Do you ever cringe when you read New and Improved? Andy likes chocolate creams and we’ve been buying a brand that wasn’t perfect but had some good ones in their selection. So we bought some more last night, not paying attention to the fact the box looked different — they often put another wrapper on for Valentine’s Day.
It wasn’t until we got home that we saw the sticker:
Oh, Oh. The box was the same size, but now it contains only 9.4 oz. of candy instead of 12 oz., and the selection is much more limited. Most of his favorites are missing.
Have you ever experienced “new and improved” with any of your favorite products? How did it go?
February 13, 2020
just yesterday when I picked up meds and the pharmacist bought it to the counter
“that’s not xyz…
“yes it is, it’s in new packaging
“wow the packaging looks bigger, what does the stuff inside look like
“we don’t know the package is sealed
“I offered to open it for them, as now the med was mine
But we didn’t…when I got home I was curious. The container isn’t any bigger but what is bigger is the “new” INSTRUCTION SHEET – it just fits in because it’s been folded differently. The sheet is has the same info as far as I can see just in monster print with very wide margins around it …nicely folded with a hard to undo seal…
Just feels like a total waste of money!!!
Yes I can recycle the paper and the box x 3 – but that’s not the blasted point…why 3 because the med lasts just one month, and I take full prescription every time (my file has a star on it finally…I have to sign a waiver form though, nothing serious)
Re: your new and improved chocolate creams – that’s just not fair…but on the other hand what they don’t know is you are not going to buy the “new and improved” product again, you’ll be on the lookout for another brand…I hope you will write to them about why they “just lost your custom” 🙂
In fairness to them, on the back of the package they did tell us the new number of chocolates and the fillings. It was our fault for assuming it was the old box. I’m guessing they’re trying to keep from raising prices, but I looked on their site and a lot of people are saying the company lost their business. It would be interesting to see if their strategy works or backfires.
okay, but then it looks like that other customers think it’s a bad move…what’s the bet – a new range comes out with the ones that are now missing. Of course, at a higher price so you are caught between choices…:-)
I don’t think so. We actually looked on their site and you can have a box made with your choices (for a big price, of course), but they didn’t offer all Andy’s favorite flavors. We’ll have to see.
yes! and it is usually a marketing ploy just as in Catherine’s comment.
whatever happened to CLASSIC? is the current group of humans so restless and changeable with their almighty dollar that they tire of a product so swiftly that the manufacturer has to keep coming up with something NEW and CHANGED in its place? I don’t understand. and it seems to be with everything. not just our favorite candy or pills and vitamins. it’s everything! NEW and IMPROVED!!! lol. yes. well. in whose opinion exactly?
Often it’s because companies are paying more for the ingredients and have to decide between reducing the contents or quality or raising prices. Which is most likely to lose customers. As I said above, in fairness to them they did tell us on the back what the the changes were.
I always hate when they shrink the size of the package. It’s their trick for raising the price without it feeling like it’s going up. You’re paying the same but getting less product. I don’t know that new and improved has ever been much of an improvement.
What I can never understand is why they need to improve it. If it was selling well shouldn’t they work under the “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it” rule.
Unfortunately they’re sometimes in a bind because their costs are going up. They have to do something, and often they hope their customers won’t notice when they use the same size boxes and put less in them.
For years I have said that my least favorite words are “new, improved.” I get so tired of companies taking my favorite products and changing their formulas so they set off my allergies! My husband (who does our shopping) actually once walked down an aisle smelling the toiletries trying to find one with no odor. (Ah, the things that man does for me!)
We try to buy things with no odor, but we don’t have the problems with allergies. I never thought of that — what a nuisance!
Linda, I too get tired of “flavours and smells” I can’t stand nor understand why toilet paper has to be scented! Or that the food guru thinks I would love minted frozen peas…and a trend here is salad pieces with a huge added bag of “concealed in the packaging” mayo – usually not nice tasting…
okay, I don’t want horrid tasting cough mixture but then that’s not something I’m going to take/use daily…
We stick with a basic brand of toilet paper that we’ve used for years. Thank goodness they haven’t messed with it! They do mess with some of our produce, though, especially the stuff in packages.
“New and improved” candy with less in the box? That would not go over very good at my house.
It was no doubt an improvement for them, if people will still buy it.
I hate that phrase…every time I see it just about cringe. This is one subject I need not start on…the size difference still in the same packaging.
And it is almost the same with websites…I just get used to one and can find everything and they change it. I kid you not, one email we use, it does not even have a place to type the password in the window that first comes up.
I wish I had still had this chain of emails between my brother and some site….it was funny to read it later, but imagine the frustration when trying to conduct business, or find out something. I can’t remember what it was about.
I will hush before I bore everyone to tears.
I think a lot of us sympathize with you. We cringe every time they say we have to update our operating system. 😀
I always shudder when a favored brand has new and improved and it is my experience that it is rarely true. I believe they put that on it to cover themselves when people realized they have downsized. as in 5 lb sugar is now 4 and that ice cream is not longer a true half gallon, they made the straight box smaller at the bottom and less ice cream.
What I’ve read is when they change the contents of a box and leave the box the same size, they hope people won’t notice.
What bothers me more is when a company buys a good brand like Pyrex or Revere Wear and cheapens the product without telling people.
I still remember “The New Coke”!
Yes!