The latest manifestations of the economic slowdown.. Increased vacuum in Valentine’s Day chocolate boxes
You buy a Valentine’s Day box. Heart shaped glitter red cardstock, luxurious looking. One is made by Russell Stauffer, and the other is a classic Whitmans Sampler (which, by the way, is owned by the same company). Its cost is approximately $7.99.
The box is about 9.3 inches wide and 10 inches long, which is a good size. But inside Whitman’s box are 11 candies. And inside Russell Stauffer, only nine. If you take out the plastic filling, the chocolate takes up less than half of the box, according to a report in The Washington Post.
Ed Duresky, founder of Customer World, a website that specializes in giving advice to consumers, told The Washington Post that this is a way for companies to reduce the size of products in exchange for avoiding raising prices as the costs of components, labor and transportation escalate. He added, “This happens when the manufacturer intentionally packs a package that is much larger than the amount of content inside.” Missing candy boxes are one of the manifestations of the slowdown in global economies, including the United States of America.
Reducing candy and packaging sizes is also helping companies deal with spiraling inflation in the building blocks of candy: cocoa, cocoa butter, sugar and dairy solids. Cocoa prices have risen steadily since the beginning of November, according to the Nasdaq, and sugar prices have continued to rise, according to research by Rabobank.
Under US federal law, most packages are not allowed to contain unnecessary empty space. In 2019, candy makers Ghirardelli and Russell Stauffer (both owned by Swiss chocolate giant Lindt & Sprüngli) were fined a total of $750,000, after California prosecutors said the two companies were selling certain products “in high volume,” but were ” Mostly empty” and mislead consumers, according to “Washington Post”.
Without acknowledging the error, the two companies agreed to modify or discontinue packaging for certain products. Ghirardelli changed its signature packaging bags to include a transparent window so that consumers could better see what was inside.
According to market research firm IRI, Valentine’s Day candy prices rose 9.4 percent from a year ago but sales volume fell 4.7 percent, meaning candy is more expensive and consumers are buying less.
