"Shrinkflation"

[LindyLou2020]

I'm just having a bit of "downtime" - between finishing one task and about to start another. So browsing Mumsnet, and was reminded about something I've noticed over the past few weeks/months when doing my supermarket shop.
We can't fail to know about inflation, and also "shrinkflation, whereby manufacturers reduce the size of an item but the price stays the same or even increases.
Some examples I've noticed are:
Toothpaste - many tubes are now 75g but used to be 100g.
Go Ahead Crispy Fruit Slices bars - now 4 bars in a pack when there used to be 5.
Some loaves of bread are now 600g, down from 800.
Many cat food pouches are now 85g, down from 100g.
I don't really know what point I'm trying to make, other than to have a bit of a rant 😡, but you do have to be very savvy to this trick and choose carefully.
Have you come across any other glaring examples?

This was how Poundland operated for years. All their supposedly cheap items were much smaller than in the main supermarkets and basically false economy

To be fair supermarket own brand butter is still 250g.

I hasn't noticed about uncle Ben's rice.
I bought a triple back of chewing gum last night and when I got one of the individual packs out it was definitely shorter than usual and I thought to myself then about shrinkflation.

Some of the big supermarkets in France are now labelling the products where there is shrinkflation.

Tinned tuna from Aldi is smaller, I can’t remember the size change but sitting next to each other in the cupboard it is obvious. We now need a tin each for our baked potatoes 😡

Love this post. Does anyone know alternatives, brands or products that are better value and don't shrink/price inflate so we can switch.

PG tips tea bags - used to be the large box of 240 but now they've changed the shape of the box and gone down to 210 tea bags for the same price. Swindlers!

Warburton's pitta breads.

4 instead of 5. I freeze them and only noticed the other day when I found a rogue pack in my freezer.

Used to be 85p a year ago, now 1.15

I've lost a lunch ! Fgs

Sainsburys chocolate digestives have shrunk. 17yr old DS is quite upset about it.

However their normal digestives are still the same size.

When's the article being published? 🙂

Colgate toothpaste
I buy 10 tubes at a time and store them (I do this as I can't be bothered buying some every few weeks)
Went to get a new tube the other day and it's almost half the size of the 'old' tubes
What should have lasted us a month or so is now lasting just over a fortnight

Toblerone has bigger gaps between the mountains.

We are dairy farmers supplying Arla and they’ve done this with their butter- Lurpak, Anchor etc. are all now 200g rather than 250g and it’s a massive own goal. They maintain that it isn’t done to “trick” people but rather keep the actual whole pack affordable as the price per kg/100g etc has increased which would mean the original pack size would be out of reach for most people’s usual budget for that category of item. They are insistent that it has bolstered sales but I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t feel like they’d been cheated but then perhaps I’m not their target market anyway 😂

Both Haagen Dazs and Ben & Jerrys have shrunk to 465ml.
Also watered down, cream-wise. I don’t bother with them.

Single ice creams, like Cornetto & Magnum, are smaller too.
They say it’s to bring them into a lower calorie bracket.

But the thing is, if the size has gone down by say 20% in the case of butter - 250g to 200g, and the price has stayed the same; would you be happy to pay 25% more for the full size pack?

I would - and I think most people would. It's not like you save anything, because you just need to buy butter again sooner. And many of them are going for the double: shrinking the size and increasing the price.

I know the manufacturers happily claim that they aren't trying to hoodwink us at all, but as PP said, they've been furious in France when supermarkets have been putting up warning signs to alert customers. If it weren't intended to deceive consumers, why would they object to them just being given the basic facts?

They maintain that it isn’t done to “trick” people but rather keep the actual whole pack affordable as the price per kg/100g etc has increased which would mean the original pack size would be out of reach for most people’s usual budget for that category of item.

That might make sense if it were a treat item, and you just make do with the smaller treat that you can still afford, rather than forego the original size one that's now unaffordable; but when it's an everyday staple, what difference does it actually make?

Sorry. What?!

Of course it's 'bolstered sales'! If it's something you always keep in, then if buying two packs used to last you a month and the size of the packs has gone down, you have to buy three packs a month now. Hence more sales. Wow, shocking.

We're now trialling other brands. I think they'll be the losers.

And I prefer Waitrose own brand butter to anyone else's (£3.75 for 500g)

Lower calorie bracket my arse!

Of course it's 'bolstered sales'! If it's something you always keep in, then if buying two packs used to last you a month and the size of the packs has gone down, you have to buy three packs a month now. Hence more sales. Wow, shocking.

It's bolstered profits, but they haven't necessarily sold any additional product. It IS deliberately trickery.

Frijj milkshakes - was 400ml, now 330ml at same price in Asda a couple of weeks ago

Yes it really does have this ring to it 😁

@CluelessPadme and @Nynaeva What article?
I'm very much hoping that you're not implying I started a thread in order to publish an "article"? Are you?
And that I would do so without being upfront about my intentions?
Or am I being paranoid and imagining you're implying what I think you might be?
FYI - Just to make it clear that I'm an ordinary Mumsnetter who had a bit of free time, wanted a bit of a rant, and asked for others' opinions.
And I never say or do things under false pretences.
Is that ok?

Discovered last night, Quorn Fish Fingers now have 8 in a box not 10.

The cat food one is what bothers me a lot, just make it more expensive, our pets notice being fed less, you can't feed part of a pouch extra, and we don't have much choice other than pay up.

Bahlsen Choco Leibniz biscuits have changed their packaging and sneakily reduced from 9 biscuits to 8 in a pack.

They also taste disgusting now, it’s like the cardboard packaging makes them taste stale 😤 Good for the waistline when they ruin my favourite treat.