So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[GHT]

I like having something cold to sip on whilst driving and, seeing how the super-mega-giganto-supremo-ultimo fountain drinks are a much better value than the more reasonably sized options, it's the monster cup for me.

On the confectionery counter, where there's a array of chocolate and such, usually priced at £1:50 or two for £2, can't help myself. I buy two, eat both, and feel sick for an hour or so. Nothing is sold small size at all. One of my guilty secrets are those small size pork pies, but why do they have to come in packs of four, or more?

 

[tonyb]

I had never heard of sweet ice tea until maybe ten years ago, when it became a fad up here. At first your choice was "sweetened" or "regular" but then maybe five years ago "unsweetened" became the term du jour.

I still don't get the "sweet tea" thing. Just another example of creeping Southernification.

My people were coffee drinkers. I was introduced to iced tea by the stepdad's people, from Georgia, where it was a summertime staple and was definitely sweetened. I suspect that if you didn't specify to those folks your desire to have your iced tea without sugar, you wouldn't get it that way.

 

[sheeplady]

My understanding is that sweet tea is made by adding sugar to the tea piping hot (allowing more sugar to go into solution). That means that there is unsweetened tea (no sugar), sweetened tea (sugar added cold), and sweet tea (sugar added hot).

Maybe a southern person can correct me?

I enjoyed my time in North Carolina, I was at a conference at UNC Chapel Hill. In the afternoon they just served tea (coffee and tea were served in the morning) and they put the hot water in these special copper dispensers, rather than ones that may have been used for coffee previously. No getting a coffee-favored hot water from one of those dispensers. Almost everyone else was upset by the lack of coffee in the afternoon, but as a tea drinker, it was like I had my REVENGE for all those cups of coffee water.

 

[HudsonHawk]

There is no distinction in the South between "sweet" and "sweetened". It's just "sweet tea" regardless of when sugar was added. And the term "unsweetened" is common, even though it's grammatically incorrect.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Up here ice tea is just tea you forgot about and let steep until it got cold.

 

[Fading Fast]

On the confectionery counter, where there's a array of chocolate and such, usually priced at £1:50 or two for £2, can't help myself. I buy two, eat both, and feel sick for an hour or so. Nothing is sold small size at all. One of my guilty secrets are those small size pork pies, but why do they have to come in packs of four, or more?

One reason for all this large packaging is that, many times, the "product," be it soda, M&Ms, etc., is a relatively small part of the overall cost to the producer, so if they can sell you more product in one package, even at less cost per product weight, the company makes more money. I can buy a 8oz bottle of soda or a two liter and, while I haven't looked at the 8oz price in a long time, when I did, it was about half the price of the two liter.

Other than in the one-off situation, we always buy the larger container and portion out the product as - if done across products and consistently - you save money. Of course and as noted, there are times when a smaller and more expensive purchase makes sense, and we'll do that in those cases, but I am a fan of the variety of package sizes as it helps the prudent budgeter.

That said, I've ranted at FL often about all the tricks the companies have done with their packaging to try to hide price increases. That is disgusting IMHO - raise your price, it's your right as a company to do so, but do so honestly.

 

[GHT]

That said, I've ranted at FL often about all the tricks the companies have done with their packaging to try to hide price increases. That is disgusting IMHO - raise your price, it's your right as a company to do so, but do so honestly.

A popular choice of assorted chocolates at Christmas, backed up with heavy advertising, is Nestle's Quality Street. The price has remained a constant five pounds. The size of the container, however....................

 

[Fading Fast]

I can tell you for a fact that the overwhelming majority of 32oz sodas and large popcorns sold from our concession stand are not finished by their purchasers. After every show we throw away many large containers still three-quarters full, and that kind of waste makes me mad. We make our money on the sales whether or not the product is consumed, but I get very upset at the thought that the product has gone thru a long and ardurous manufacturing process involving hundreds or thousands of different people around the world, only to be tossed into the garbage because the purchaser overestimated their consumption needs.

That kind of decadent profligacy is the sign of a society that doesn't deserve prosperity. If it was up to me, we wouldn't sell "large" at all.

I'll leave the full judgement of society's sins and punishment up to God or time (one or both will judge and decide), but having been raised by two depression-era parents, waste does drive me a bit crazy.

Even if you can afford it (and I am echoing words I grew up with), it is wrong to just waste things. Getting away from all the variables and craziness that goes into movie-theater pricing (and Lizzie has taught me a lot about this over the years), I try to align my on-the-spot purchase to what I will consume in that environment as I'll feel worse if I have to throw away a half-filled cup of soda.

And at home, we make a serious effort not to waste food - we are fortunate to have this as a "problem" and, therefor, respect that fact and try to minimize it - but it does take effort to perfectly align your consumption to your purchased amount.

One of the things that stands out for me in old movies (even up through the '60s) is how middle class people (not just the poor) were careful about their food purchases and consumption. My guess is that was a result of food truly being more expensive then (in inflation adjusted terms) and the "hangover" effect of the great depression. Regular working people - people today who waste popcorn and soda as Lizzie notes - in those days were much, much more careful not to waste and it comes up in a lot of movies if you pay attention for that type of detail.

 

[Fading Fast]

A popular choice of assorted chocolates at Christmas, backed up with heavy advertising, is Nestle's Quality Street. The price has remained a constant five pounds. The size of the container, however....................
View attachment 65282

And I bet they didn't announce the change by saying "Same great price but now with even less candy." Great example of what I was referring to.

 

[2jakes]

^^^^^^
For a year now I've been buying
soda water in glass bottles.
The flavor is made to resemble
the iconic Dr. Pepper.
The packaging and name is similar (in case you're too dumb to take
the hint) .
This product is made by the store
and sits on the shelf along with the well-known brands.
The price between the "real McCoy" soda in glass bottles and the "imitation" is great.

I buy the "wannabe" soda because
I love the flavor.
The fact that it's cheaper makes me buy in large quanties.
This product also is available in
larger plastic bottles.
But the flavor is not the same for
me.
It's like buying soda water from the convienient store soda water dispenser.
Which tastes like flat-carbonated
sweet water.

On occasions I will buy D.P. when it's put on sale.

Someone told me that in most cases, I was paying for the name
when buying the famous brand name products at higher prices.

 

[Bamaboots]

It was much later in my life that I discovered "unsweetened tea" was an option.

 

[Bamaboots]

Rubberneckers

Of any sort. As one who had the responsibility of investigating traffic accidents, probably the angriest I have ever been is having to work secondary accidents because of dumb a..es running into each other while slowing or stopping to view the carnage.

 

[LizzieMaine]

And at home, we make a serious effort not to waste food - we are fortunate to have this as a "problem" and, therefor, respect that fact and try to minimize it - but it does take effort to perfectly align your consumption to your purchased amount.

What I do is shop no more than two days at a time, and usually daily -- and buy only enough food for the specific needs of those days. I don't have a freezer - the one in my fridge is the size of a shoebox -- so I'm not tempted to buy stuff in bulk that I'll get tired of before I can eat all of it. If I do have to buy in bulk -- a package of sausages or a dozen eggs, for example, I eat the same thing every day until they're used up.

Like you, I had "don't waste food" drilled into me as a kid -- I was once forced to eat half a hot dog out of the garbage can after I'd thrown it away, which was admittedly a bit much so far as discipline is concerned, but it did make the point -- and I can't bear the thought of wasting even an atom of food. Any food that does spoil before I can eat it all gets thrown into the backyard for the raccoons and skunks and squirrels and seagulls, so I at least can rest my conscience by knowing that some other creature has benefitted from what I couldn't finish.

 

[2jakes]

Of any sort. As one who had the responsibility of investigating traffic accidents, probably the angriest I have ever been is having to work secondary accidents because of dumb a..es running into each other while slowing or stopping to view the carnage.

Covering accidents for the news for many years... I don't allow myself to get upset anymore.
Took a year to be able to enjoy a meal after viewing dead bodies
on the streets.
My tour of duty when I was young
kinda prepared me.

I love doing video especially the
positive things in life. (sports,entertainment & nature stories)
Just happens that I have to shoot the bad as well as the good things
in life.

 

[GHT]

Someone told me that in most cases, I was paying for the name when buying the famous brand name products at higher prices.

There's one thing that I can confirm, from experience. The perfume sold door to door, known as Avon, also owned, (they have sold it now,) the perfume known as Georgio Beverley Hills.
Avon was an account of mine back in the 1980's, and the CEO lived near me, we went to church together. I wouldn't say that he confirmed this but, would you believe me if I said that Georgio Beverley Hills, that at the time cost thirty pounds, was one and the same as Avon Number Seven that cost three pounds?
As the CEO said, the Georgio perfume was more about selling an image. They advertised it in almost every in flight magazine, poster boards, airports and docks. Always with models in designer wear, expensive cars, top hotels and so on. But if you could get yourself an empty GBH bottle, decant a bottle of Number Seven into it, what an impression you could make, on the cheap.

 

[Fading Fast]

⇧ From my days in retail in the '80s, and, later - now and then - reviewing business proposals on Wall Street, I've learned only a little about the perfume business, but what you said aligns to what I've learned. Perhaps more than most products, perfume's price and cost are unrelated and it is all about marketing (cue the dog whistle for Lizzie).

That is why so many celebrities promote perfumes - it's the perfect marriage. Celebrities are built in marketing and the lack of tangible measurement of value for the product allow it to capture all that celebrity glow. And it is an incredibly profitable product which is why it is heavily promoted as you noted and given prominent and massive shelf space in department stores and other retailers.

 

[2jakes]

^^^^^
Perfumes!
I have a Texaco lube can from
the 40s.
It still has the lube inside.
I open the can once in a while.
I thoroughly enjoy the aroma.

Reminds me of the gas stations
where the attendant would check
the car for oil & water besides
filling the gas tank.
Hickory-flavored bacon & coffee
brewing from grounded beans also
brings back good memories.

Not sure how this relates to the topic.

My mind wanders!

 

[LizzieMaine]

The perfume racket is the ultimate triumph of the Boys over substance. The days of "rare essences from the far-flung corners of the world" going into them are long gone -- pretty much any perfume today is a mixture of cheap chemical ethers that imitate the scent of those "rare essences." And they all smell like a French cathouse, as my grandfather used to say.

Overuse of perfume really ticks me off -- we occasionally host "gala events" for local nonprofits where all the Old Money show up in super full dress, and the women are always doused in whatever overpriced distillation they have handy. Which is bad enough, but when it combines with a mothball top-note from all the clothes they've pulled out of storage for the event, it becomes severely nauseating.

 

[Fading Fast]

What I do is shop no more than two days at a time, and usually daily -- and buy only enough food for the specific needs of those days. I don't have a freezer - the one in my fridge is the size of a shoebox -- so I'm not tempted to buy stuff in bulk that I'll get tired of before I can eat all of it. If I do have to buy in bulk -- a package of sausages or a dozen eggs, for example, I eat the same thing every day until they're used up.

Like you, I had "don't waste food" drilled into me as a kid -- I was once forced to eat half a hot dog out of the garbage can after I'd thrown it away, which was admittedly a bit much so far as discipline is concerned, but it did make the point -- and I can't bear the thought of wasting even an atom of food. Any food that does spoil before I can eat it all gets thrown into the backyard for the raccoons and skunks and squirrels and seagulls, so I at least can rest my conscience by knowing that some other creature has benefitted from what I couldn't finish.

Being fair to my parents (and I certainly don't cut them much slack as regular FL member know), for some reason, I was never forced to eat food. But we always started with small portions and you didn't get more until you finished what you had on your plate. And other than a few one-offs (brussels sprouts and tuna fish - because I would literal gag on those), you ate what you were told to, period.

And, as noted, there was a clear, loud, repeated and somber philosophy against waste in our house that told you indirectly how to behave and, by luck or genes, my parents got a son who understood that code and just wanted to get through childhood with the least amount of storm and stress in the house.

Hence, my mom ran a tight ship in the kitchen, I ate what she bought and, looking back, can see that she regulated her purchases closely to what she knew would be consumed. But I don't ever remember being force to eat food (although the "if you don't finish your meal, no dessert for you" rule was a powerful motivator - I wanted dessert) - but knew that waste wouldn't be tolerated. Also, money and waste (of food, of electricity, of the phone, of everything ) was so regularly pounded into my head that it worked. And I think my parents were perceptive enough to know that I tried my best to abide, so the few times I didn't, they didn't, well, make me eat the half a hotdog out of the garbage.

 

[2jakes]

The perfume racket is the ultimate triumph of the Boys over substance. The days of "rare essences from the far-flung corners of the world" going into them are long gone -- pretty much any perfume today is a mixture of cheap chemical ethers that imitate the scent of those "rare essences." And they all smell like a French cathouse, as my grandfather used to say.

Overuse of perfume really ticks me off -- we occasionally host "gala events" for local nonprofits where all the Old Money show up in super full dress, and the women are always doused in whatever overpriced distillation they have handy. Which is bad enough, but when it combines with a mothball top-note from all the clothes they've pulled out of storage for the event, it becomes severely nauseating.

"Folks" who use perfume to cover
up because they haven't taken a bath is very nauseating.