Manufacturers can be sued... but so can the retailer.
The retailer (Kroger) is selling under-weight products, which is consumer fraud. Whether or not they are doing it knowingly, they are still responsible.
Get a good lawyer and file a class action lawsuit. Remember the lawsuit against Subway, when they advertised "foot-long sandwiches". In 2013, a series of lawsuits was filed against Subway, claiming their "footlong" sandwiches were not always a full foot long. The suits eventually combined into one big class action lawsuit, representing customers who purchased 6-inch or footlong sandwiches anytime between January 1, 2003, and October 2, 2015.
The plaintiffs claimed that Subway was marketing footlong sandwiches "as being 12 inches when they are not in fact 12 inches. At least one lawyer hired a private investigator to visit 14 Subway locations and collect evidence. Measuring the bread at different restaurants, they found that most of the bread only measured to about 11" or 11.5" and Subway was shorting each customer roughly 45¢.
The court found that none of the marketing practices by Subway franchises were "improper or unlawful" but in the settlement Subway agreed to pay up to $525,000 in attorneys fees, and it agreed to employ and enforce "quality control measures to ensure that operators are complying with the rules." Subway restaurants are now be required to measure bread, so that footlong and 6-inch sandwiches will be at least 12 inches and 6 inches.
The plaintiffs received NO monetary award. (that's how it goes sometimes). Instead, they got the satisfaction of making sure that Subway was delivering what they promised to consumers.
In this case... you may bring a class action lawsuit and lawyers will see $$$$$$. You may actually get a nice award this time. Subway wasn't intentionally shorting the sandwiches, but that's just the way the bread baked. They didn't KNOW that the footlong bread wasn't exactly a foot long after baking.
However, the product manufacturer KNOWS that the packages of cheese or dog food or whatever... is underweight. They package that food based on certified consumer scales by weight. There is no way in hell that the manufacturers wouldn't know that every package is only 2/3rds of the advertised weight. That was intentional. That being the case, they may be sued for punitive damages at 3X actual damages to consumers. In other words, could be $Hundreds of Millions in lawsuit. Again, don't expect to see a dime of it. Instead, expect your attorney to get wealthier.
I’ve checked a few items on my kitchen scale to confirm weights. No issues yet. I’ll check more. To be more successful, there would need to be a viral aspect to it. Get around media censorship. The media will call it a ‘manufacturer’s mistake’ and bury it.
So, the ‘Weight it at home challenge.’ Millions of people have home kitchen scales. If the companies are regularly shorting us, it would be a story that grows. Everyone is pissed about food prices. They would see the evidence right under their noses. There is your class of similarly situated individuals. More importantly, it puts a spotlight on food issues.
I'm thinkging it's not necessarily the stores fault but definitely the manufacturer's fault for putting less in the packages than they say there is.
Edit to add: And with the way food prices are right now, they have a flipping nerve to scam people like this.
Manufacturers can be sued... but so can the retailer.
The retailer (Kroger) is selling under-weight products, which is consumer fraud. Whether or not they are doing it knowingly, they are still responsible.
Get a good lawyer and file a class action lawsuit. Remember the lawsuit against Subway, when they advertised "foot-long sandwiches". In 2013, a series of lawsuits was filed against Subway, claiming their "footlong" sandwiches were not always a full foot long. The suits eventually combined into one big class action lawsuit, representing customers who purchased 6-inch or footlong sandwiches anytime between January 1, 2003, and October 2, 2015.
The plaintiffs claimed that Subway was marketing footlong sandwiches "as being 12 inches when they are not in fact 12 inches. At least one lawyer hired a private investigator to visit 14 Subway locations and collect evidence. Measuring the bread at different restaurants, they found that most of the bread only measured to about 11" or 11.5" and Subway was shorting each customer roughly 45¢.
The court found that none of the marketing practices by Subway franchises were "improper or unlawful" but in the settlement Subway agreed to pay up to $525,000 in attorneys fees, and it agreed to employ and enforce "quality control measures to ensure that operators are complying with the rules." Subway restaurants are now be required to measure bread, so that footlong and 6-inch sandwiches will be at least 12 inches and 6 inches.
The plaintiffs received NO monetary award. (that's how it goes sometimes). Instead, they got the satisfaction of making sure that Subway was delivering what they promised to consumers.
In this case... you may bring a class action lawsuit and lawyers will see $$$$$$. You may actually get a nice award this time. Subway wasn't intentionally shorting the sandwiches, but that's just the way the bread baked. They didn't KNOW that the footlong bread wasn't exactly a foot long after baking.
However, the product manufacturer KNOWS that the packages of cheese or dog food or whatever... is underweight. They package that food based on certified consumer scales by weight. There is no way in hell that the manufacturers wouldn't know that every package is only 2/3rds of the advertised weight. That was intentional. That being the case, they may be sued for punitive damages at 3X actual damages to consumers. In other words, could be $Hundreds of Millions in lawsuit. Again, don't expect to see a dime of it. Instead, expect your attorney to get wealthier.
I’ve checked a few items on my kitchen scale to confirm weights. No issues yet. I’ll check more. To be more successful, there would need to be a viral aspect to it. Get around media censorship. The media will call it a ‘manufacturer’s mistake’ and bury it.
So, the ‘Weight it at home challenge.’ Millions of people have home kitchen scales. If the companies are regularly shorting us, it would be a story that grows. Everyone is pissed about food prices. They would see the evidence right under their noses. There is your class of similarly situated individuals. More importantly, it puts a spotlight on food issues.
It's so crazy that we have to go to such lengths to get the truth out and around censorship from our own media.
Their job is supposed to be to inform us of this kind of thing. Instead they are the ones actively working to cover it up.
People are literally strategizing how to make sure video evidence is able to get out from under media censorship so that others can see it.