A．they hate to see any changes in things they are famil……
TEXT D
It is said that the public
and Congressional concern about deceptive packaging rumpus started because
Senator Hart discovered that the boxes of cereals consumed by him, Mrs. Hart,
and their children were becoming higher and narrower, with a decline of net
weight from 12 to 10.5 ounces, without any reduction in price. There were still
twelve biscuits, but they had been reduced in size. Later, the Senator rightly
complained of a store-bought pie in a handsomely illustrated hex that pictured,
in a single slice, almost as many cherries as there were in the whole
pie.
The manufacturer who increases the unit price
of his product by changing his package size to lower the quantity delivered can,
without undue hardship, put his product into boxes, hags, and tins that will
contain even 4-ounce, 8 ounce, one-pound, two-pound quantities of break fast
foods, cake mixes, etc. A study of drugstore and
supermarket shelves will convince any observer that all possible sizes and
shapes of boxes, jars, bottles, and tins are in use at the same time, and, as
the package journals show, week by week, there is never any hesitation in
introducing a new size and shape of box or bottle when it aids in product
differentiation. The producers of packaged products argue strongly against
changing sizes of packages to contain even weights and volumes, but no one in
the trade comments unfavorably on the huge costs incurred by end less changes of
package sizes, materials, shape, art work, and net
weights that are used for improving a product’s market position.
When a packaging expert explained that he was able to multiply the price
of hard sweets by 2.5, from $ 1 to $2.50 by changing to a fancy jar, or that he
had made a 5-ounce bottle look as though it held 8 ounces, he was in effect
telling the public that packaging can be a very ex pensive luxury, h evidently
does come high, when an average family pays about $ 200 a year for bottles,
cans, boxes, jars and other containers, most of which can’t be used for anything
but stuffing the garbage can.
Consumers are concerned about the changes in package size, mainly because______.
A．they hate to see any changes in things they are familiar with
B．the unit price for product often rises as a result
C．they have to pay for the cost of changing package sizes
D．this entails an increase in the cost of packaging
