
Always get the bigger pizza - peteforde
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2014/02/26/282132576/74-476-reasons-you-should-always-get-the-bigger-pizza
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Lockyy
This seems to be working under the false assumption that because something is
better value for money you are inherently saving money. You're still spending
more by getting the larger pizza, even though it's cheaper per cm^2. This is a
trap that is way too easy to fall into, especially since it's exploited so
heavily via deals and sales in supermarkets.

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MichaelApproved
You're forgetting about leftovers. For a few bucks more you an end up with an
extra meal at a lower than average price.

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JoeAltmaier
Yay. Pizza. Again.

~~~
jamesaguilar
Two things. If you really care about the price difference between a med and
small, then you may also be in a category that would be willing to eat the
same thing again. I.e. You may not have a choice. At any rate it keeps for a
day or two in the fridge, so it's not like you have to have it for back to
back meals.

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polemic
This is why, as a company, you always provide demand curve pricing that allows
every potential consumer to spend as much as they possibly can.

When it comes to pizza, the majority of the cost is labor plus fixed costs.
The actual material cost of goods is negligible - but perceived value is high.

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mistercow
I feel like pizza places made a mistake when they first decided that diameter
was the way to go with advertising pizza sizes. Human brains like to think in
linear terms (unless the numbers get really big, in which case we seem to
switch to logarithmic thinking because we just look at how long the number
is), so at worst, you want the relationship between cost of production and the
number you advertise to be linear.

Even an educated person is going to intuitively feel like a 16 inch pizza is
twice as big as an 8 inch, and a less educated person will actually think as
much.

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bryanlarsen
Since costs are dominated by labour & fixed costs, the production costs may
well be close to linear with diameter.

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tzury
a) The pizza place I go to, sell it by weight and it is not round, rather
rectangles [1].

b) When it comes to food, money should not be the only factor in the equation.
There is the health aspect as well, and if you are not that hungry, you better
off eat what you need, rather than eat more just because it is cheaper.

This applies on all junk/industrial/processed food - the less you consume, the
better!

Your health is important at least as your wealth.

Another example, if you are thirsty and a can of Coke is enough, get the can,
despite the fact a larger bottle has x5 drink in it and cost few cents more,
simply because a bottler will make you drink more Coke, while you should drink
less.

[1]
[http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g293984-d807042...](http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g293984-d807042-Reviews-
Tony_Vespa-Tel_Aviv_Tel_Aviv_District.html)

~~~
WildUtah
a: Even with rectangular pizzas sold by weight, the larger one is a better
value than the small. Consider that the border of the pizza is a 2-3cm wide
crust that will probably go to waste because eating that much white bread is
awful. In any case, it lacks delicious cheese, sauce, and black olives or
pepperoni.

The larger the pizza, the smaller the ratio of fixed width perimeter to
center. If the area of the perimeter were to maintain a constant ratio to the
total area, it's width would have to increase in proportion. That applies to
any 2D shape, not just a circle or square.

In fact, the calculation in op is wrong because a 16" pizza isn't merely four
times as large as an 8" pizza. The 1" crust makes the 16" really a 14" while
the 8" is really a 6". 14^2/6^2 = 5.44 times as large.

b: If you were to say anything like that in the USA, you'd be reported to the
TSA for un-American activities as soon as anyone heard you. And the NSA would
hear you, even if you said it inside your own head. So bring a 100ml or
smaller bottle of lube with you for the probe next time you fly.

~~~
thaumasiotes
It's kind of weird to assume that the person you're talking to, who you know
nothing about, naturally won't eat pizza crust. I eat it. I like it. The crust
is part of the pizza.

~~~
f0under
Agree...i love the crust...very convenient numbers to prove a point.

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dkarl
You should always let your decisions be dictated by the easiest number to
calculate precisely. If it's just a number somebody gave you, that doesn't
seem very smart. If you have to guess and wave your hands, that doesn't seem
very smart, either. If you compute the number using math, now that's smart.
You can graph it, you can pick a nice sharp-looking number of decimal places.
You can write the formula using algebra. That's economics.

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wulczer
That's also why, when you go to the movies and it turns out tickets cost the
same regardless of the film, you should go for the one with the longest
running time.

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SixSigma
This engineer hasn't studied the Toyota Way. Put him in charge of production
and he will kill your company.

"We need 5000 widgets"

"That will cost $10,000 but if we make 10000 it will cost $15000 making each
one cheaper"

Overproduction kills.

The pizza place is laughing because the cost of production doesn't square with
the radius.

~~~
drdaeman
Depends on the use case and personal preferences, I believe.

For me, as I happen to love pizza, better prices on larger ones is a win. It's
either cheaper calories (if I consume it at once) or meal that lasts longer
(if I eat a half of it and eat leftovers for a several hours later).

In rare cases I consider I really want just a tiny bit and won't like any more
pizza for the next 6 hours I obviously order a smaller one.

~~~
SixSigma
You need to consider the times you don't eat your leftovers and the times you
ate your leftovers because they were there and still ate the other meals you
would have without having the pizza

In business, inventory is expensive, especially if you end up throwing it
away.

[http://mobile.businessweek.com/articles/2013-07-31/american-...](http://mobile.businessweek.com/articles/2013-07-31/american-
automobile-glut-unsold-cars-are-piling-up)

3.27 million unsold cars sitting on the tarmac.

That's two weeks total US car sales, and 10 of the top selling 20 are Japanese
marques

[http://online.wsj.com/mdc/public/page/2_3022-autosales.html](http://online.wsj.com/mdc/public/page/2_3022-autosales.html)

Producing more than twice what you sell makes no sense unless your metric is
cost of production per car rather than sales per car produced

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enraged_camel
The hidden cost of always getting the bigger pizza is your health. I wonder
what the picture will look like when you factor that into the equation...

~~~
uvTwitch
Probably a similar circular diagram system, except replacing pizza diameter
with waist diameter.

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wgx
One reason to get whatever size pizza you want:

[http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2014/02/26/282547399/one-
reas...](http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2014/02/26/282547399/one-reason-to-
get-whatever-size-pizza-you-want)

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schiang
A lot of companies use this strategy. For example 24 hour fitness in my area
offers a 3 year membership for ~$600 as opposed to paying $24/month. I was
happy with my decision to pay monthly because I was able to switch to a new
gym a year later.

Buying the bigger pizza only makes sense if you know you or someone else can
finish it. If you buy a bigger pizza and don't finish eating it, you end up
wasting money.

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bryanlarsen
Area is not the best measure of pizza size either. "Regina-style" pizza is a
lot thicker than normal pizza -- an 18" pizza at Vern's weighs 10 pounds.

Even better than selling by weight would be selling by calorie. Virtually all
customers would get a good impression of both the value and the costs of that
pizza.

Too accurate -- it would probably significantly decrease sales.

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dblotsky
This article is wonderful! The whole point is that you can be more efficient
with your pizza money when buying larger pizzas as opposed to smaller pizzas.

And regarding health concerns: you don't have to eat the whole thing at once!
Besides, Pizza is pretty much the food of choice for feeding groups, and being
more efficient with your group food budget is totally a win.

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vacri
_because the medium was more than twice as big as the small, and it cost only
a little bit more. This sort of blew my mind._

Keep in mind that the cost of a pizza is not just the cost of the ingredients
(dough and tomato paste also being particularly cheap). The wages of the
worker, the fuel for the oven, and the rental for the shop are all constants.

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dsr12
I don't get it. If someone is not hungry then what's the point of paying more
for a larger pizza when you are probably not going to eat all of it. I am also
surprised that we think it's fine to buy more than what we can eat just
because we can pay for it!

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acchow
And eat the leftovers for dinner... reheated on a pan, it's actually pretty
good:

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWIJNaA-
JNA](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWIJNaA-JNA)

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TulliusCicero
So you're saying that by purchasing a larger size, the cost per unit is
reduced? Astounding!

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nitrogen
Strangely, that's noy always the case. Sometimes the per-unit price
_increases_ at the larger size of an identical product. I've seen this in
laundry detergent, for example.

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thaumasiotes
I've seen this too. One of the weirder examples was a KFC offering biscuits
for 64 cents each or four for $2.57

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beloch
Bigger pizza's are also the better choice for increasing the ratio of topping
area to crust, assuming constant crust thickness through the various sizes for
a given pizzeria.

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the_cat_kittles
im sorry, this is just astoundingly stupid. the concept that you get more per
dollar if you spend more is ubiquitous. thats the only thing this article
considers. what the hell?

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Oculus
I think to get a more accurate value per pizza size we need to factor in the
associated medical costs of always opting for the larger pizza.

</sarcasm>

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mitchty
I know this comment is a joke and all, but really as long as the bigger pizza
isn't eaten in one sitting there really isn't an issue.

I know I've bought large pizzas with the full intention of eating the whole
thing over a few days time.

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cgriswald
Not sure about that. Your body is only able to absorb so much in one sitting.
Eating the pizza all in one sitting might be the healthier option.

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emiliobumachar
Just as I was finally breaking free of the mindset of actually eating all I
can at all-you-can-eat buffets...

