A race that nobody wins

(No, not yet another car racing post).

So, I went to buy ice cream for my mother. And rather than the usual pint, I thought I would go hog wild and buy a whole half-gallon for her. Except…it seems there are no more of those anymore, anywhere.

Unless you have been paying attention, this may come as a surprise. Somewhere along the way, it turns out, the half-gallon of ice cream I sought had actually become about 3/4 of that amount, or 3/8 of a gallon (considerably less than the original amount.). The price remained the same. This resulted in, to say the least, some disappointment.

Did I, somehow, miss the announcement about the change? I do have some little bit of pride around being reasonably informed about things, so I cast some doubt on that notion. Was there some otherwise-obscure law that dictated new ice cream sales sizes? No, there would have been uproar and likely cries to unseat the lawmakers who would dare vote for such a thing. So I am left with the sinking feeling that the ice cream folks, of whom I have been a fan my entire life, just slipped that in.

I’m one of those old-fashioned folks who believe that if you have to whisper something, hoping that nobody will notice, that thing is probably not something of which you should be proud. But beyond that admittedly quaint thought, how is it that *all* of the ice cream makers now peddle the same downsized measurement?

Used to be (here is Old Guy talk, I know) that companies competing in a market constantly strove to one-up the competition, up their game, offer something with better quality, features, price and so on. The path to having more customers, more success, and more company pride, was found in providing those customers something better and getting their business in turn. Those customers would speak well of the company, which would result in more customers, success, and pride, and so on. Good for the company, good for the customers.

I would propose the notion that particular business model has been turned upside down. Looking about even briefly yields countless examples similar to the ice cream story previous:

• Razor blades – that little box held two 5-packs in plastic holders. Now it holds two 4-packs. Showing how little shame there is in this, they didn’t even change the plastic holder, just left the fifth slot empty.
• Coffee – those big containers used to hold 3 pounds, or 48 ounces, of coffee. They appear at first glance to be the same size container but now hold only 30.5 ounces of coffee. Not sure what the half an ounce is for.

and so on. As I survey the landscape, it’s hard to see any one company standing above any of the others and claiming the moral high ground. It’s almost as if there is a tacit sort of understanding that when one company decreases the value it provides, competitors will follow suit and similarly decrease the value *they* provide. Thus comes an uneasy truce, which lasts only until one of the competitors again takes the low road and decreases value further, launching another series of similar actions.

It’s a race to the bottom. And in this race, everyone loses.

.