ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, April 16, 1996 TAG: 9604160072
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: Associated Press
AND AS FOR COUPONS, soon you'll only need one to cover any brand of Post cereal.
Honey Bunches of Oats, falling. Grape Nuts, shriveling. Shredded Wheat, crumbling.
Post Cereal announced Monday that it is cutting prices an average of 20 percent. The company also is issuing a new coupon that will apply to all its cereals.
The cereal business shrank slightly last year and has been flat so far in 1996. Post's cereal sales have been declining, analysts said.
Doing away with coupons that apply to only one cereal will reduce Post's costs and, the company figures, retailers'. The company won't say exactly when the new coupons will appear.
The price changes are expected to reach store shelves in two or three weeks, but competitors weren't quick to say whether they would match the cuts.
The cut brings Post's suggested retail price for a 17.2 oz. box of Spoon Size Shredded Wheat down to $2.99 from $3.88; 20 oz. of Premium Raisin Bran will cost $2.99 instead of $4.13; and 16 oz. of Honey Bunches of Oats will also go for $2.99, down from $3.85. Actual retail prices are determined by individual retail stores and may vary.
Some of Post's biggest competitors said they had cut prices in recent years and Post was simply catching up.
Kellogg said it would set its prices on a product-by-product basis. Spokesman Anthony Hebron declined to discuss how his company might respond to Post's gambit.
At General Mills, spokesman Austin Sullivan said no changes were planned. ``They're following our lead two years later,'' he said, noting that Minneapolis-based General Mills had chopped its prices 11 percent across the board. ``Obviously, we think it's a good idea.''
LENGTH: Short : 45 linesby CNB