They are all the same size, or they seem to be

VanHoute Coffee on the shelf

It is not the greatest photo. One of the perils of shooting in a grocery store where the corporate powers are not keen to have the competition in sneaking shots. But you can get the point. There are three packages of coffee on the shelf and they are all $10.49. The packages are from Columbia, Mexico, and Honduras.

They seem to be the same size, but are they?

Van Houte Coffee from Columbia, 312 Grams

Van Houte Coffee from Mexico, 340 grams

Van Houte Coffee from Honduras, 340 grams

Although at first glance, the three packages are all the same price and seem to be the same size, the reality is that the package coffee from Columbia smaller. At 28 grams less, it almost 10% more expensive by weight.

When most people think about coffee, Columbia usually comes out near the top of respected producers. (Juan Valdez's time was not wasted.) And as Colombian coffee is generally regarded to be higher quality, it is also probably expected to be more expensive. And in this case, it is.

Is this sort of packaging deceptive? Yes. Is it unethical? No.

The economies of scale of producing one size of bag and one size of box to ship the coffee bags in makes some sense. But I think that this really diminishes the premium value of the Colombian coffee. If you are trying to differentiate Columbia coffee from, presumably, lesser quality coffees from Mexico and Honduras, then a premium price might make sense. When there is a choice between transparency and what might be interpreted as deception, I think that marketers should always opt for transparency.