The interesting thing from my point of view is that this is really large amounts of sugar you're talking about here. The most common sugar packet size in my supermarket is 1kg, you also get 1/2kg and 2kg. 

Is it that the people on this list are all cooks, and tend be more likely to cook things from scratch and to go through larger quantities of cooking supplies, or is there more of a habit of buying sugar (and other goods??)  in bulk in the US? I've only ever bought sugar in 2kg packets when I'm planning on doing a large baking run for a special occasion, or jam. 

Margaret/Emma
Melbourne, Australia/Krae Glas, Lochac 


> Johnna Holloway <johnnae@mac.com> wrote:
> 
> Yeah, I found it amusing too.
> 
> There are all sorts of people who complained because the 4 pound bag 
> doesn't fill their 5 pound sugar jar.
> 
> Johnnae
> 
> On Nov 28, 2012, at 5:36 PM, Terry Decker wrote:
> 
> > How humorous.  To save our profits, we're going to cut the amount in 
> the package and raise our prices.  And of course, not one word about us 
> paying twice the global retail rate already.  There is price support 
> legislation in the Farm Bill that limits the amount of imported sugar 
> forcing prices to about double the world market rate.  Great for sugar 
> companies, lousy for companies and people who use sugar.  There is a 
> study from Iowa State that says eliminating the subsidies would save 
> sugar consumers $3.5 billion per year and create 20,000 new jobs in the 
> food industry.  The counter argument is ending the price supports would 
> destabilize the domestic sugar industry and probably close a number of 
> refineries, particularly damaging the sugar beet industry, as these tend 
> to be local co-ops.
> > 
> > It's been quite a while since the pound of coffee became 11 ounces, so 
> I guess the 80% downsizing of a bag of sugar is probably here to stay.
> > 
> > Bear
> > 
> > 
> > ----- Original Message ----- 
> > snipped
> > Explained: C&H Sugar’s 5-to-4 lb. bags Reduction
> > 
> > by C&H Sugar on Friday, February 18, 2011 at 2:49pm ·
> > As many of our fans have noticed, the price of sugar has recently 
> increased. In an effort to alleviate some of the confusion and 
> frustration about this change we wanted to formally address it here.
> > 
> > As you may be aware, the price of sugar on the world market has nearly 
> doubled since the end of 2008.  [You can see the data here at the USDA 
> site: http://www.ers.usda.gov/briefing/sugar/Data/Table04.xls ]. In 
> order to offset our cost increases, we have had to raise our price per 
> pound of sugar.
> > In order to keep the cost per bag of sugar down, many retailers 
> converted their store brand product from a 5-pound to a 4-pound bag. In 
> an effort to maintain affordability we decided to do the same with our 
> C&H® brand sugar. The reduction in size, however, is not enough to 
> offset the cost increase in the remaining four pounds of the product. 
> That’s why you’re seeing the price go up and the size go down at the 
> same time. We understand the frustration and we assure you we are doing 
> everything we can to maintain the value and affordability that our 
> consumers expect from our brand. We hope that this has helped alleviate 
> some of the confusion around this recent change.
> > 
> > We appreciate your loyalty to C&H products. Thank you for your 
> continued support!”
> > 
> 
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