Shrinkflation!

 Happy Easter.  

Have you noticed the Cadbury Easter Cream Eggs are almost 13 percent smaller than usual?  They might even cost more this year, due to a worldwide cocoa shortage.  I'm okay. I got a few tiny free ones at a local social gathering this week. That will do for me.

I went grocery shopping this week and found a lot of bare shelves in the salad dressing section. I was looking for coleslaw dressing but that wasn't the only one missing.  Kraft shelves had more empty spaces than product, at more than one store. I was starting to wonder if they were going to stop selling in Canada. At the third shop we finally found what I was looking for and immediately understood the problem. Kraft has redesigned their bottles. There is now 50 millimeters less product in them than before. Shrinkflation strikes again!  

I guess the stores want to get rid of all their old stock before putting out these new bottles. People might not notice they are smaller if they don't see them side by side. Ya. Right. 

Now, if I could only shrink by as much....

Bigger Isn't Better

 This past weekend we did something we have not done since before the pandemic. We went to a Home Show. Actually, we went to two of them.  The first one was held in the community centre in Prescott, Ontario. The second was a huge affair at the EY Centre in Ottawa.  Both had displays promoting businesses and products, but that's about where the similarity ended.

I had looked forward to the Ottawa show as it's a Home and Garden Show, which usually has great displays of gardens and landscaping and sometimes even tiny homes. It also has just about any product or service you might need if you are thinking of updating, repairing or renovating your home. This one had an over-abundance of fence and rail products. If I were in the market for such a thing, I would have found it hard to make a choice. The thing this big show definitely had, and I could have lived without, was a lot of high-pressure salespeople.  I did discover that if you looked even slightly interested, they would keep lowering the price and throwing in extras to reel you in. I wasn't biting, but it was amusing to see, and I now know that I would definitely hold off on buying until they reached their best deal.  Hey, one even offered to let me buy the product at a "dealer price" after I mentioned that I often write reviews. She figured I might be good for her business. That would only work if her product worked for me, and I wasn't convinced that it would.

The Prescott show was much more low-key, and the people presenting there were most interested in just letting the public know they existed. There were no high-pressure sales pitches, but there was a lot more swag.  The presenters were quite happy to talk to you, make recommendations, even if it was for something other than what they had available, and most of them had things for you to take home. Some even offered you swag even if you looked like you were about to walk by without giving them a second glance. 

There was an entry fee to attend both these events. The Prescott one was less than half as much, even though I got the Ottawa tickets at half price for buying early. I felt like I got my money's work in swag at Prescott, but all I really got out of the Ottawa one was a bit of exercise from walking up and down aisles in a big hall, and a bunch of pamphlets to take home. The Prescott show was more fun, and more worth my while. They didn't have any dealers with the one product we were looking into though. The Ottawa one had a couple. Still, I think we would rather deal with businesses closer to home. I'm not sure I'd bother going back to the Ottawa Home and Garden Show unless I had some major project in mind. 

I did enter a lot of contests, and can now expect to field a lot of phone calls, I suppose. I have a much better chance of winning something from the Prescott show though, as there would be a lot less entries. I've won several things from past shows such as this. Wish me luck.

Art and Found Day

Have you ever found a rock with something painted on it? You know, the ones you are allowed to pick up and take home.  They could be anywhere and you just accidentally come across them. 

Years ago, a local lady who made glass beads, decided to leave little necklaces around town for others to find. I found two but, to be fair, I decided to relocate one in another town.

Now I have discovered we are about to celebrate Art and Found Day on March 12.  Artists all over the world will leave something they created somewhere for someone else to find and take home. I want to take part and have encouraged some of my friends to get in on the fun too. I have been working on a painting of a friend's horse that I will place where, hopefully, it will be found soon. With any luck, the finder will share it on social media. I may drop more than one.  They may be just bookmarks. We'll see....

If this is of interest to you, go to www.artandfoundday.com to learn more.