There’s a reason why some senior citizens I know carry around an extra pair of glasses, the kind that magnify. Some even carry a regular magnifying glass with them.

These extra helps are needed to read the fine print – and it’s getting finer, as the years go by. During my working days in the world of newspapers, I got to know a lot about the size of the printed word.

In technical terms, the size of a letter is referred to as points. Most newspapers use 10-point. There are laws governing the size of type that can be used in legal advertisements, those very important (but seldom read) notices that appear in the classified section.

I don’t think there are any laws governing the size of type on food labels in the list of ingredients, but you would need a magnifying glass to read some of them. We consumers demanded all this information on the labels a long time ago – and now we are stuck with it.

Also for seniors who care about such things, you will be wise to use those magnifying glasses to check the unit price (per pound, per each, etc.), which is labeled on the shelf edge in the food stores. The prices are and have been escalating, but the bag or box price may have increased only slightly.

You may have noticed a few news stories lately about package sizes being changed. It is happening and can wreak havoc with recipes which call for a box or package of something. My latest discovery is chocolate chips – yes, on sale at two for something but the package size is 2 ounces less than what my recipe calls for. Again, haul out your magnifying glass and read those labels more thoroughly.

In the future, if the recipe says you need a 12-ounce box of whatever, we will have to pay more attention.

I guess these convolutions in the world of marketing are designed to keep us old-timers calm in the face of a world in economic turmoil. We’ve been through this already with other commodities, like coffee which no longer is in a one pound can.

Consumers will need their wits about them, to deal with the latest effort to sugar-coat the bad news. While the headlines focus on the gasoline prices, be sure to keep a sharp eye on the price of oil, food and I would imagine everything that is consumed. For now, take a look at the new packaging.