It’s just a Pop tart…

** whew - I was able to save my valuable, award winning post **

That’s what my husband said when I became just a bit irritated at finding my box of 8 Pop tarts contained only seven.

Yesterday morning was like any other day, rushing around trying to beat the horn of the bus honking out front. My kids on a mad search through the shoe pile for their own matching pair, tucking their books into their backpacks and here I stand in the kitchen opening up a box of Pop tarts as I prepared one of those all American – not so nutritious breakfasts of Pop tarts and milk.

As I pulled the packet from the box I shook it slightly immediately sensing it was lighter and thinner than the previous pack. [Insert Twilight Zone tune here]. I pointed out the finding to my husband and stated I was going to take the pack back to the store. He gasped not believing what I had just said. “It’s just a Pop tart,” he chuckled.

Well, ya know, he is partially right. But having worked in retail and being the true “cancer female” I am, I had to dig WAY deeper to find the bigger errrr biggest possible picture.

I did just a quick bit of simple math just to show my husband and the rest of the world what a difference one little Pop tart can make.

Let’s say this company decided to try to save money/make money in ways that the consumer would likely overlook as a “fluke” and think nothing further of it, all while they cushion their pockets and thicken the bottom line just a bit more.

I took a very conservative number of 500,000! If 500,000 boxes of Pop tarts were shorted just one tart, that would leave an extra 500,000 tarts, correct? Now those 500,000 extra tarts can be packaged in an extra 62,500 new boxes. You follow? Now back in my retail days, the average markup for the chain I worked for was around 33%. If those tarts retail for $3.99 then Quaker is making $2.67 off each box that sales. Last we take that $2.67 and multiply it by the number of extra boxes to reveal a whopping $166,875 profit off of Pop tarts that have been purchased twice by consumers.

Personally I think consumers blow off these little flukes far too often and fail to realize the overall profit these types of flukes are generating on products that are being sold twice. After all if you were to purchase a car with one tire missing you’d certainly demand the product you paid for, right?

Maybe I am taking my little missing tart far too seriously, but I for one have and will continue to hold corporate America accountable for their products, their manufacturing, their distributions and their sales.

Perhaps my missing tart was just a fluke and the machine messed up when packing MY box of tarts, but as much as we hear about phone companies slamming bills with .25 cent charges to 3 million customers (which by the way was a whopping $750,000 profit per month) and various other tactics that companies take to rip off consumers, curve expenses or cut budgets, my missing tart is more than just a tart and I for one will do something about it.

I am growing very weary of corporate America ripping consumers off and seeing consumers as idiots who won’t do anything about a slightly altered package of goods.

The next time you open a product that is not exactly what you purchased, remember that a missing “tart” is not just a tart; it’s a tart that’s being sold twice!

* Note – I refer to all pastry tarts as “Pop tarts” whether they are Kellogg’s, Quaker or off brand.

    January 15, 2008 | Filed Under General, Humor 

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