*Boulder Ice Cream, available in Colorado and nearby states. It's really good, I promise.

@SwainEileithyia:
(Man, I wish the scripting on the site would hurry up and 'fix itself.')

Get over yourself. They put their money where their mouth is, and provide *real jobs* for at-risk kids. If giving someone a job at your own expense and teaching them responsibility is socialist, sign me up.

There's a difference between "social politics" and "socialist politics." You can help all of your citizens without giving everyone everything they want. It isn't a black-and-white issue.

The most important thing, of course, is still that they spend their own profits in ways they see fit.

Your argument is that they should spend their profits in ways that *YOU* see fit.

Which of these points of view is more socialist?

Reply button doesn't work. :'-(

Here in the south, at least, we still have the big plastic gallon buckets of ice-cream. It isn't exactly the highest quality stuff (this is one of those things where brand matters *a lot*), but the gallon has been a gallon for ages.

Mayfield was one of the last big dairy companies to offer an actual half-gallon, but they "followed Bryers' lead" and went to the "industry standard" 1.75gal quite a while back.

The real question I want answered wrt the shrink-ray is: Why do the prices keep going up *in addition to* the package sizes going down? It wouldn't be quite so bad if the price stayed the same and you got less product, but instead of paying $X for a (Y-1)-Size package, we're now paying $X+1 for a (Y-1)-Size package.

They keep arguing that they're lowering package size to keep from raising prices, but they raise prices at the same time. And they're paying less for raw materials.

when Ben & Jerry sold out to Unileaver a couple years ago the seem to have changes the recipe for Cherry Garcia. no more will you find ANY whole cherries. you now find only little fragements of cherries and not very many of them, either.

here's the thing: Ben & Jerry's has ALWAYS been about the large quantity of massive bits. the Heath Bar flavor used to have MASSIVE hunks of carbar. Cherry Garcia had MASSIVE amounts of cherries, whole cherries.

no more. its nice but its not the same.

Dreyers 1.5 quarts
Most other national brands 1.5 quarts
Safeway 1.75 quarts
Nobody does a real half gallon anymore in Northern California. I know there's some Southern brand that touts its real half gallon, but I forget the name since I've never seen it in a store.

I hope these companies are treading lightly. It's a quick way to get into trouble with agencies that enforce weights and measures standards. You can't sell a 14 fl oz container of ice-cream as a pint, you can only sell it as a 14 fl oz container.

Collagen rendered from cow hooves. What's wrong with that?

I think they changed the formulation- it's mostly seaweed now, i believe.

although, there have been a lot of horses gone missing lately...

Called B&J the next day and they told us to keep the cake and come in for a free replacement as well. That's what customer service is all about - so kudos to the Williston, Vermont store!

Seriously, why are companies allowed to get away with shrinking the product and calling it the same thing? There's a big difference between "Now in Half Gallon Container!" then a half gallon of ice cream. They should be forced to report the new sizes, not the old sizes and slap NEW across the changed weight to conceal it.

Gotta have at least double that!

I wish the sold them in larger containers.

Now I'm going to have to go get 2 pints of cherry garcia....willpower:who needs it?

Dammit. I will SO be buying a pint tonight. THANKS COMSERMIST. I try not to buy ice cream 'cuz I'll just eat it in one sitting. BUT NOW I HAVE TO because I'm craving it hardcore. All your fault, Comsumerist, all your fault.

I don't care. I like Haagen-Dazs and I don't like Ben and Jerry's.

Personally, I like a good strong vanilla that can stand on its own without a bunch of gummi bears or caramel-caca swirls. I like Haagen-Dazs' plain flavors - chocolate, vanilla, coffee, strawberry.

Since I only eat a few ounces at a time (a pint is six to eight servings for me), it doesn't hurt that much.

The face that they also run a responsible business is secondary to me.

What a great company. I've been on the factory tour a few times, and always liked how down-to-earth and respectful of the consumers they were. I can dig it.

It's called brand image of the division.

If they only had vanilla, chocolate, coffee and strawberry for the last two decades, it'd be simpler. It'd also not be Ben & Jerry's.

Good freaken gods, it's ICE CREAM, a once--or-twice-a-month treat. If your system is that delicate to be impacted, you should be eating jello. :)

Stick to their more generic, organic varieties if you want a less complicated ingredient reading experience. :)

shrinkage...standing tall in the freezer...

Tsk tsk...dangerous for a family brand comprised of 2 guys' names to be associated with sexual connotations...

It's laziness on Ben and Jerry's part. Laziness and an admitted to inability to control the things that go into their products because they are, apparently, unable to effectively communicate with or monitor their third-party suppliers. Do you want to eat something from a company that cannot say what is in their products? Do you want to eat something from a company that cannot source their ingredients? They clearly cannot and that's irresponsible.

They don't change items that often. Most of their ice cream flavors have been around for decades, with a few new ones coming and going every now and then. There is no reason that company - a huge company, not some hippy-dippy outfit everyone believes it is, can't say what's in their products.

Haagen Daz also happens to have a great deal more than four items, by the way.

though, give me a pint of cherry garcia and i am doomed to eat the entire thing in one sitting.

i read somewhere that the reason for the exotic mixes with extreme flavours is due to one of the partners having anosmia, no sense of smell. with anosmia you are unable to taste foods unless they are very strong flavours.

Not that B&J is necessarily going to do this. I'm just saying it's an option.

Take equal parts (volume wise) of el-cheapo ice cream and "premium" ice cream. (use water displacement for precise volume measurement) Melt both in the microwave. El-cheapo will have less liquid after wards.

Haagen Daz has, what, four flavors? And has had them forever?

It's tough for Ben & Jerry's to generate these lists (or certify "better" ingredients since they often include, say, Heath Bars, chocolate-dipped pretzels, etc.)
But their quality standards for their own ice cream without the third-party add-ons is equal to any other super-premium ice cream. Recall that they were one of the first purveyors to use hormone-free cream, and the first (and compared to Haagen Daz, the only) to also use organic milk.
They also, for the longest period that they could, had corporate policies that were incredibly progressive: CEO salary caps, lush benefits, supporting local farmers over factory farms, etc.

So, as far as the quality argument, I don't see it. Regards the documentation argument, it's understandable. Regards the value argument, their recent declaration speaks for itself. And (IMHO) regarding corporate ethics, they're clear head-and-shoulders above most other companies, let alone their direct competitors.

And, whoever compared Dreyer's with either if these two ice cream makers obviously hates ice cream with a passion. :P

I don't think a soul here buys it for the hippy facade - I bet a lot of people here will buy it out of spite for H-D now!

I happen to like New York Super Fudge Chunk as my favorite flavor, myself :)

Here's a link to their flippant, contradictory FAQ response about it.

We do not have a list of gluten-free flavors. Sorry! The ingredients that we use change quite often. We do not want to claim a flavor is gluten-free, then have that list become outdated and the recipients not aware of the latest changes.

...

We assure you that we have researched our ingredients carefully, and we know exactly what is going into our ice cream.

If they did, they'd know if there was gluten in their products. It's disturbing.

I like to think that you get more "ice cream" in your ice cream when you buy the good stuff. I also like making my own, but then the problem is I can never eat it all!

Modifying the overrun of icecream leads to different textures and melting properties. Most premium brands of ice cream have proprietary overrun that is tuned along with other ingredients to achieve a particular flavor/mouthfeel/melting property, etc.

Cheap ice creams have up to the USDA limit of 100% (or a final product that is half air) allowable in a product that is sold as "ice cream". This is why cheap grocery brands are light, unsubstantial, and tend to melt quickly.

Nothing against them, except that their product generally isn't to my taste as much as H-D.

The funny sounding European name is much better ice cream. That said, FINALLY a manufacturer with the guts to raise prices instead of decreasing size.

I might actually have to switch to B&J just because of their marketing efforts.

Nah, the funny sounding European name is still much better ice cream and besides I prefer the Byrs brand anyway.

I love Americone Dream.

This is making me hungry.

Oops, wait -- am I in the wrong part of this thread?

@eightfifteen: Makes sense... "We know you're going to eat the whole thing, so we'll help you lose weight while you do it by taking away 2 ounces..."

@KyleOrton: zing!

@octopede:

Does the unwaranted 20 million "retention" bonus count as pay if they're only making 5x more then Willy the mail boy?

@Gene Gemperline:

Well if you dont shrink it to under a pint, how ever can you justify the raise in price in 6 months when they add 20% more, "NOW ITS PINT SIZED!" ? Atleast i'm sure thats how their marketing team pitched it to them.

Raising the price brings the cost increase to the customer's immediate attention; while (quietly) shrinking the product size is a sneaky tactic to essentially raise the price w/o the customer noticing.

Blue Bell. No shrinkage there, either!

I love B&J's...but they're very harsh on my waist.

Häagen-Dazs was in the pool!

Häagen-Dazs was in the pool!

P.S. We will, however, be raising the price.

This doesn't address the issue of how much air is in the cream they use. The "better" ice creams have less air so they are more dense/rich. I wouldn't be surprised if one of these companies just started adding more air and continued to call it 16oz.

@Smooooth: Except half-gallons of ice cream are becoming 1.5 quarts.

Screw the pint. Give me a half-gallon!

Yeah for Ben and Jerry's! They are still too expensive for me to justify except as an occaisional treat when I travel for work though. Whay can't companies accept that if I want a half gallon of Ice cream, I want a half gallon of Ice cream? It's not like I am going to serve smaller portions to my family because Breyers or whomever dictates that I must. I either am forced to buy two containers, buuy a storebrand (like safeway) which is still a full half gallon, or, skip ice cream and go for another item, which is what I usually do. I used to eat a lot of ice cream. It was my comfort food of choice. Now I drink a lot of Diet Dr Pepper instead. Oh, and I can get in in 24 ounce bottles instead of smaller ones, which I do.

Don't dictate that I must buy smaller or more items to get the same quantity. I will skip it altogether. Charge me a fair price for the standard amount, and I will buy it.

@Gene Gemperline: Unless it says the word "Pint" on the packaging it won't matter to them, just the retailer.

They probably aren't calling it a pint. Its about time a competitor tout their failure to shrink as a benefit! The larger sizes definitely sway me in my purchase decisions.