Why Chips Bags Are Never Full

Called slack-fill, the empty space in packages could occupy more than half the bag:

As a result, some consumers have taken chips makers to court:

But they have not been successful.

Defending Slack-Fill

During April, 2017, a case was filed in Manhattan Federal Court against the maker of Wise potato chips. The litigants alleged that they were “tricked…into paying for air” by bags that are 58% to 75% empty. As a class action lawsuit, the case could have generated millions of dollars in damages because of “non-functional slack-fill.”

But it didn’t.

In a timeless 2018 decision, the case was dismissed when the judge said “…that the slack-fill enclosed in the Products would not mislead a reasonable consumer” because in large print on the bag, we can read the weight of its contents. Legally though, the key word is non-functional. If the air (really the nitrogen that preserves and cushions the chips) is functional, it is okay.

Below, I’ve copied some of the other legal justifications for slack-fill:

Our Bottom Line: Tradeoffs

As economists, we can always return to the cost of a decision. Defined economically as sacrifice, the cost of slack-fill is “affordable.” Because more nitrogen creates the cushion that keeps the chips whole, the tradeoff is the crumbled chips that result from no slack-fill.. Furthermore, in the factory, the machinery needs the “air” space so it does not crush the chips when sealing the package.

Also, with posts like today’s I like to return to the coast of Great Britain, Explained by a classic paper from mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot, the shorter the ruler, the longer and longer (and longer) the coast:

Returning to our irritation about slack-fill, we see there is a reason when we investigate further. And consequently, we can happily accept the tradeoff as we crunch our chips.

My sources and more: Thanks to The NY Post for a slack fill update.and an economics consulting firm and Mashed for the best facts. Meanwhile, law.com also shared the results of the slack fill cases. And finally, you might enjoy econlife’s look at the missing Raisinets.

Our featured image is from Pixabay and several of today’s sentences were in a previous post..