I like nat­ural cereal, when I can afford it.

I was sur­prised when I opened this pack­age of Kashi cereal. There was a full 5 1/2 inches of air between the top of the cereal and the top of the pack­age. I might expect that from Kel­loggs or Post — but not from a man­u­fac­turer who says they care about the environment.

I real­ize the “con­tents may have set­tled dur­ing ship­ping”. But that per­cent­age of set­tling is huge.

I also under­stand the need to give con­sumers a sense that they are get­ting a lot for their money. But that feel­ing wears off very quickly when the con­sumer is shocked like this. And I under­stand the need for a prod­uct to be a “bill­board” on the shelf.

If man­u­fac­tur­ers could all agree to use real pack­ag­ing, the play­ing field would be level. (Ha — that will never hap­pen!) Trans­porta­tion and pack­ag­ing costs could be saved. Be coura­geous, oh you cereal man­u­fac­tur­ers! Make your small pack­ages a state­ment of how you care for your cus­tomers and the environent!