Wherein I become the first to notice

[ADeMartino]

This is exactly why they do it this way - so people don't notice. It's not just at restaurants, either - it's common in retail stores, too. Whenever a 'new and improved' product hits the shelves, odds are pretty good that it hasn't actually been reformulated at all - it's just a slightly smaller package.

A few years ago, Chicken In A Biscuit crackers changed their packaging, and right on the box, it claimed 'New Package - Same Great Taste!'. It baffled me - I mean, okay, you changed the package - any numbnuts can clearly see that - so why was it necessary to actually spell that out?

It wasn't till I got home with the new box and put it in the cupboard where the old box was still half-full that I realized the 'new package' was 2 oz smaller. Question answered.

[Shalom]

Ferrous sulfate drops used to come in the strength 15mg per 0.6 ml. At some point, they reformulated it so that it's now 15 mg per 1 ml. The claim is so that the dosing is easier to compute or some such rubbish; the fact is, where you used to get 83 doses per 50ml bottle, you now get 50 doses. Did they reduce the price? Did they shit. You're still getting 50ml, what are you complaining about?

Oh, and brand name Synthroid went from 100 tablet per bottle to 90. Price stayed the same.

[EricKei]

Whenever a 'new and improved' product hits the shelves, odds are pretty good that it hasn't actually been reformulated at all - it's just a slightly smaller package.

But of course Have you never noticed that, when a product says "Improved", they never explicitly say who is benefiting from said "improvement"...?