Shrinkflation: Inflation's Sneaky Cousin
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Companies don't always want to directly raise prices. Consumers will notice that extra quarter for a candy bar. But will they notice if the candymakers shrink the size of that candy bar, while keeping the same price? Maybe not. This tendency to downsize products has come to be known as shrinkflation. Whereas inflation means you pay more to get the same amount, shrinkflation means you pay the same to get less.
Edgar Dworsky is a former Massachusetts Assistant Attorney General and long-time consumer advocate. He's spent decades tracking the downsizing of consumer products, such as potato chips, peanut butter, orange juice, and toilet paper on his website ConsumerWorld.org. One of Edgar's recent trips to the grocery store revealed that shrinkflation had hit the cereal aisle.
Despite the relatively short time "shrinkflation" has been a term, the business practice has a long history. Candymakers have made candy bars and lollipops a bit smaller. Toilet paper manufacturers have made each roll have less squares and each square a bit smaller. The list goes on. In fact, there's an entire community dedicated to shrinkflation on Reddit. Shrinkflation is here to stay and some people are watching it carefully.
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