Tropicana Packaging Change??

[tr33man]

Just wondering if this is new. I recently bought some Tropicana orange juice thinking it was the 1.89 litre size but to my surprise they have changed it to a 1.75 litre container. What the heck is going on? Same price, smaller packaging? Great for customer relations. Blue Menu orange juice, from Canadian Superstore still comes in the 1.89 litre container and tastes just as good.

[pompoco]

thats the shrinkray... happens all the time to hide a price increase.

recent observations
Coffee, several esp. PC from 1Kg to 930g
Oasis Juices from 1L. to 960mL
and of course the 1/2 gal. to 13/4L schrinkage in not only tropicana juices.

[bylo]

Yup, the infamous grocery shrink ray (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Consumerist#The_Grocery_Shrink_Ray) as featured on The Consumerist (http://consumerist.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-search.cgi?IncludeBlogs=1&limit=20&search=shrink+ray) blog. As for Tropicana OJ, they caught that one a couple of months ago: Tropicana Hit By Grocery Shrink Ray, Introduces Half-ish Gallon Of OJ (http://consumerist.com/2010/03/tropicana-hit-by-grocery-shrink-ray-introduces-half-ish-gallon-of-oj.html).

BTW this sort of stuff has been discussed several times on RFD. Just use the Search function to find it.

[sahilz]

Sunchips also shurnk their bags from 295 to 275, I believe.

[jcon]

Quaker Granola Bars - From 8 in a box to 6 in a box. Same low price...>:(

[tr33man]

My apologies to bylo. I haven't been to redflagdeals forums before. You will also be happy to know that I emailed Tropicana and got a response from them. Here is their answer to smaller packaging:
Thanks for your email about the changes in size to our 1.89 L Tropicana Pure Premium Orange Juice. We appreciate the opportunity to address your concerns.

Reducing our 1.89 L carton to a 1.75 L carton wasn’t a decision we took lightly. As you probably have heard, the Florida citrus industry has suffered the most devastating winter freeze and one of the smallest orange crops in 20 years. When the supply of oranges goes down the price goes up which impacts our costs. Instead of raising prices, we chose to slightly reduce the amount of juice and maintain the price. Our consumer research shows that most shoppers, when given a choice between a price increase or slightly less contents, prefer to hold the line on prices.

Although you may not agree with our decision, we hope you can appreciate that it was made with consumers in mind. Please be assured that feedback from consumers, such as yourself, is valued and your comments have been shared with our marketing team as well as senior management. Again, thanks for your input and sharing your concerns.

[raymondly]

You may have also noticed that a large portion of the orange juice containers no longer have the "Florida Tree" seal on them.

That is because most of the OJ in North America is coming from Brazil now. Long time for concentrate - more recent for NFC.

[ferkel]

You may have also noticed that a large portion of the orange juice containers no longer have the "Florida Tree" seal on them.

That is because most of the OJ in North America is coming from Brazil now. Long time for concentrate - more recent for NFC.


in a few years it will be Tropicana China Orange Juice.

[apn64]

Wow, reading this prompted me to check my Tropicana OJ this morning...

Sure enough "contains juice from USA and Brazil printed on the back of the 3.78l jug.


Reducing our 1.89 L carton to a 1.75 L carton wasn’t a decision we took lightly...

Surely that decision would also extend, with greater impact, to the 3.78l product, but my 1 US gal. jug (purchased in US) was evidently not downsized. Hmmm...

Maybe (pardon the pun) it's a volume thing and/or they jacked up the price of the 1gal product.

[number8888]

My apologies to bylo. I haven't been to redflagdeals forums before. You will also be happy to know that I emailed Tropicana and got a response from them. Here is their answer to smaller packaging:
Thanks for your email about the changes in size to our 1.89 L Tropicana Pure Premium Orange Juice. We appreciate the opportunity to address your concerns.

Reducing our 1.89 L carton to a 1.75 L carton wasn’t a decision we took lightly. As you probably have heard, the Florida citrus industry has suffered the most devastating winter freeze and one of the smallest orange crops in 20 years. When the supply of oranges goes down the price goes up which impacts our costs. Instead of raising prices, we chose to slightly reduce the amount of juice and maintain the price. Our consumer research shows that most shoppers, when given a choice between a price increase or slightly less contents, prefer to hold the line on prices.

Although you may not agree with our decision, we hope you can appreciate that it was made with consumers in mind. Please be assured that feedback from consumers, such as yourself, is valued and your comments have been shared with our marketing team as well as senior management. Again, thanks for your input and sharing your concerns.

HA! Except they didn't mention that when citrus prices go back to normal, the juice packages will not.

[smiloid]

Some Interesting information about how Tropicana (and other) Orange Juice is produced:

http://civileats.com/2009/05/06/freshly-squeezed-the-truth-about-orange-juice-in-boxes/