How Does Shrinkflation Work?

Sharman's Mega roll shrunk by seven point a, Kirkland Signature's rolls dropped by ten point and Angelsoft's Mega Roll plummeted by reduction. However, the manufacturer said that it thickened the sheets at the same time. So but while there are fewer sheets per role, the price per role has remained the same. Welcome to the infuriating world of shrink flation.

Shrink Flation is a simple economic concept. Inflation rates are high around the world right now, which means manufacturers are facing higher prices for raw materials, ingredients, packaging, shipping, and more. To continue to make the same profit, companies have two options. Either raise the price of their products or charge the

same price for less of the product. Brands know that consumers are price sensitive, a meaning that they're likely to notice when the price of a frequently purchased item like toilet paper goes up. But what kind of consumer would notice if their meta rolls of toilet paper were just eight per thinner, especially if the packaging and branding were

otherwise unchanged. One Edgar dwarf Ski would notice a dwarf Sky is a consumer lawyer and the genius behind the consumer advocacy websites consumer World and mouseprint dot org, where he maintains a long list of products that have fallen victim to shrink flation. For the articles episodes based on hos to work spoke with him. He's been tracking shrink flation for decades, but says that there was a rash of products that shrunk due to manufacturers grappling with record

high inflation. Recently, the CEO of Kellogg claimed that when his company makes a product smaller, they also lower the price, but dwarf Sky has identified hundreds of examples of brands, including Kellogg's Keebler line of cookies, charging the same or more for smaller products. Dwarsky said no company would go through the increased cost of retooling their manufacturing plant and

redesigning the package. If they just didn't exact proportional drop in the number of ounces in the price, it doesn't make financial sense. Some product categories are much more likely to fall victim to shrink flation. These include paper goods like toilet paper, paper, towels and tissues, as snack foods like chips, crackers and cookies, breakfast cereals, and cleaning liquid

and shower products like dish soap, shampoo, and moisturizer. According to a poll by Gardner from June, of American consumers said that they'd stop buying a brand that implemented shrink flation to cut costs. If that's true, then brands across the board might want to watch out. For example, Arm and Hammer laundry detergent shrunk from seventy to sixty seven and a half ounces while still promising fifty loads of laundry.

A Quaker instant oatmeal quietly reduced its boxes from ten packets of oatmeal to just eight, reduction for the same price. The Folders Instant coffee shrunk from fifty one to forty three and a half ounces, while still advertising up to four hundred cups of coffee per container, Gatorade, which is always come in thirty two ounces, that's one Court Bottles introduced a new bottle with a tapered at all that's

only twenty eight ounces for the same price. And Briar's ice Cream, like many other ice cream brands, hasn't sold a proper half gallon or sixty four ounce container in years, but Briar's is now sold in forty eight ounce containers, which is just a court and a half of product

that's less than the original. If all this is starting to give you a headache, it won't help that will Leave is now selling ninety pills per bottle instead of a hundred, and General Mills shrunk its entire line of family size breakfast cereals and packaged them in slimmer boxes. Dworsky said, frankly, I don't know how some of those cereal boxes on the store shelves even stand up anymore.

There's almost no footprint. However, he also pointed out that it takes a very specific type of consumer to spot shrink flation, because manufacturers aren't going to advertise that fact. Now slightly smaller, he said, the only way to know if your product has shrunk is to know the size of the products you buy regularly, and to double check

when you go to the store. And it doesn't help that brands are doing everything in their power to divert consumer attention away from a product's actual net weight or sheet count. And not only do old and new packages look almost identical, but they employ marketing terms like family size and mega size that don't have any real meaning. If you notice that your favorite product is shrinking, your only real option is to compare its price with competitors,

including store brands. To do that, don't look at the retail price because even competing products come in different sizes. A Dwarsky says that you need to look for the unit price, which is the price per ounce or pound or gallon. That's the only way to make an apples to Apple's price comparison. As a general rule, though, store brands, that is, generic brands are the last ones to downsize, and their qualities usually just as good as the store brands,

so it can be great substitutes. And Dwarski said to watch out for words like new and improved on a package label. This might just be a tip off that the packaging has changed or the product amount is less, rather than any real improvements being made, but in rare cases,

a downsized product will upsize again. A Costco shoppers were so upset that Kirkland's signature brand paper towels shrunk from a hundred and sixty sheets per roll to a hundred and forty sheets that the company quietly restored the towel rolls to a hundred and sixty sheets or one for the consumer. Today's episode is based on the article why shrink flation has you paying more for less on how

stuff works dot Com, written by Dave Roose. Brain Stuff is production of iHeart Radio in partnership with how stuff works dot Com, and it is produced by Tyler Playing. For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows