You know I am amazed these days at how many companies out there are desperate to regain profits from the glory years gone by and turn to stealing from their loyal customers. A trend that I have noticed is really starting to take off this last while. I am guessing this is mostly because of the economy but not sure. The worst part about it all is often these companies are ones you have likely dealt with and trusted for years. 
    
     The most common rip off is the "New Convenient Size" (which of course is smaller) and "Same Great Price" trick. A prime example of this is the candy bars in my "The Art of Stealing" section on this site. The real strange part is even though they may have had great and honorable reasons behind this move they chose not to use it in their marketing? Can you really imagine that? The new iPhone now has a built in printer… but they never said anything to anyone before it was launched?? Not likely.

     You know a lot of people never realize the power they have to change the world using their "dollar" vote. If you don't like companies stealing off you behind your back then you have the choice to buy elsewhere. When you do that you affect things in a bigger way than you can imagine. Sure you can vote for any politician you want but in the end they pretty well all do the same thing… lie and do what the "powers that be" say. Nothing wrong with that as I am not convinced the "powers that be" are all that bad anyway. But when you make a dollar vote you really say something loud and clear. For example if you hate landfills then stop buying stuff that ends up in the landfill six months later. It is amazing the impact that can have. If you are the "Ben Dover" type or maybe a Canadian and like being shoved around then fine keep buying the same products. But if not then it is time to switch brands whether you have customer loyalty or not. Sure some people would rather keep quiet and not say or do anything but that does not have to be you. Often when you drop one product you were loyal to and try another you find that the new product is even better anyway. The nice thing about it all is it tells companies that you may be loyal but not into letting your loyalty get you ripped off.

     Now the worse part about this all is most times you never even notice that you are getting stung. Though I have found one of the easiest ways to be warned is to watch for label changes. That tells you something is up... 



     Here is my latest example above, Herbal Fiberblend from The AIM Companies. I have been using this product for sometime now and love it since it amps up my energy big time. Strangely though the previous time we bought it we noticed some ingredient was missing on the list. It was shear fluke we checked but told someone we buy this product because of this ingredient. Then when we went to show them it was not on the list yet were sure the product had that ingredient before. Since we had already thrown out the previous bottle we could not check for sure. At that point I let it drift as likely our mistake. Then the other day I got a new bottle and noticed the label change. This was of course a red flag so checked the ingredients. Luckily I still have the old bottle here to compare. Well it turns out the "new and improved" bottle is short at least three more ingredients. On top of that it has twenty percent more give or take of the cheapest ingredient… psylium??? Same great product just short a few of the…likely more expensive… ingredients. I checked the box and sure enough no flyer stating that they have now removed those other…recently discovered as carcinogenic… ingredients. No explanation on the website that I could find. Just the same old product, same great price and now less ingredients??? Now I am not sure about you but I could not help but smell rip off here. Just the same I am not the sharpest tool in the shed to decided to write the company… hmmmm no answer so far. In fact I have not even had any "men in black" knocking on my door reminding me to "shut the f up"

     This example pretty well proves to me that this company that I have been so loyal too is not that loyal to its customers. Their loyalty seems to end at the ink used in their brochures. Now this is not that big a deal after all the economy is tough and usually accountants rarely know what else to do to increase profits other than manipulate numbers… less of this expensive stuff… more of this cheap stuff…. Equals maintained profit…

     My dad used to always say that if you have a friend that would steal off his grandmother you should watch him around your own wallet... or if you friend shoots your cat don't trust him around your dog....