The term is relatively new, but companies have long hidden price hikes in plain sight by changing package sizing. Now the debate is getting political.
During his State of the Union address, President Joe Biden reached for one of his top recent peeves: shrinkflation.
"Too many corporations raise prices to pad the profits, charging more and more for less and less," Biden said. He complained about skimpier Snickers bars and added:"The snack companies think you won't notice if they change the size of the bag and put a hell of a lot fewer — same size bag — put fewer chips in it."
Less coffee in a can, more air in a bag of cereal, fewer sheets in a toilet-paper roll — shrinkflation lets higher prices hide in plain sight without instantly shocking shoppers. NPR's Planet Money dubbed it", for instance, Dove shrunk its soap and Tide shrunk its laundry detergent jugs, while both also slightly raised prices. For shoppers, financial experts recommended considering the price per unit to assess price changes.
This week, even a beloved blue-haired Sesame Street resident got roped into the growing political debate about the government's role in battling shrinkflation.Overall, shrinkflation affects a small portion of products, government experts found, and manufacturers are downsizing less frequently than they did a decade ago, although the changes can be dramatic., and wages have been climbing faster than prices. But prices are still inching up after inflation hit a four-decade high in 2022.
Frito-Lay's representatives did not respond to NPR's question whether — or when — the company planned to start adding more chips to each bag.
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