Posted on 07/25/2022 8:17:21 AM PDT by Red Badger
Everything’s getting more expensive.
But have you noticed? Everything’s getting smaller, too.
Cereal boxes, soup cans, paper towels, you name it, are all shrinking in a phenomenon known as “shrinkflation.” Manufacturers figure consumers will notice higher prices, but who can tell when a box of Wheat Thins goes from 10 ounces to 8.5 ounces?
Now, shrinkflation has hit your favorite burgers and pizzas.
“For the first time ever consumers are mentioning ‘shrinkflation’ in Yelp reviews,” the website said in a release, citing new data. “In Q2 2022, consumers are talking about shrinkflation-related experiences most commonly at restaurants serving more affordable offerings like hot dogs, hamburgers, pizza, followed by seafood restaurants, Italian food, and Chinese food.”
“In Q2, consumers experienced inflation the most at more casual restaurants and food businesses, with inflation mentions in reviews up 38% and 36%, respectively, compared to Q2 2021. Notable category increases include chicken shops (up 82%), TexMex (up 68%), fruit and vegetable markets (up 66%), Caribbean restaurants (up 65%), poke (64%), soul food (up 57%), Hawaiian restaurants (up 57%) and convenience stores (up 55%),” Yelp found.
“Consumers are also experiencing high inflation at arts and entertainment businesses (up 33%), particularly at festivals and street fairs (up 164%), stadiums and arenas (up 43%), arcades (31%) and movie theaters (31%). Nightlife businesses (up 30%), event services (up 22%), and hotels and travel businesses (up 20%) follow as the most inflationary categories based on Yelp reviews,” the release said.
Other brands that are deploying shrinkflation include Charmin, Bounty, and Gatorade, the Daily Mail reported earlier this month. And Honey Bunches of Oats dropped its 14.5-ounce to 12 ounces, a reduction of roughly 17%, the U.K. paper said.
Angel Soft toilet paper has also reduced its size from 425 sheets per roll to 320, while Bounty paper towels have cut their rolls from 165 sheets per roll to 147 late last year. Gatorade also cut its bottle size from 32 ounces to 28 ounces.
Some companies claim that while they’ve reduced the amount of product, buyers are still getting the same bang for their buck.
For instance, Folger’s coffee dropped one canister’s size from 51 ounces to 43.5 ounces. But the company said a more efficient bean pressing technology would allow the lowered amount to produce the same number of cups of coffee.
“We have employed a new, roasting technology that makes the most out of every bean — resulting in lighter-weight coffee grounds that deliver the same taste you love across the same number of brewed cups,” the company wrote on Twitter. “Through the use of this new roasting process, we’re able to get more coffee flavor from each bean while providing the same amount of coffee servings.”
“The total weight of our coffee products will be reduced, but the amount of coffee you receive, by way of total servings, will remain the exact same. Hope this clears up any confusion,” the company continued.
Where’s the beef?
Food Ping!.................
Hiding under a french-fry................
Yes. And it's been going on for many years. A pre-packaged pack of hot dogs is not 16 oz. It's 14 oz. Look at the size or net weight of many items and they are now smaller but the prices are the same...except lately.
...and larger ridges in applesauce and pasta sauce jars hiding under the labels.
I notice that nuts that used to be sold in 16 oz bags are now in 12 oz bags.
Duh. Our favorite restaurant serves the best fried oysters. Last year it was 10-12 for $10. Recently $12 for 4.
I've got news for them. Shrinkflation has been going on for years now.
ah, nuts, that hits home
And the amount of water in ham and even fish is way up...and the ice coating frozen chicken is much thicker, to add weight.
This has been going on for a while. I used to be a TV news reporter, and I did stories on this ten years ago, showing items like soup, candy bars, Doritos, and a “half-gallon” of ice cream. I think people are noticing it more even more now because it’s coupled with rampant inflation.
Going out to eat is something that we have also shrunk. Lousy service, smaller portions of subpar fare at elevated prices has made our home cooking far more desirable.
I used to have a problem storing paper towels on top
of one of our cabinets—twelve rolls would fit but an
extra six roll pack would hang halfway off the top of
the cabinet.
Not any more—eighteen rolls fit perfectly.
My cabinet does not lie!
(This post was shrunk in size in honor of shrink-flation.)
;-)
Yeah, the reality is it’s leading to layoffs.
That’s always annoyed me, to look at the label of ham or chicken and see that it’s been injected with some ridiculous percentage of water, for which they’re charging the price of meat. There was a time when people went to jail for that.
I have parrots so nut prices are always on my mind. They are eating more pasta and little peanut butter and apple sandwiches these days as the almond, walnuts, cashews and pistachio nuts get more expensive. Planted pecan trees for them some years ago but they aren’t old enough to produce much yet.
But the media said this is normal and to stop complaining because it’s worse elsewhere....
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