Baker's Dozen

[SherryT]

The first time I noticed this crap was actually while walking into HD...they had an HDX toilet tissue display set up right as you entered the store and I noticed how HUGE the cardboard cores were compared to the size of the roll itself.

Went to WM afterward and bought a 12 pack of tissue...when I got it home, I compared it to what I already had at home and, sure enough, the cores were a LOT bigger in the new pack.

I mean, I already knew items such as mayo and sugar had been "downsized" (coffee had LONG been downsized!), but SEEING that big difference in the cores of tissue was what made me take notice they were doing it to practically everything!

Kinda felt like I should've at least been kissed first!

 

[SmokyMose]

Yeah, it gets frustrating when you have a recipe that calls for 16oz of something and your package or can is 14oz. Buy two or downsize the recipe?

 

[SmokyMose]

If you need a can opener I still have one.

Chris

Short story. Last week my daughter and her family came down for a visit and stopped for tamales on the way. My granddaughter had gotten a bottle of something for a drink and it didn't have a twist off cap. SIL asked for a bottle opener and handed it to her. It was the kind with both ends. It took her almost a minute to figure it out.
19 years old and in college and she had never used one. Hilarious and sad at the same time.....

 

[Gonna Smoke]

Two things about all of this downsizing...
First is the companies seem like they're being sneaky about it in the hopes that we won't notice like the toilet paper roll core size that SherryT just posted. Just be upfront about it.

Second is where does it stop? When a bag of sugar is 8 oz. but cost the same as it does now? When a pound of bacon is 6 oz. and no change in price? When a half gallon of ice cream is 16 oz.? It seems every time I go to the store, packages have been downsized, but not the price.

OK, I posted earlier that was enough of that, but this just strikes a nerve with me and there's not much I can do about it...

 

[tbern]

Yeah, it gets frustrating when you have a recipe that calls for 16oz of something and your package or can is 14oz. Buy two or downsize the recipe?

yep, old time recipes are not made for todays sizes! would rather them raise the price and keep the sizes the same, but they think they are fooling people doing it their way.

 

[clifish]

Short story. Last week my daughter and her family came down for a visit and stopped for tamales on the way. My granddaughter had gotten a bottle of something for a drink and it didn't have a twist off cap. SIL asked for a bottle opener and handed it to her. It was the kind with both ends. It took her almost a minute to figure it out.
19 years old and in college and she had never used one. Hilarious and sad at the same time.....

My 21 yo in college, daughter had no idea how to mail a letter...I kid you not, she did not even know where to go to mail it. My 24 yo son (teacher) just got his first check book and had no idea how to fill it out. I guess you can chalk it up to technology?????

 

[SmokyMose]

My 21 yo in college, daughter had no idea how to mail a letter...I kid you not, she did not even know where to go to mail it. My 24 yo son (teacher) just got his first check book and had no idea how to fill it out. I guess you can chalk it up to technology?????

I guess that's why they show on the envelope where to put the stamp :-)
My son is 41 and still doesn't use a checkbook. He does everything on his phone.

 

[tbern]

the schools my grandchildren go to do not teach them cursive writing anymore. do not know how they would sign their names on a check blank? just print it out?

 

[clifish]

the schools my grandchildren go to do not teach them cursive writing anymore. do not know how they would sign their names on a check blank? just print it out?

my kids where never taught it either and they are 21 and 24.

 

[SmokyMose]

the schools my grandchildren go to do not teach them cursive writing anymore. do not know how they would sign their names on a check blank? just print it out?

We actually talked about the cursive thing as well. They don't teach it here either. Whether they can write it or not they should be able to read it. The Constitution is in cursive.... A signature can be anything as long as it's always close to the same. Mine doesn't look anything like my name. Imagine signing 3 different forms for 20 forklifts on a cold dock. It gets sloppy but quick.

 

[Brokenhandle]

Maybe if they want presents for Christmas they have to write their lists in cursive lol! I have 30 yo daughter and 23 yo son...they can both read and write in cursive but son doesn't care for it.

Ryan

 

[clifish]

We actually talked about the cursive thing as well. They don't teach it here either. Whether they can write it or not they should be able to read it. The Constitution is in cursive.... A signature can be anything as long as it's always close to the same. Mine doesn't look anything like my name. Imagine signing 3 different forms for 20 forklifts on a cold dock. It gets sloppy but quick.

My handwriting always sucked. I have actually had my bank refuse to deposit a paycheck made out to me, by me and signed by me, a couple times over the years...lol

 

[clifish]

Maybe if they want presents for Christmas they have to write their lists in cursive lol! I have 30 yo daughter and 23 yo son...they can both read and write in cursive but son doesn't care for it.

Ryan

nah there Xmas lists are to easy $$$$

 

[Gonna Smoke]

Ask them to read a dial clock. My granddaughters know how because I taught them, but that's not taught much anymore, either...

 

[clifish]

Ask them to read a dial clock. My granddaughters know how because I taught them, but that's not taught much anymore, either...

I believe they can do that, we still have a few.

 

[mneeley490]

I hear you guys on these items. Clifish, I hope your son isn't teaching "Life Skills".

They used to teach those sorts of things in Jr. High when I was a kid; how to keep a checkbook, make a household budget, etc. Even Driver's Ed in the 70's taught how to change a tire, oil, & clean battery terminals. If we didn't have several analog clocks in our house, my kids & grandkids would never know how to read one.
When my kids were in grade school in the late 90's, some "progressive" on the education board decided that they were going to stop teaching cursive, and go to something called D'Nealian handwriting, which is kind of a stupid mishmash of both. They didn't bother to ask the parents, or even the teachers. Despite our protests, it lasted about a year and was a miserable failure, so they switched back. But it caused all the kids in the district to lapse behind in their handwriting skills.

 

[SherryT]

You know, I fully realize one's handwriting isn't indicative of intelligence or the lack thereof, but that so much of what my generation (born in 1960) views as commonplace is all but absent from the "knowledge base" of the younger gens...handwriting, dial-face clock/watches, writing a check...that it sort of "reminds" me of a lack of intelligence.

Now, before anyone jumps on me over that, I'm fully aware times change, and with it, technology, customs, mores/norms, etc and I love my tech as much as the next person, but at least I can function without it if I need to.

To deny that to the young simply for the sake of change is just plain wrong to me.

 

[tbern]

When I was in school ( and probably still do it) I would switch between cursive and printing in the same sentence or paragraph in a report. Wasn't even aware I was doing it and didn't realize it had a "fancy name "

 

[Steve H]

Wait till that 12oz beer becomes 10oz. People will take to the streets.

I'll lead that march!

 

[DougE]

Meijer just did it with their store brand potato chips. New packaging, reduced weight, same price.