Smaller Packaging

It's not your imagination if you think the packagings of some of your favourite brands are getting smaller because they are.

The boxes and containers really are shrinking even if the prices you're paying are staying the same.

Kellogg's says it took more than two ounces of cereal out of several of its brands' boxes earlier this summer. And Unilever has shrunk containers of products from peanut butter, to mayonnaise, to ice cream.

"Companies use a lot of different rationales as to why they downsize packaging. Usually, in the case of the companies we spoke with, the primary reason is the fact that energy costs have gone up, raw ingredients and materials have gone up.

But a couple of companies gave us some interesting answers," said Tod Marks of Consumer Reports.

Tropicana for example, says they made their container smaller to create a plastic bottle that "poured easier with less spillage and less gurgling."

According to a survey from Consumer Reports, 71-percent of respondents think companies are trying to hide price hikes. And half of those surveyed would rather have companies keep products the same size and raise the price -- instead of shrinking the containers.

As a consumer, keep in mind manufacturers may not always downsize every package in their product line, but only select sizes. So check the unit price --you know where it says price per 100 grams on the store price tag -and that will give you an idea of what you're actually paying less for.

Extended Warranty

We've all heard the pitch: purchase an extended warranty with electronics and you're buying peace of mind. But a Coquitlam man says what he got was less than he expected -- a lot less.

Stephen Lisik is without a trusted friend on the road these days. His MIO-C310S GPS unit stopped working about a year and a half after he bought it from Staples.

The unit cost $269 plus a $37 extended warranty.

"I was told that that would be a replacement warranty and if anything went wrong with the unit they would fix it or replace it," Stephen said.

But something unexpected happened after he returned the broken GPS and called the service line.

"The fellow said to me that they'd had a look at my unit and that they decided it wasn't worth fixing and they were going to pay me out at $170," he explained.

A $170 store credit when he'd paid over $300 including the warranty?

"I hit the roof, and I said to the guy $170 won't even buy a new unit and he said 'Well, it's a depreciated value, read your contract'," said Stephen.

So Stephen read his warranty contract more carefully and found this clause:

"The limit of our liability under the plan shall be the depreciated value of the product in operating condition at the time of your claim"

The depreciated value is how much the product or equivalent is worth today -- and Staples is the one that does the calculation

Rick Atkinson, the director of merchandising for Staples Business Depot says they sell a million of these warranties a year. Staples will give Stephen cash instead of a store credit, but again at the lower depreciated value that the company has calculated.

"The plans are built on depreciated value. So this is a repair plan or if we deem it too expensive to repair over what it's valued at then we will end up giving you cash or credit in return and then you can use that to buy a replacement product," explained Rick.

Staple's bottom line?

"He basically has a year and a half old GPS that isn't worth repairing. He wouldn't repair it, if it had broken on its own he wouldn't repair it," he said.

Stephen doesn't agree but really doesn't have an alternative; he's bound by the wording on the warranty.

The trouble with extended warranties is they are often offered at the till and we usually don't have the time to examine them in detail and so we rely on what we are told.

In this case Stephen got some value, just not the full value he expected.

With a report by CTV British Columbia's Chris Olsen