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This is the second time I've seen someone complain about Chore Boy pads in particular on social media, one was on YouTube this one I found on X and shared back to YouTube.
I understand their frustration and have been doing a lot of research on Shrinkflation. It's like looking back at my life and seeing that something was good once, and then you have to forget about it because it isn't happening now. These old Chore Boys if you get pictures of what they used to look like, they were a solid piece of copper. Now people open the pack, and see that there is just way less there.
It's happening for lots of other products. When you weigh the old one and compare the weight to the new ones, it is really a huge difference. Someone else did the math and it took ten new ones to equal the weight of two old ones. That is a huge difference. If you're scrubbing your cast iron pan or burnt pots, the last thing you need is for your Chore Boy to fall apart instantly. Thankfully I'm not in America I'm actually in Africa and the cheapest thing you can get is good cleaning supplies. Having thinner pads makes them disintegrate much faster and the weave doesn't hold the same either.
What really gets me surprised is that they still charge almost the same price for these new Chore Boys people are buying. They maybe raised it by a little, but the price still doesn't correlate with how much less copper you actually receive. So for almost the same price, you're receiving way less copper. The math just doesn't work out anymore for most products.
I don't have an answer for why they still charge approximately the same for the new ones besides profits for them or an attempt to still stay in business. They are still pure copper, not the cheaper, coated kind. So, yes that is nice but it means nothing when you're replacing them twice as often as before. The quality of the material has not changed, but the quantity has.
As always these days, now you actually have to check the weight of the package instead of just grabbing the pack and going on your way like before. The problem is that most people have little time for that and the companies know that too. The whole thing used to be that products like these ones were reliable and you knew exactly what you'd be getting. Now you can't predict what new batches will look like at the end of 2026.
