Buyer Beware

[ajgunner]

Seems that Hodgdon is the first to cave in and try to sneak one by on the consumers. I was lucky last week and found a place with a pretty fair selection of powders. Regular retail prices in the $26-29 range. I picked up some Varget, 700X, and Clay's. It has been awhile since I have been buying powder---most of mine is still in either metal or cardboard canisters. It was not until I went to put these new ones away in the cabinet that I noticed the change. I have bought a few of the Trailboss and most of us know that this comes in a 9oz bottle, and we realize why. Well both the Clays and the 700X are now in 14oz bottles. Yep, same size, same label, same shelf placement, same price, but now 2 ounces less than we have been buying. Maybe this is their way of spreading it around and getting more bottles out to the retailers. I personally find it sneaky and a huge break in tradition. Smokeless powders have been sold in 1lb containers since they were introduced. Now they go and pull a fast one following in the steps of every other product on the retail shelves. Why can't they just raise the prices and let us continue to pay the price and know what we are buying. They save nothing on packaging costs, machine time is increased, labor is probably increased, and all we get is less product taking up the same space in the cabinet.
If any of you marketing geniuses at Hodgdon happen to read this----I think it STINKS.

 

[Fishinfool]

You had me wondering. I just purchased half a dozen bottles of Win 6.5, and a bottle of W231. I checked, and both are in 16 oz bottles. I believe the W6.5 is made for Winchester by Hodgdon.

The reduced content scheme has been common in packaged food for years...

Larry

 

[67tempest]

Seems to be standard practice now to reduce the amount of the product in the package but keep the price the same. Ever notice how bacon typically comes in a 12oz package now instead of 16oz? You are still getting charged the same price you used to pay for 16oz but now you're only getting 12oz.

 

[STORMINORMAN]

Nothing new in my experience. Those 14oz. bottles of 700-X have been around for a long, long time... Probably the 2nd powder I ever bought way back when, it was also priced about $3 per "container" less. Bought a 8 lb. jug the 1st time I saw one available. Still have quite a bit from then.

Didn't think about the actual "why?" at the time: I did appreciate that it was pretty versatile for the pistol calibers I was loading and typically called for significantly less powder in many cases.

A lot like Bullseye, perhaps?

Cheers!

 

[MyDads38]

I don't think the 14 oz/700X is a recent thing. I bought several bottles around the last powder shortage and they were all 14 oz bottles. I thought it was odd at that time, but I got it at a steller price, so I didn't complain

 

[rwsmith]

Look at candy bars.....

You had me wondering. I just purchased half a dozen bottles of Win 6.5, and a bottle of W231. I checked, and both are in 16 oz bottles. I believe the W6.5 is made for Winchester by Hodgdon.

The reduced content scheme has been common in packaged food for years...

Larry

....they were a handful. Now they are all 'bite size'.

 

[BC38]

Just like the 3-pint containers of ice cream packaged to look like a half-gallon.
The cost for the packaging is the same, you just get less product, so the actual percentage of the overall cost that is wasted on packaging is INCREASED.

In this era of "reduce, recycle, reuse" this is the exact opposite. MORE wasteful packaging to be disposed of for the amount of product actually sold.

How do they get away with this GARBAGE (literally, since that is what the empty packaging becomes - garbage)

 

[scattershot]

Yep.Pretty sneaky, caveat emptor.

 

[SMSgt]

Marketing 101. Consumers are stupid and will eventually accept anything.

Except a Ford Edsel.

 

[ggibson511960]

Why not compose and send an old fashioned letter with your signature to Hodgdon, et. al.? They will take note and sales decline they might do something. This marketing practice is decades old. Kind of a different issue, but would you buy a package of 75 primers at 2019 prices? I would in a heartbeat.

 

[ajgunner]

Kind of a different issue, but would you buy a package of 75 primers at 2019 prices? I would in a heartbeat.

Not me, because I bought my lifetime supply of primers in the 80's.

 

[Golphin]

I just got some H110 delivered yesterday and they are 16oz. I did pay $30.00 a pound for it shipped though.

 

[scooter123]

Ive been using Clays to load 12 gauge for 2 full years now and the small bottles I bought 2 years ago to try out the powder are still being used for my benchtop bottles. Because trying to feed the charge bottle on my Sizemaster with an 8 lbs. bottle is just a bit too unwieldy for me.

Point is you are used to a capacity that was in use back when the powder came in a can or a cardboard container. So, this is NOT a recent change, it's just the way it's been sold for the past 10 years or so. I will also note that the price on an 8 lbs. bottle from my club has not changed in the past 2 years. However I expect that we will see rising prices sometime in 2021. Fact is that it now costs more to hire employees today and that isn't going to change.

 

[rh73]

I think clays has been sold in 14oz bottles since it's introduction.
No marketing geniuses just more volume.
A search showed this isn't the first time people thought something was up.

From 2013 Universal Clays OR just Clays ????? | 1911Forum

2012 Hodgdon powder 14oz? WTF | Sniper's Hide Forum

 

[Igiveup]

Well, how many 2lb. coffee cans do you see, let alone 1lb or 3lb cans? During high prices several years ago, the coffee industry started putting less in the cans. Sugar, same thing. 4lb. bags instead of 5lb. Buyer beware! Also, Yuban used to advertise 100% Columbian coffee. Now it is just coffee. I now buy coffee from Cosco, Columbian.

 

[fredj338]

Hasnt Clays always been 14oz?? If so, then nothing changed there.

 

[PaPow]

Hasnt Clays always been 14oz?? If so, then nothing changed there.

Any Clays i`ve ever bought since it came out has always been 14oz.

 

[Loyaljeeper]

Start looking for 700ml bottles of liquor. They are coming to a package store near you.

 

[CH4]

True the prices are higher, but the weight per bottle hasn't changed. 4, 5 and 8 pounders notwithstanding, 1 pounders all still 16 ounces, except Trail Boss and 700X which are still less than a pound.

 

[Muss Muggins]

Gotta pay attention to labels. Kingsford's old 20 lb bag of charcoal now varies between 15.5 and 16.5. Those 20 lb LP cylinder exchange cages are filled to 15.5 lbs. Coffee was where I first noticed it, when a 3 lb can made its way down to 29.3 ounces. Only thing I can recall that ever got better was when Budweiser added a ounce to their 2x4's, and they're 25 ounces now . . .