focus on.

            • Pacattack57@lemmy.world
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              7 hours ago

              That’s absolutely true. Im not insinuating that snap was the reason inflation was high. However the cuts to snap absolutely had an affect on the prices of certain things. Soda and chips were the most obvious. I don’t have a problem with snap as an idea. However the way it’s implemented is stupid. Not to mention it does nothing the solve the issue. Instead of giving money to corporations (which is basically what snap does) the government should be forcing them to pay livable wages or be creating affordable housing so people don’t need to choose between food and rent.

            • Pacattack57@lemmy.world
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              8 hours ago

              I’ve been on snap before. I’ve also skipped many meals. It is a shit program that is poorly distributed and disproportionately benefits people that abuse it.

              If it even helped one person than that’s great but all you sjw’s that want to defend the honor of SNAP is insane.

              • andros_rex@lemmy.world
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                4 hours ago

                It is a shit program that is poorly distributed and disproportionately benefits people that abuse it.

                I’d rather my tax dollars go to food that is being “abused” than whatever the fuck else the government is spending money on.

      • vortic@lemmy.world
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        13 hours ago

        The problem with that is, if it isn’t required to go to food, it often won’t. That doesn’t just impact the parents. It also impacts the kids.

      • HubertManne@piefed.social
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        13 hours ago

        I don’t think this has anything to do with snap. Folks on snap don’t have a blank check and are still cost conscious. If anything more so. Thats why the article is about how they saw a tipping point where a massive amount of consumers stopped buying their name brands and generics saw a big uptick.

    • vortic@lemmy.world
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      14 hours ago

      I still buy Tostitos, but only when they are run their “Buy 4 or More for $1.99 Each” sale or something similar. They’re stupidly expensive otherwise.

      • obvs@lemmy.world
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        13 hours ago

        Oh, my friend, let me tell you.

        The tortilla chips that are in a paper bag taste so much better than Tostitos. And they are SO much cheaper. You can get 2-3 bags of the paper bag tortilla chips for the cost of that one bag of Tostitos, and you’ll like them more.

    • IronKrill@lemmy.ca
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      13 hours ago

      For what size?? I see brand-name prices from $4-5 Canadian for a 200g bag and that is expensive as hell. Store brand chips are $1.50 to $2. $2.50 generic brand at expensive chains and corner stores.

      • mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca
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        11 hours ago

        some stores are $5/200g bag for name brand around me in Ontario, some are up to $8 for name brand. not a gas station

        even Costco has reduced the size of their giant $8 bags by 100g or so in the past two years

  • Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    Attempts to win back consumers through smaller package sizes and promotional deals went nowhere.

    What kind of consumer would be won over by smaller sizes? Savvy consumers know the best deals usually come from the larger sizes, which tend to have a lower price by weight. Or are they seriously trying to frame shrinkflation as somehow being for a customer’s benefit?

    • Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      19 hours ago

      are they seriously trying to frame shrinkflation as somehow being for a customer’s benefit?

      In the age of MBAs, I would bet on that 9 times out of 10.

    • thanksforallthefish@literature.cafe
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      1 day ago

      Yeah they are attempting to frame it that way. Here’d the logic in their muddled heads.

      “We’ve increased the price of a 250g pack to £2 and people have stopped buying, so we’ll reduce the price to £1.50”

      “Yeah but you reduced the size to 100g”

      “But the price !!!” Waves hands confusedly.