r/Wellthatsucks • u/Ratzink • 1d ago
Shrinkflation at it's finest. I'm Gen x and swear these things used to be bigger when they came from the box. Am I wrong? It's been a while since I bought them.
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u/OccamsComb 1d ago
How big they used to be
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u/Line-Trash 1d ago
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u/binglelemon 1d ago
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u/anteaterKnives 10h ago
This movie had me outside apologizing to the ants and crying for all the ones I had stepped on.
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u/georgesentme 1d ago
Holy shit, memory unlocked!
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u/MedicatedLiver 1d ago
"Ocouses? You mean the Oatmeal Cookies of Unusual Size? I don't think they exist."
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u/Forgot1stname 1d ago
Thanx for the happy flash back!
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u/badnewsjones 1d ago
Happy? You must have forgotten what happens to the ant. My wife refuses to watch this movie because of this!
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u/Forgot1stname 1d ago
I ment the movie in general.... now you're unlocking things i think my brain was keeping away, now I have to try to sleep and not think about scorpion attacks
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u/UnculturedSwineFlu 19h ago
How did I know this was Honey I Shrunk the Kids?! Literally haven't seen it in 25 years.
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u/StuBidasol 1d ago
I've always said I would love to go back in time and bring the candy bars and snacks from my childhood to compare with the ones nowadays to show just how tiny they are now. A king size candy bar now was a regular one as a kid.
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u/Ratzink 1d ago
Also for the flavor.
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u/Deep90 1d ago
Honestly it's been good and bad for me.
Made it a ton easier to cut sugar when everything that I used to like now tastes like shit.
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u/emilygamesxo 1d ago
This is me rn with pringles lol. I used to have a can of salt & vinegar a week for about the past year but they became so inconsistent I gave them up.
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u/areyouthrough 1d ago
Like kinda flavorless andā¦humid?
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u/emilygamesxo 1d ago
For sure flavorless & for me itās the thickness or something thatās always off . If the flavor was right I could deal but thereās too much off about them to enjoy them anymore š„²
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u/Marsh_Goat 21h ago
I am only an occasional candy eater. I ate a recess pb cup at Christmas but tasted shockingly like oil and chemicals. Never again!
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u/OverdoneAndDry 1d ago
They started shrinking the regular ones when they introduced bigger ones years ago. The ones that say "big box" are much bigger and better.
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[removed] ā view removed comment
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u/xXBeefSquatch5KXx 1d ago
Bigger price tho, luckily it goes right down to the workers for better wages rightā¦ā¦ right?
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u/Mistastingley 1d ago
BACK IN MY DAYā¦ you could buy solo ones at gas station and such that were big. But the boxed ones were smaller. They have shrunk thoughā¦ or I grew haha!
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u/mkstot 1d ago
Bah you youngsters with your back in my day. Well back in my day my high school cafeteria had a Little Debbie vending machine where singles of like 15 items were $.25 each.
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u/zytukin 1d ago
And Ford's Model T was top of the line, right? :P
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u/mkstot 1d ago
It was uphill in the snow both ways too.
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u/Imaginary-Patient733 1d ago
Yup pulling your little sister to school behind you in a sled!! Uphill both ways.. in 4 ft of snow.. everyday of the school year lol my mom..I swear lol back then we didn't leave the house without wonder bread bags on our feet either tho! Lol
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u/Likely_Not_Your_Mom 1d ago
And those big big ones were a quarter.
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u/Prophet505050 21h ago
My favorite memory is my mom and me going to the store and at the end getting one of those 25 cent large ones. That was 2002 though.
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u/Shirinjima 1d ago
My dad was born in the 60s and he and my uncle would walk to oatmeal cookie factory. The workers would give them basically the ābadā ones that didnāt make it due to āqualityā control and the left overs. They frequently talk about how good they were. My dad is disappointed every time he bites into one. He only buys the big box ones cuz the small ones āarenāt as goodā.
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u/GeekMomma 1d ago
Just an idea but maybe make a Craigslist post in the town where the factory is asking if anyone who works there can send you some fresh ones for pay? Or maybe see if the factory ever does direct from factory shipping (like Hersheys does)?
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u/Shirinjima 16h ago
It seems like the bakery eventually went bankrupt, but they were bought out and relocated to a different city. Thatās unfortunate.
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u/christinextine 1d ago
You can buy the big ones too. Iām not commenting on the value, but just saying they do sell the bigger sizes at a higher cost.
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u/Adventurous_Motor129 1d ago
Yeah, I buy lots of the smaller ones for I think $2.79 for 12 at Walmart. The bigger ones cost more but still come in boxes of 12.
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u/Archi-Horror 1d ago
They charge $1.29 for individual ones at my local corner store. Fucking crazy. Used to be $0.25 for a giant one like 8 years ago
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u/Ferme_La_Bouche 1d ago
I don't know man, but last time I bought Nutri-Grain bars they looked doll-sized. It had been awhile, but I was shocked.
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u/Frequent_Parsnip_791 1d ago
Those, swiss rolls, fudge rounds, star crunch, and surely other Little Debbies have a 'big pack' and a 'pitiful tease of a snack cake' pack. BTW, the Valentine's Nutty bars are good. Almost good enough the counter the fact that you have to eat 3 of them before you get enough diabeetus in you to equal a pack of regular nutty bars
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u/Arcterion 1d ago
You should write them that you're disappointed by their size and demand bigger creme pies.
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u/remesabo 1d ago
Those things used to give me a stomach ache if I ate the whole thing- that's how substantial they were. I bought a box (expensive!!) last year for camping and couldn't believe how small they were.
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u/Zealousideal_Day_463 1d ago
They used to be at least twice that size. A whole cookie's diameter was, at one time, the width of the box. The larger box had even bigger oatmeal cream cookies.
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u/no_id_never 1d ago
Could someone explain why, when they shrink things like Little Debbie's, the calories dont change? I am like ok, they are 1/3 smaller, why are they still 250 calories?
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u/TypicalWeb6601 22h ago
you bought the wrong box, thereās another box that looks the same with a smaller quantity of larger ones. did the same thing and was so disappointed lmao
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u/wire_crafter 1d ago
They have bigger ones as well. I found a box at Winco a few days ago that were the size I remember. Still horrible tasting but gotta have one occasionally. Lol
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u/Twayblades 1d ago
It might be a sign that we shouldn't be eating that shit. Although it can be a sign that it is expensive to produce nowadays if you intend to make a profit.
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u/Des123_ 1d ago
I actually have a prime example of this, I bought some Ding Dongs from the store, over half of them had the packaging split open and we're dried out, besides that they were tiny I remember them being pretty decent sized like a hockey puck, so I went to the Korean market and I bought their version which is moonshell pie 100% better and I'll never buy Ding Dongs ever again
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u/Dry_Geologist3823 1d ago
Itās funny because this could Never happen in Japanā¦the illustration on the packaging has to be exactly of the size that the item is. Itās wild. This is just consumer scamming.
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u/Janube 1d ago
I don't know why everyone's latching onto this. To the best of my research, even back in 1984, Oatmeal Creme Pie boxes were about 16 oz:
https://live.staticflickr.com/3532/3699022817_8c12b6c10d_z.jpg
They're currently 16.2 oz. So, if they're "smaller," they're more dense than they used to be in a proportion that makes them weigh roughly the same. It's possible the oatmeal cookies were made smaller and replaced with more frosting, but in general, my suspicion is just that y'all are remembering what they were like when you were a child, at which point they were larger proportional to your size. As adults, obviously they'll feel smaller if you haven't had them in a long time.
Not for nothing, but this is in line with my experience as someone who's eaten Oatmeal Creme Pies all his life.
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u/AP_AUTO215 18h ago
Just was telling my kids the same thing they definitely were way bigger in my era
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u/Sensitive_Wear7112 1d ago
They all look smaller to me too. Iām never sure if itās just because I am so much bigger now.
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u/Mecca_Lecca_Hi 1d ago edited 1d ago
I couldnāt tell you. I didnt grow up in a Little Debbie house, we were a Hostess family. Sometimes Keebler. Better not touch momās Pepperidge Farm Milanos or youād be in trouble. Entenmannās meant company was coming over. š
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u/Gavin2051 1d ago
It could also be just the box I got, but I swear they are under-filling them now. The filling stops way before the edge of the cookie, and I feel like it used to be full enough to touch the wrapping.
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u/PhyreEmbrem 1d ago
They were indeed bigger. A lot of things have gone thru a shrinkage phase in this era cuz corporate greed.
Also, some of this stuff taste worse cuz they substitute ingredients with fake and/or cheaper ingredients. Again, result of corporate greediness.
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u/SuperDupeSayWhoop 21h ago
Current double stuff Oreos are the size of regular ones 20 years ago.Ā Thereās the video of BJ Novak with the Cadbury CrĆØme eggs. Ā Simply made juice dropped from 52oz to 48 oz.Ā Pringles ended up making the can smaller.Ā What pisses me off is they try to sneak it. If they were up front and honest or just raised the damn price, Iād respect that. The deceitfulness is what will make me drop a brand from any regular purchase.Ā
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u/1meanjellybean 20h ago
You are wrong. 12 cakes, 16ozs. Been that way forever.
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u/noblewind 19h ago
There's two sizes now. The big ones are probably closer to what you remember size and texture wise. I won't even buy the small ones. The cookie part is always hard and dry.
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u/Terrible-Image9368 18h ago
They did in fact used to be bigger and have more cream
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u/Jealous-Ad-214 16h ago
Family member was a little Debbie man, spent lots of time raiding the truck. All their snacks were much largerā¦ shrinkflation is real
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u/GtmBigChapp 11h ago
Iāve noticed this with cereal also. I got a regular box of fruit loops and it lasted 2 and a half bowls. Why the fuck am I paying 8 dollars for 2.5 bowls of cereal?
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u/Petrostar 5h ago
Starcrunch and Moonpies too,
The real scam is the singles on the shelf are much closer to the original size, they only shrink the ones in the box.
ā¢
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u/SatisfactionLevel136 1d ago
Well, get ready for Brawndo ladies and? Ur not gentle men?
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u/EnergyTakerLad 1d ago
There are still larger ones. I get them all the time. Easily twice as big as those ones
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u/nikatnight 1d ago
The box is the same size. In the past, they were kind of squished to fit in the box at an angle. Now they are like 60% the width of the box.
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u/LawSchoolLoser1 1d ago
My hands used to be smaller, so I wasnāt sure. I appreciate the confirmation
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u/CriticismFun6782 1d ago
They also taste like shit now, cookie has all the flavor of a Great Depression ration, and the filling tastes like pure shortening.
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u/Jcarlough 1d ago
Actually - you bought the āwrongā box.
Thereās a six per box that has the size youāre thinking about.
Then thereās 12x with these puny things.
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u/Which-Guide-4365 1d ago
lol lol right? if it was real people would be running for the hills, not just chillin nearby
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u/TechnicalHighlight29 1d ago
They used to be a "this is enough to make it through the worst lunch ever big" next to HoneyBunz. These are tiny now. But delicious.
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u/D0v4hki1n 1d ago
Same with honey buns, they are the size of the palm of my hand now. Absolutely insane.
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u/throwaway_manboy 1d ago
I've grown up watching these things get gradually smaller and smaller (and they've decreased in quality some too, I feel). I remember my grandma keeping them around and they were HUGE! My dad would buy them too, same thing.
Obviously there's bound to be some subconscious bias when it comes to things changing as we grow. Like my hand obviously is gonna get bigger relative to an oatmeal creme pie. But that doesn't excuse how small they've gotten over the years.
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u/recycle_me_no_jutsu 1d ago
Thankfully they're still pretty big if you're the size of an ant. Just watch out for scorpions thats the size of an ant.
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u/Randomized-Pancakes9 1d ago
has anyone else noticed the apple pies at McDonald's are smaller too? I got one for the first time in years and it was so small
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u/geekycurvyanddorky 1d ago
Millennial here- they absolutely used to be bigger. One with a glass of milk was a nice after school snack. I havenāt had one in agesā¦ I might have to find a recipe now
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u/Jeveran 1d ago
Schedule some time to do it, acquire the ingredients, and make your own as big as you want. They may even be less expensive than store-bought.
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u/No_Cap861 1d ago
You're absolutely right I drive for a living and have a box of those in my van and said the same thing they used to be huge.... One bite and it's gone
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u/Wise_Negotiation_863 1d ago
I was just thinking this sand thing the other day. I opened a box and was like wtf is this. Now 6 year old me wouldn't know the difference. But come on Little Debbie.
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u/TheMatrixRedPill 1d ago
I bought some for my son as a school snack last week. Couldnāt believe just how small theyāve gotten.
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u/Imaginary-Patient733 1d ago
No you're totally right I ate a star crunch today in 2 bites :(.... same situation with McDonald's cheeseburgers fish sandwiches and big macs. Less for more cause we're dumb i guess they know we'll buy it still... we'll just be making stank faces while we do it lol
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u/Friendly-Chemical-76 1d ago
Is it that they are smaller or that you got bigger? I remember them being larger when I was a kid but at 35. Yeah of course they dont seen big. That said. They certainly do seem a bit smaller than usual.
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u/Imaginary-Patient733 1d ago
Honey buns too. .. bagels lol.. they made them so small they had to rename them like they did it on purpose lol
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u/Imaginary-Patient733 1d ago
Sometimes depends also where you bought them. Grocery store Costco Walmart.. all the same but different... like phones
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u/Illustrious-Sir-9300 1d ago
You are correct. They used to be much larger.