A few weeks ago, I and my readers have noticed that the small, nine-ounce bottles of Dawn dish detergent are now being advertised as eight-ounce bottles. Once again, the Grocery Shrink Ray has hit Dawn dish detergent.
Over the years, the smallest-sized bottles of Dawn have progressively lost ounces:
A reader submitted this photo to me in late 2015 around the time the 10.3-ounce Dawns dropped to 9-ouncers. He thought it was funny that he had all three sizes sitting on a shelf in his basement.
If you like scoring deals on the small-sized Dawns, keep an eye out for those 9-ounce bottles, as they’re being replaced on stores’ shelves with even-smaller 8-ounce versions:
Here’s where things get really interesting. Dawn has offered 9-ounce “Trial Size” versions of Dawn that are nearly identical to other Dawn varieties on the shelves (same scents and formulas) with one exception: Because they’re labeled “Trial Size,” you cannot use a coupon on them, as Dawn’s coupons exclude usage on any trial sizes.
Back in 2015, I reached out to Procter & Gamble to inquire why some 9-ounce Dawn bottles were marked “Trial Size,” while other 9-ounce bottles weren’t. At that time, the brand agreed that this was somewhat illogical and stated that it would do away with trial-sized Dawn.
P&G reversed this decision in 2016 and increased the size of the “Trial Size” text on the bottle, stating that they didn’t want coupons used on this size of bottle, as it was commonly distributed in dollar stores.
Keeping that in mind, look at the rest of the Dawn detergent shelf at my local Jewel-Osco store today:
There are now 8-ounce non-trial-sized Dawns sitting on the shelf right next to the Trial Size Dawns, and both have been downsized to eight ounces. On the far right, two bottles of the older, 9-ounce “Trial Size” Dawns sit in front of a full shelf of new, 8-ounce Dawns.
Of course, I had to grab one of each and set them up for a photo. Isn’t this funny? You cannot use a coupon on either of the first two bottles, but you can use a coupon on the third one.
P&G often issues .25 coupons valid on any non-trial-sized Dawn, and with all of these bottles currently on sale for $1, the non-trial-sized bottle will cost you less with a coupon than either of its “Trial Size” counterparts… even though one of these “Trial Size” bottles contains an extra ounce.
Kristy says
Remember when “trial size” meant something like a 1 to 4 ounce sample of something, and the standard size “small” bottles were 16-18 ounces?
Angela says
Pretty soon the Dawn bottles will be as small as Will Ferrell’s SNL phone.
SSMark1 says
I noticed this last month when getting the 88 cent clearance Gain & the Cascade 50%+ off reset clearance. It’s sad that is happens so often, I just accept it, whether it’s OJ, baking, cereal, or etc…
Too bad the price doesn’t shrink.
This also creates the situation where if you use the same amount, you buy more bottles.
Most plastic is bad.
More bottles cost more money.
More bottles to recycle.
Not all bottles get recycled.
Which means more bottles end up in land fills.
We all loose.
I wish my weight would shrink from where it was a few years ago, I could lose some ounces myself!
-Mark
Coupon Maven says
Here’s the truth — and it’s true not just for Dawn, but for a host of other products and brands: If you want to save the most money, you’re almost always better off buying the smallest size of a product with a coupon than you are buying a larger size of the same product with the same coupon.
Even with 8 ounces now in the bottle, the new Dawn Ultra, on sale for $1, is .75 after a .25 coupon. This works out to about .09 per ounce.
The 18-ounce bottles of Dawn Ultra are $2.99 right now at Jewel. With the same .25 coupon, they’re $2.74 — that’s more than .15 per ounce. You will pay nearly double the per-ounce price to buy the larger bottles. Is it worth paying almost twice as much to avoid recycling an additional bottle? Even with no coupons at all, two 8-ounce bottles of Dawn Ultra gets you 16 ounces for $2, versus 18 ounces for $2.99..
The real question is, why would anyone looking to save money -not- buy the smaller sizes? Even with the downsize, they are still your least-expensive option.
I look at nearly everything this way — it’s the reason that I am often buying the smaller bottles of laundry detergent too. Ounce per ounce, they’re usually the best deal.
assassin says
“Too bad the price doesn’t shrink.”
it often does, at least with the food items i follow (Dannon’s recent 6.0-turned-5.3oz fruit on the bottom yogurts are a sad exception) — but it shrinks by less than the size. so they’ll reduce the mass or volume by 25%, lower the price 15%, and expect some rubes to believe they’re getting a bargain.
“I wish my weight would shrink from where it was a few years ago, I could lose some ounces myself!”
hah. speaking of this, the manufacturers will sometimes try to spin their shrinking package ripoffs as some sort of conscientious portion control that’s fighting diabetes or Ebola or what have you. which is nonsense, unless customers are consuming the bottle or bag in a single sitting.
good point on the plastic waste.
JudyLH says
Meijer had Mazola cooking oil a week or two ago, buy one get one free, it was 40 oz., not 48. The bottle looked the same from the front, but the depth has changed. The price for one was about 40 cents higher then the 48 oz. sizes of Crisco & Wesson. When one brand shrinks, the others usually follow.
mary johnson says
UPDATE: Dawn bottles have dropped another ounce. They have gone FROM 8 OUNCES DOWN TO 7 OUNCES !!!
Same height and width of bottles so you don’t notice…..but shape of bottle is smaller for the loss of another ounce !!!