Important Class Action Updates from the Paper Product Aisle

• Author: Bryan Miller
• Posted: 2024-06-18

With incredibly high price increases at grocery stores brought on by worldwide events, including the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, inflation, supply chain disruptions and conflict in Ukraine, many people now struggle to pay for essentials like food and beverages, hygiene items, cleaning supplies and paper products. Worse, some manufacturers have made it more expensive for consumers by reducing the size of their products while still charging the same or higher prices. People buying online have also dealt with seller-based product price gouging and higher-than-standard shipping fees.

Consumers have especially seen this trend with paper towels, toilet paper and other paper-based items. Yet, some shoppers aren't accepting these changes. Read on to learn more about recent class actions related to this topic:

A Bit of History

Product producers and sellers have fallen back on bait-and-switch and price-gouging tactics throughout human history. Recent economically stressful events have merely increased the number of incidents. From the paper aisle, the most memorable example of this type of consumer manipulation comes from Kimberly-Clark's Scott brand. Near the start of the twenty-tens, Kimberly-Clark Corporation significantly reduced the size of each 1000-sheet Scott toilet paper roll. Many consumers only learned of the change after making their normal purchases at the same prices they previously paid for larger rolls.

Kimberly-Clark was able to continue to make the claim that each toilet paper roll contained 1000 sheets even though technically the product significantly shrunk both in height and depth, which meant that consumers received less toilet paper overall per shopping trip and needed to buy more to meet their typical usage needs. Over the years, other paper product manufacturers have also tried to make the most money possible out of a product comparatively inferior to what they sold before by reducing roll or sheet length or paper thickness or using less expensive and often lower quality materials.

Many grocery stores and retailers have taken advantage of their customers in the past during difficult economic times via price gouging. Most recently at the beginning of the pandemic, several grocery stores and online sellers overcharged customers for several paper products. In 2020, one Albertson's customer claimed in federal court that the grocery store charged her $8 to $9 higher than pre-pandemic prices for toilet paper, which increased the standard $10 or $11 price per pack to nearly $19 per pack.

What's Happening in 2022?

Consumers continue to experience an increasing trend of product size reductions without equivalent price decreases. For example, Procter & Gamble's Charmin brand Mega rolls shrunk from 264 to 244 sheets and Super Mega rolls from 396 to 366 sheets. At least one investigation by ConsumerWorld.org found that Charmin had shrunk approximately 90% over the last 60 years. P&G told the media that shrinking packages helps the company remain competitive and only applies to some retail locations. No matter the reason, P&G has decreased product/package sizes while increasing prices like many other manufacturers.

Some experts claim that this type of action only occurs because manufacturers must pay more for raw materials during harsh economic times. Yet, consumers see these issues during great times as well. The pandemic worsened the trend. Several class action lawsuits are underway related to these tactics. Some claims filed in previous years are still ongoing, such as one from 2021 against Amazon. A customer claimed that the massive e-commerce platform allowed and promoted "essential" household good price hikes that often averaged 1,000 percent or more higher than pre-pandemic prices during the most dire parts of the pandemic. Some people found that price changes for toilet paper, for example, increased from roughly less than $20 per bulk package to nearly $200.

On April 8, 2022, a California P&G customer filed a claim in a federal court that the company lied to consumers about its Bounty Select-A-Size paper towel product. They claimed that they purchased a 12-pack of "singles plus" Select-A-Size Bounty paper towels packaged with a statement that the rolls were the equivalent of 18 standard rolls when the product actually turned out to be smaller. The package stated that a standard roll contained approximately 83 sheets. Yet, P&G's promotional efforts elsewhere online noted that a single standard roll contained only 63 sheets.

Things to Keep in Mind

Although corporations face higher costs during hard economic times when purchasing raw materials for their products and more expenses related to manufacturing, they also often receive government business incentives and benefits that can help offset those costs. They can also charge more for existing products in a straightforward fashion without drastically altering their products or promoting them in misleading ways.

It's important for every consumer to maintain awareness of some of the common retail "tricks" used by companies and address any instances of fraud. Class action lawsuits can help you make certain that companies recognize that customers won't accept these actions. They also help consumers receive adequate compensation for their losses.