Coffee-mate concentrate
The latest development from the inventive folks at Coffee-mate — who have produced no fewer than 32 flavors of their refrigerated liquid coffee creamers, most of which probably aren't at your supermarket, for which you should be glad, as making the choice between similar flavors would be agonizing — now, where was Mr. Tidbit?
Oh, yes: Now they have produced Coffee-mate 2Go concentrated coffee creamer, available in just four flavors (for now). It contains much less water — so a standard serving is only one-third as big (a teaspoon instead of a tablespoon), and so it's a much smaller bottle. Mr. Tidbit would call it "pocket size" — and it's not supposed to be refrigerated, so there might be people who actually keep it in a pocket. When Mr. Tidbit discusses new "convenience" versions of existing products, he often points out that they're not all that much more convenient, or that you could easily make the convenience version yourself. Neither is true for Coffee-mate 2Go. He also almost always points out that the convenience version costs more. That one is true.
At one discount store, where the 32-ounce (63-serving) bottle of regular Coffee-mate is $3.19 (5 cents a serving), the 3-ounce (18-serving) bottle of Coffee-mate 2Go is $3.94 — a whopping 22 cents a serving, more than four times as much.
Some folks might find powdered Coffee-mate a bit more convenient than the regular refrigerated liquid, and Mr. Tidbit was sure it would be cheaper than either liquid, but at the same store the 15-ounce jar (35 4-teaspoon servings) is $3.99, 11 cents a serving. He can't imagine why. Puzzling as it is, that's true of only the sweetened varieties. The tan 16-ounce jar of the original unsweetened, unflavored powder contains 226 1-teaspoon servings and sells for $3.42, so it's just 1.5 cents a serving.
Hershey's snacks
There are many shapes of some of Hershey's many candy products: bars, Miniatures, Nuggets, Drops. Probably more. And now there are Snack Bites, half-dollar-size mounded versions of three Hershey standbys: Mr. Goodbar, Hershey almond and Payday. At a gas station where the 1.45-ounce Hershey almond bar was $1.39 (96 cents an ounce), the 2.5-ounce bag (five ½-ounce pieces) of Snack Bites was $1.99 (80 cents an ounce).
Al Sicherman
