The mosaics above are an experiment. I wanted to see the difference between a regular uploaded mosaic against the larger type. What I see is quite a bit of distortion with the larger so I'm not certain that it's worth doing.
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Getting back to my post's topic... I don't know how many of my fellow bloggers shop in big box stores. In the past, I belonged to Sam's Club and BJ's; now I belong only to BJ's. Often I can find what I'm looking for at a better price there than I can find it for at my local grocery store or my Wal*Mart of choice.
There's one product that has disappeared completely from the shelves of any stores, including BJ's. It's Little Friskies Dental Diet for cats. I've fed my cats this dry food once daily for years. Suddenly, it's gone. First it disappeared from Wal*Mart shelves necessitating my revisiting Shaw's and Hannaford Brothers. Then, it disappeared from Shaw's. Imagine my shock when it is no longer carried at Hannaford Brothers either. I wonder why.
I've found messsage boards online devoted to the subject. One woman says that she'd hoard the stuff if she could just find some. I feel the very same way. Guess that the next thing to do is write a letter to Purina to see if I can find some answers. It's still offered online, but I refuse to pay those prices plus shipping, too.
So here's my question for today: have you been having any trouble finding a certain product? Do you wonder what's going on?
(Next time perhaps we can discuss why Wal*Mart has decided to make all of the packaging for its house brand so black and white, unattractive, and reminding me of some Socialist/Communist country. I'd rather spend extra money to return to a regular grocery store where I can find brand names with bright colors. That is, I would if I could afford it.)
Edited to Add:
More experimenting. Donna suggests that I need to save at 100 pixels per inch. I've always saved blog photos at the highest resolution. I checked the first photo and it was at 96 pixels. I've since enlarged a titch and saved at 100. Let's see what happens, if anything.
Oh I can't tell. Maybe Donna will come back and let me know. :D
Edited to Add AGAIN:
I'm getting a lot of mileage from my three pathetic daffodils...
Thought perhaps that the mosaic itself created some fuzzies so am popping in a single shot.
Final Edit to Add on this Post I promise:
Popping in a very nice email from Purina giving me a list of stores that should be carrying the product. Also, I have those stores' telephone numbers so that will be next...calling store managers.
Thank you for contacting Nestlé Purina PetCare Company.
We are sorry that you've been unable to locate Purina(r) Friskies(r) Cat Food Dental Diet Poultry & Fish Flavor For Adult Cats in your area. Let us assure you that our sales force does their best to convince retailers to stock as many of our products in various flavors and sizes as possible. Please understand it is up to the independent retailer or chain store management to make the final decision as to which products will be featured in their store.
Please know Purina(r) Friskies(r) Cat Food Dental Diet Poultry & Fish Flavor for Adult Cats is still being manufactured, however it is in limited distribution. Our records indicate that that this product should be available at PetsMart stores, online at www.petfooddirect.com, or at the following stores in your area:
It has been a while since I have shopped at Wal Mart and didn't know they had changed the packaging.
ReplyDeleteWhen I sold Avon I used to hate it when they would discontinue one of my customers favorite products. I know they can't keep everything...but...
I'll be looking in our Amish grocery for that cat food. They often carry the more obscure products. Especially if they are not big sellers in the larger store BB's buys it in bulk and sells it cheap. You have made me curious.
Becky K.
Before you load a photo on your blog, be sure to save it out with a higher resolution. I typically use 100 pixels per square inch. That way, when you click on the larger format in the blogger popup, you will get a picture that is now fuzzy. With a low resolution picture, you are spreading out the pixels too thinly - hence a case of the blurries!
ReplyDeleteWe get frustrated too when our favorite products get discontinued or fallen from favor at certain groceries. We used to get our diet IBC root beer from Wally World and then all of a sudden they quit stocking it. We're gone round and round with the management to stock it without success. So we end up paying more for it and getting it at Krogers. Grrrr...
I seem to spend so much time running around looking for the products I need only to find they've been discontinued. Frustrating!
ReplyDeleteYour garden is blooming beautifully, Vee!
xo,
Lynda
Vee,
ReplyDeleteI have the same complaint about Wal-Mart, here they have started to stock a ton of their own bland packaged inferior brands and other brands have been condensed to small sections that I bet will disappear completely in the future.
It is so frustrating to suddenly find they no longer carry my preferred dish soap, laundry products, pet food, or grocery items. I have started to shop sales elsewhere but it can be a pain running here and there.
I mostly avoid this store if at all possible. I hope you are able to locate your needed item.
Have yourself a great weekend!
I used to like to buy most items with store brand labels, but I've noticed that they're becoming more and more scarce everywhere in our limited shopping "arena". I all but refuse to go to WalMart now. A new one was built right across from Costco and right behind Albertson's Foods - too much competition for our small population.
ReplyDeleteAs to the photos, I wouldn't have noticed the blurriness if you hadn't mentioned it.
I'm always sad when Costco dicontinues some of my favorites...but that's the name of the game over there. Cat food...I can't comment on that one.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your spring blooms!
Yes, I hate it when you finally find a product that works for you and *poof* ..it's gone :-(
ReplyDeleteSort of like a hair stylist you finally like then she's moved from the local Fantastic Sam's to a MUCH higher private place..Grrr
On the subject of favorites disappearing from market shelves. My husband likes to fix a huge can of green beans for bereavement dinners at our church and we try to keep the large cans of Stoklys on hand and for large family dinners. They have disappeared from the shelves. He has looked everywhere and cannot find them anywhere. At our Kroger the stock man said he was told not to order them anymore. That is all we have found out. Who knows what is going on in the market place dictated by you know who. We may soon be told what we can and cannot buy. OMG help us.
ReplyDeleteQMM
Whip 'n Chill from Jell-O was my favorite dessert growing up. It disappeared from stores It's only available online through the Vermont Country Store or Amazon but at prices so outrageous I'll never buy it.
ReplyDeleteAnd don't get me started on lipstick colors. Find one you like and it's a guarantee that it's about to be discontinued!
I think the smaller mosaics were the better pictures both times.
ReplyDeleteI shop at the commissary and you never know what you'll find there!! Things come and go all the time and things get changed around A LOT! It makes for interesting shopping. :-)
I have had that happen suddenly and it is devastating. I have very fine hair and have been using the Aussie leave-in conditioner forever (the regular ones leave me limp and greasy!) - I use it only as it helps with detangling, otherwise my hair is like a bird's nest when I get out of the shower.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, it suddenly disappeared from my Shoppers Drug Mart, then Walmart, etc. etc. I am so depressed. Now I am using Baby No More Tears Detangler. While I enjoy feeling like a baby again, it is not the same product.
I also regularly have my favorite Aveda lipsticks discontinued as they introduce exciting new colours. Not...
David and I get very upset when "old things" get replaced by new things. Are people that fickle that they need constant rebranding and new products?
I, for one, buy the exact same things over and over when I find a product I like. : )
Sorry about your cat food. I will look here and see if I can find you any. :)
Envious of your daffodils - we got a white-out snowstorm yesterday.
xo Terri
I know how you feel, when we like something and it's no longer available we seem to go in a panic. I've gone all over town before just to find a specific snack that my regular store stopped carrying (the nerve!). Absolutely write to Purina. They may even send you a coupon for it too. :D
ReplyDeleteI'm curious, too, Vee. I'll have to check that out about the catfood. I can't think of anything right off the top of my head that I'm missing, but I know there have been items, too.
ReplyDeleteMy beef is that they're are too many different brands of the same product that they don't really have enough room on the shelves for all of them. Perhaps that is why you can't find your catfood.
We have too many choices today. That's what I think and I'm stickin' to it.
PS - Target has ugly new packaging, too. I don't wanna buy the ugly stuff either. Perhaps they are doing some kind of experiment on us???
Hey, I'm with you about the lack lustre colourworks we seem to be slipping into. I do recall hearing once when the Iron Curtain was still intact, that some people from the Soviet Union had come across to North America (I believe) and they were astounded at the colours we had then. So when you mentioned that you've noticed the dullness of things, I had to add my two cents worth. Wish I could write them in colours!
ReplyDeleteDo you recall Sir Winston Churchill once remarked that he hoped yellow would be the 'dullest' colour in heaven, for then his paint palette would be loaded with brilliance and wonders he'd never seen before. I hope he's found it to be true!
Vee...thanks for your visit today. Taking some time to catch up on your blog...love your new header btw.
ReplyDeleteYes, I miss the first hour of our "LOST" with captions, I can't believe DWTS took that hour. Boo...but isn't it getting good, so many questions now being answered, I love it!!!! I can't wait to see how it's going to end. What only 5 more episodes.
:)
I'm not missing any products, but my mother loves a certain Pepperidge Farm bread (9 grain??), which is only sporadically offered.
ReplyDeleteMy beef is HUGE stores. I do not go to Walmart (Supercenter) for grocery shopping, in fact, I rarely go in there. I love my Kroger store. The problem is that they are now upsizing to a Kroger Supercenter. I am furious about it, but my little voice counts for nada! C
Oh gosh, I'm just now seeing this again. Hmmm, are you saving the file with enough pixels to begin with for your width and height? For my wider width main column, I am posting dimensions up to 640 pixels by 640 pixels, saved at 100 pixels per inch. Please double-check your dimensions. If you save a picture at a small dimension originally, and then try to blow it up, you'll get a case of the blotchies that way too.
ReplyDeleteIt is upsetting to see my favourites disappear, but I live with it.
ReplyDeleteWhat bothers me more is the fact most if not all companies are shrinking the package sizes. I would gladly pay extra to get the amounts I've been accustomed to. But do big companies ever listen to those who actually buy their products?
Two weeks ago Target discontinued selling 10 lb bags of Tidy Cat cat litter. I sent an email to Tidy Cat and Target. Tidy Cat is also a Purina product. They sent me the same email they sent you about Dental Diet plus 2-$2.00 coupons. $4.00 consolation - big deal! Then today I went to Petsmart where there was no Dental Diet. Obvious, Purina has decided to discontinue selling the products that they consider not to be big sellers which, apparently, are those 2 products. I will have to pay $14/bag more for Science Diet Dental products. If I could switch cat litters, I would so that Purina wouldn't have ANY of my business anymore.
ReplyDelete