BY PASTOR MARK HOPPER

Pastor Mark Hopper

I know a lot of people are convinced that there are secret government conspiracies under every rock and behind every bush.  I haven’t gone quite that far, but I did stumble upon something that made me stop and wonder a little.

I went to the local grocery store the other day to pick up some milk and orange juice.  These are part of breakfast at our house and we need to resupply from time to time. We usually buy these in larger quantities at an unnamed “big box” store, but this time I made a quick stop at our local super market.  The milk was in its usual half-gallon plastic carton.   But, when I picked up the carton of orange juice I happened to notice that it was not actually a half-gallon.  It was only 59 ounces, not the full half-gallon 64 ounces.

Now you may think that this is not a big deal. What is the difference between 59 ounces and the half-gallon 64 ounces?  The carton looked the same.  The orange juice tasted the same.  What are a few ounces between friends?

Apparently this “down-sizing” is happening more than we realize in the grocery business. Several years ago, the ice cream makers reduced the size of a carton of ice cream from a half-gallon to “1.5 quarts”.  A half-gallon is two quarts.  They reduced the contents by 25%, but kept the price the same.

I like ice cream, so I have kept buying it at the grocery store.  But, I don’t like the way that the manufacturers are charging the same price (or higher) for a smaller amount of product.

This may be happening on other shelves in the grocery store.  Have candy bars gotten smaller?  Have bags of flour been reduced in size?  Have shampoo bottles shrunk?

Apparently the food and grocery industry thinks it is smarter to reduce the size and volume of their products rather than increase their prices.  They must believe that consumers won’t notice the down-sizing and stop buying their products.

I may be the only one who has noticed this “sleight of hand” at the grocery store.  Maybe it isn’t a big deal.  But I think it would be more accurate and more honest if the stores and their suppliers would keep sizes and prices consistent so that shoppers and consumers can know what we are really paying for their products.

Maybe it is time to launch a boycott of orange juice and ice cream to let the manufactures know that we don’t like this sleight of hand.  Or, maybe it is time to write a letter to the stores that are stocking their shelves with smaller quantities and higher prices.

Maybe we should write to our local Congressman and ask for a Congressional investigation!  Or maybe we should just enjoy our ice cream and orange juice and realize things just aren’t what they used to be.

Pastor Mark Hopper is from the Evangelical Free Church of Diamond Bar, 3255 South Diamond Bar Ave. Sunday services are 9 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. For more information, call (909) 594-7604 or visit http://www.efreedb.org.