Have you Been Affected by Shrinkflation?

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It’s a clever term in the world of consumer packaging – shrinkflation.

The term refers to downsizing a product while keeping its price the same.

When companies are struggling to maintain profits, there are three basic responses: raise the price directly, take a little bit out of the product, or reformulate the product with cheaper ingredients.

Many consumers are price-conscious, and keep a close eye on price increases. Companies would prefer not to change the ingredients of a product for fear of creating a less popular product. So that leaves shrinkflation as perhaps the most popular choice.

This is not a new tactic, but we may be experiencing more of it these days as a result of rising costs and inventory shortages.

Quartz put together this helpful image that shows four recent examples of shrinkflation:

In terms of price increases, these amount to the following:

  • Bounty: 12%
  • Crest: 8%
  • Doritos: 5%
  • Wheat Thins: 14%

Other examples of shrinkflation include

  • Gatorade redesigned its 32-ounce bottle to a 28-ounce bottle, which reflects a 14% price increase
  • Keebler Cookies. Chips Deluxe with M&Ms package has gone down to 9.75 from a previous 11.3 ounce per package, a 16% price increase.
  • Procter &Gamble’s Charmin’s ultra soft toilet paper 18-count mega package now contains 244 two-ply sheets, down from a previous 264 double-ply sheets per roll, equivalent to an 8% price increase
  • Coke has gone from 330 milliliters to 320, a price increase of 3%

I don’t have a problem with shrinkflation, as long as companies are upfront about what they are doing.

But here’s what a representative from Gatorade had to say about the reduction in bottle size:

““Basically we redesigned the bottle, it’s more aerodynamic and it’s easier to grab. The redesign generates a new cost and the bottles are a little bit more expensive…this is only a matter of design.”

And here is what Procter&Gamble said about reductions in the number of sheets in their toilet paper::

“There is a cost element to innovation — adjusting the count per pack or the package size is one way of reinvesting in this innovation while maintaining a competitive price point.”

Those explanations seem to be a bit of doubletalk or outright deception.

The Quartz article notes that such deception can be costly:

Selling less of a product in the same packaging, or not communicating changes can lead to business disasters. In 2021, McCormick ended up paying $2.5 million to resolve claims made by customers when they sold less black pepper in the same-sized tin cans. Mondelez famously faced legal action in 2017 over putting more space between the peaks of Toblerone candy bars, and ended up reverting back to their previous shape.

I’m wondering if I should start practicing shrinkflation:

  • maybe I will only cover 85% of the material in a chapter. If students end up learning only the debit part of a journal entry, well, what can I say. If they only learn how to complete 80% of a Balance Sheet, I’ll just blame it on shrinkflation.
  • perhaps when I give someone a wedding gift, I’ll use the same size wedding card, but just put less cash in it
  • maybe I’ll cut back on how many words are in my blog posts, but still charge the same amount. I’m sure no one would notice anyway.

Sources:

*image from

Channel News Asia

Published by Jim Borden

A 60-something guy trying to figure out the world, and his place in it. Happily married for 40-plus years, three wonderful sons. Accounting teacher, fitness enthusiast, blogger, reader.

Published

108 thoughts on “Have you Been Affected by Shrinkflation?”

  2. Oh boy have I seen this a lot over the last few years. Granola bars – less bars in a box. Frozen corn – smaller bags. Orange juice – less in the container. And many others. I get it, everything is going up. But those lame, crappy excuses kill me. I really hate it when companies think we are stupid.

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    1. companies could probably double the price of the stuff I buy in a grocery store, and I would have no idea. I just pick out what I want, go through the checkout, tap my phone to pay, and don’t ask for a receipt. hopefully when I retire I’ll be more diligent…

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      1. I don’t know. I was being silly after reading The Dumbest Blogger’s comments. My bad.

        I do agree with your post whole heartedly. I purchased some Motrin the other day and there were 6 tablets in the bottle. I assumed there would be more without reading the label. It kinda made me mad.

        Great Post! 🤠🔥

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      2. the dumbest blogger’s posts will do that to you 🙂

        and I wouldn’t be surprised if there are fewer pringles.

        maybe they just ame the motrin more powerful, and one tablet is good for a whole month….

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  5. That is why I pay attention to the cost per fill in the blank as opposed to total cost. It doesn’t work for all products but helps with comparisons. Doublespeak is a good euphemism for the word I’d use. The sad thing is the people who put those statements together actually believe them. It is amazing how much a paycheck colors one’s judgment of honesty.

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    1. I wish I was as diligent as you, but to be honest, I don’t know the price of most things I buy at the grocery store. and yes, many people will leave their values at the door when they go to work…

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  8. All products should be individually packaged. One M&M to a bag. One Pringle to a box. One pickle to a jar. You will always know how much you are getting and how much it costs. But no one will be any happier.

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  9. Much like you, I have no problem with shrinkflation as long as companies are honest about it. Companies always have to think about the bottom line but don’t tell me the sky is really purple when I can see it’s not.

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  11. I’ve seen other justifications for this, the most hypocritical being that it was ‘better for our health’ that chocolate bars became smaller. Well done, Mars, who actually raised their prices here when Mars Bars shrank!

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  14. It happens here too. A good thing is that all (grocery) items (maybe not quantities of toilet paper sheets or tissues – though I think they are numbered) have their weight listed with a price per gram or 100 grams e.g.

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      1. I don’t always take a lot of notice of price. I just buy what I want/need. I’m one of the lucky ones. Mind you, we don’t have huge wants or needs.

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  15. Definitely!. The price of a crisp-style snack I buy was high, but I could get a 5-pack in the pound shop (as opposed to the supermarket’s 6-pack). Then it started coming on three-for two offers and the price stabilised, but I was sure we were getting less in an individual pack.
    Then I went on a diet (yes, again) and looked at the calorie count on the packet – hmm. Not too bad.
    But they’ve were out of stock at the supermarket and I bought the supermarket’s own brand substitute. They’re not as nice, but there seem to be more of them in an individual pack. When I looked at the calorie count – whoah! 100 calories per pack! The supermarket’s own brand clearly has yet to downsize to the level of the originals.
    Should I halve the supermarket’s cheaper packs? (not much chance of that once they’re open)
    Should I paying hiked prices for less of the nicer ones?
    Should I stop eating the things altogether?

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  16. I knew about the McCormick incident. They really ended up looking bad on that one.

    In business school there must be a class that trains marketed people how to talk like that. Lying and Equivocating 4301 or something like that. I’m guessing it is graduate level.

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      1. There are marketing people in the organization that I work for. Sometimes in meetings I exercise great self-control in not rolling my eyes.
        I can watch the buzzword trends of the day course through marketing and then be replaced by the next trendy verbiage. It would be funny if it weren’t… nevermind, it is funny.
        Currently all of our customers have to fit into a ‘persona’, because all people fit neatly into 4 or five bins, you know. So, great amounts of effort go into creating a presentation of personas that products are targeted at. This is called a marketechture, by the way, and they present all of this with a straight face.
        If you want to really sound like a marketing genius, I have found that you need only to use nouns in the place of verbs and verbs in the place of nouns (I don’t know what to do with the adverbs). So there is “the ask”, and “the compare”, and “the compute”. Ehh, I should stop ranting.

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      2. I would love to sit in on one of those meetings, it must be complete BS.

        I have seen students make presentations where they have created personas, like Susan. And then they describe what Susan is like, what she will but, and how they will market to her. Of course, Kathy is a completely diffferent persona…

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  17. The brand of TP I buy has the same number of sheets as before, but the roll is skinnier. I noticed when it was easier to put on the holder. I feel like they shaved close to a centimeter off. In the grand scheme of things, I don’t think it impacted me any, other than I feel like they’re trying to cheat me without me noticing. (I noticed.)

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  18. I actually don’t have much complaint when a company cuts back on a single serving container (like a small bag of chips or a can of soda). They are all probably too big anyway. My family buys 8 oz sodas at the store. I’m certain these are more expensive when you calculate in all the loss leader sales of the regular containers, but none of us wants 12 oz. That Gatorade quote would make me stop buying Gatorade outright, but I already don’t buy Gatorade.

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    1. 8 oz seems like a nice size for a soda, but I do like a 12 or 16 ounce beer 🙂

      good point that many of us would be better off healthwise with these downsizing moves…

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  20. I thought of something else after I posted. Remember McDonald’s icecream cones years ago! When I was a child it was like they piled them a mile high. I loved when my Dad would stop to get us some cones. They aren’t mile high cones anymore!

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  21. I agree that honesty is the best policy but also I wonder who’s out there measuring the distances between the peaks in a toblerone bar lol… also, I take serious issue with having 5 less Dorito chips per bag!!!! LOL just kidding.. okay I know a lot of ppl (namely my husband would say that may be 5 chips per bag but the company is probably saving thousands just by doing something as small as that)! I always notice the ways in which consumers are paying for things that appear more/better than it actually is.. namely I always check the bottom of wine bottles to see how deep the divet is lol if you can put your whole thumb under the bottle you’re getting ripped off! Sorry, if you have no idea what I mean but I hope you do! lol

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  22. I noticed a long time ago, Jim. The increase of COLA can never catch up with the shrinkflatation! I wonder as we age, would our appetite shrink in proportion to the shrinking among of produce and products we get at the same price? 🙂 🙂

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      6. I now have to go convert that to a metric size (what we use in the big world out there) to find out if your husband is better off than my wife’s husband. I am 60, last time we bought stuff in ounces was in the 1960s. It kinda sound strange to me.

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      8. What peeves me is when Berky wants my South African Rand, and lots thereof, and then to expect me to go figure how many litres of water I will get from a 2.037 gal filter. Why don’t they show both on their website? Perhaps 4.25% constitutes the majority of the global population, then. I am just of the 95.75% minority then.

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      10. One should support such businesses. My other peeve is Anglophones changing names. Nikon (knee-koh) becomes “neyekon”, Yeshua became Jesus and Jakov became James. How does München become “mewnick” or Paraparaumu get turned into “paraparam?” The words even end differently. And both Jewish and Muslim people understand Yeshua from Isaiah 53, but who is this Jesus? They think he’s a Roman God. What’s silly, is that Anglophones in my city cannot pronounce Llandudno, Brackenfell or Buchan. Their own culture 😂😂😂

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      15. I have ato admit I do not know what Berky is. But I agree, such places should show numbers in both the local measurement system as wella s teh system of wherever the country is that is posting to the internet…

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      20. that’s why it would nice if there was just one universal measuring system. And I have to admit that I am confused by the phrase “my wife’s husband”… is that you?

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  24. Just be honest and upfront and the consumer will probably not be upset. I always love your humor, Jim. You can shrinkflation on your post, but you will still have staunch readers. 🙂

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  25. It’s around the world thing, Jim..although here they just jack the price up and not by increments of 1 they shove it right up but that’s the stores not the manufacturers…manufacturers reduce the size…we lose either way 😦

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  26. Almost none of the products ever get on my shopping list, as I am practical and only buy essentials. I never buy candy or chocolate bars and, at age 60, never tasted Toblerone or a Hershey.

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    1. wow – that is impressive to have never tried Hershey or Toblerone. I won’t go out of my way to buy a lot of junk food, but if it is in the house, I’ll eat it, unfortunately… 🙂

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