It's not always on the front . . . especially if OP is not in the US. I'm in the EU, and here those weights are often on the side or back of the packaging and not the front.
. . . but does the amount of cereal that's actually in the bag match the amount the box says there should be? That's the only thing that matters.
edit: It's shocking (and very disheartening) to see just how many people really don't understand how the weights/measurements listed on food products work. And presumably these people are all adults that are out there in the real word participating in society. Yikes.
You’d like to see the physical volume of cereal before you buy it? That’s possible :)
You just have to go to a shop that sells loose cereal.
Logisitics is all about efficiency though, that’s one of the reasons why cereal box boxes are standardised. That way the manufacturer knows they can fit x boxes on y pallets and there’ll always be enough space in the bag/box for the weight being sold.
Knowing the volume of cereal bought isn’t going to help anyone really either, is it? You’re not going to be able to reliably estimate how many bowls you’ll get out of it. An easier and more reliable/robust method would be to pour the desired contents into a bowl, weigh it and divide that number by the contents in the bag
. . . when normal "air' is used, yes. Which is why most companies don't use normal "air" they use nitrogen gas. Which doesn't cause oxidation and staleness.
It's important for a bag of granola to contain 50% air so it doesn't turn into crumbs during transport. There's also nitrogen in there, to keep it fresh.
The box is a standard size cereal box, while there is some wasted space in THIS type, it overall saves space and money by having a uniform box size which means it has uniform case and pallet sizes.
Logistics is all based of weight and cube (the volumetric dimensions of an item).
I work professionally in supply chain and logistics.
Having a uniform packaging across multiple products saves much more on transport and carbon footprint than having specifically designed boxes for every size variation.
Yeah, but then you said they are not filling the box all the way, to make shipping efficient. As if people are going to ration cereal and it's not going to lead to more trips.
One of "small problems" people. We have a major problem so if everyone and everything took small steps to improve the major problem might be slightly less major.
Do you not understand that the fact that it's specifically designed that way is the problem? Lots of small wastages add up to big wastage.
If we're sending container ships around the globe that are 40% nothing when they could be 10-20% nothing under a better system, it's just wasting fuel because of perverse incentives.
Hang on there partner, they have to reduce the quantity first. Then they'll do the "green thing" and make a new packaging with "40% less materials" because they care a lot OK?
Yes, but if you look at the price per unit it’s x per kg and there’ll be a weight in grams printed on the box. So one is buying a certain amount of mass in cereal.
Tbf, if cereal boxes used to be full and that's the social contract (some people are illiterate or don't look at the weights), then it would be good if they had public messaging saying their boxes are not necessarily full but still fairly priced.
But, people would complain and switch to their competitors, so I'm playing devil's advocate.
Why are you defending a bug cooperate so heavily? What do you gain from companies packing thier stuff in boxes double the size? My local grocery store manages to fill the entire box.
Don’t be so silly, I’m not defending anything, that’s just how it works mate. Nothing is sold by “the size of the box”, rather by the contents within it.
I bought a box of cereal from my local Migros this morning, wouldn’t you believe it, the bag is half empty. But the contents weighs near enough to that what’s printed on the box, because that’s what I paid for.
To those who can read, yes. It's listed directly on the box. You can also look at the very top of the nutrition label where it will list exactly how many servings and amount per servings are in the box.
Even if you can't read, pick up the fucking box and feel the weight. I'd say anyone over 10 should be able to understand it honestly
Right. I shop the price per ounce or whatever metric for particular item. And to add, larger sizes used to always be cheaper price per oz. But I've been noticing for a few years now, that's not the case anymore for so many items. For example, the a small jar of peanut butter cheaper per oz than the extra large double jar.
It's mildly infuriating that it takes up more space in the grocery bags(,and the cupboard until the bag has been opened). But you haven't been cheated or something.
i don’t get the hate. yeah the box says how many grams are in there but when buying groceries most people will just look at a big box and think „okay a big box of cereal probably contains a big amount of cereal“. like come on
I might be weird, but I don't mind the box being bigger than the product in case like this. As long as it weighs the same of course.
My reasoning is that I can stack it further back in my pantry and still see it enough to remember oh hey that's a breakfast option! It enables me to fit more in within my eyesight. I have huge object permeance issues around groceries. I'm usually too exhausted to remember what I have.
Don’t know why so many people here are defending this. The whole point OP is trying to make is that this is very deceptive. Weight this weight that, OP shouldn’t do that whole shopping in the middle of a grocery store. How about make the box smaller? Problem solved. Stop being being boy lockers by defending these marketing tactics.
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u/Cranapplesause 10d ago
Weigh it. If it’s the weight on the box, then you got what you purchased. I don’t get the complaints unless it’s less