If you’ve been wondering if you’re getting less when you purchase your favorite items at the grocery store, you aren’t crazy. Some companies have started putting less in their packaging but charging you the same, a phenomenon that’s called “shrinkflation.”
In a poignant example, last summer General Mills decided to reduce the volume of its family size Cheerios by 6.2 percent. Of course, it costs the same to consumers.
On June 6, the website Mouseprint posted a picture of Angel Soft Toilet Paper that showed that they had dropped the number of sheets from 425 to 320.
The Associated Press tweeted: “Manufacturers are quietly shrinking packages without lowering prices. It’s dubbed “shrinkflation,” and it’s accelerating worldwide. In the U.S., a small box of Kleenex now has 5 fewer tissues. In the U.K., Nestle shaved 10 grams off coffee tins.”
British economist Pippa Malmgren has been given credit for coming up with the clever term “shrinkflation,” in 2009. The companies that have done it lately must have thought we wouldn’t notice, but many of us have, and it’s happening world wide. The L.A. Times reports, “In the U.S., a small box of Kleenex now has 60 tissues; a few months ago, it had 65. Chobani Flips yogurts have shrunk from 5.3 ounces to 4.5 ounces. In Britain, Nestle slimmed down its Nescafe Azera Americano coffee tins from 100 grams to 90 grams. In India, a bar of Vim dish soap has shrunk from 155 grams to 135 grams.”
The Corporate Finance Institute says, “[e]ssentially, shrinkflation is a form of hidden inflation. Instead of increasing the price of a product, something that would be immediately evident to consumers, producers reduce the size of the product while maintaining the same price. The absolute price of the product doesn’t go up, but the price per unit of weight or volume has increased. The small reduction in quantity is usually unnoticed by consumers (at least that’s what the manufacturer hopes).”
A Japanese Man’s marriage to a computer synthesized pop star is in trouble
Other examples of products that you are now getting less of, since Biden gave us the highest inflation in almost half a century are: Bounty paper towels, Crest toothpaste, Doritos and Wheat Thins.
A twitter user noticed these examples of shrinkflation due to inflation: “Gummy Bears: 5oz to 4oz Detergent: 75oz to 67.5oz Coffee: 51oz to 43.7oz Toilet paper: 425 sheets to 320 sheets Tooth paste: 4.1oz to 3.8oz Bidenflation has turned into shrinkflation — a double whammy for Americans.”
While it’s good to know you’re not imagining it when you go to the grocery store, it’s still so frustrating to know that we are paying the same for less. Our money isn’t going as far. Joe Biden has brought us to a place in history where our economy is tanking. It’s frightening, really. What are you doing to make ends meet in Biden’s economy?
