UNITED STATES—Look people cannot sit here in 2024 and tell me that Shrinkflation is not taking place. If people are saying that this is not the case, then explain to me what items are you purchasing. I am totally seeing this in the food market more than anything. You are seeing various items like boxed goods that have decreased in size or the amount of product you receive inside of the package.
I have absolutely seen this with various forms of candy bars and certain snacks. You may think the size is not that different, but if you take a small look, you can see the size has shrunk slightly. However, it is not just the size of the product that is the issue, it is the cost. The cost of goods has significantly increased, so much to the point that some are no longer affordable to the public. If you go to most places a candy bar is about $1.50 to $2.00. Where almost two years ago you could purchase a candy bar for $1 and that is no longer the case.
I see this with chips more than anything. I want to say a year ago a normal size of potato chips like Doritos were $3.50. Today it is more like $5.50. What is worse is there are no chips in the actual bag! It is mainly air. How are companies allowed to do this to the consumer? It just feels so unfair and wrong. Making matters worse is the price of goods are just going to continue to climb more and more as we progress.
Don’t even get me started on those snack sized chips. I remember you could purchase four for $1.00. Now some places charge two for $1 if you’re lucky, but most are charging like $1.50 for those very small bags with little to no chips. It is not just food though. I’ve seen this so much with cleaning supplies and everyday items like deodorant, bleach, dish detergent, soap powder, toothpaste and so much more. Bleach has got to be the worst and it started during the pandemic when there was short supply of the item.
I remember being able to get a gallon of bleach for about $3.75 to $4.00. Today, a ½ of gallon of bleach is about $10 at some retailers. I have seen the extremely tiny bottles of bleach, perhaps less than a liter costs around $5. That is beyond bonkers. We want everyone to be clean and sterilized or sanitized depending on the terms you choose to use, but the price of those items is breaking the bank so hard it is difficult for people to sustain.
The companies who are saying the size of things haven’t changed, but you can clearly see it if you compare the past with the present, need to just be upfront with the consumer. We hate being treated like dummies. We’re not dummies we know what is unfolding. I saw this most recently at a restaurant I visited where a box of curly fries went from $3.50 to $5.00 within a year. The problem is the size of the box has significantly shrunk. How do I know? I just happened to have an old box that I found, and the disparity blew my freaking mind. Talk about going from a box of fries you can eat and get absolutely full to a box that is an absolute snack, just blows your mind.
As consumers we just need a break. We need to have the opportunity to get the biggest bang for our buck and not feel like these companies are just doing everything they can to squeeze an extra dollar out of us.
Written By Jason Jones
