Shrinkflation
A community about companies who sneakily adjust their product instead of the price in the hopes that consumers won't notice.
We notice. We feel ripped off. Let's call out those products so we can shop better.
What is Shrinkflation?
Shrinkflation is a term often coined to refer to a product reducing in size or quality while the price remains the same or increases.
Companies will often claim that this is necessary due to inflation, although this is rarely the case. Over the course of the pandemic, they have learned that they can mark up inelastic goods, which are goods with an intangible demand, such as food, as much as they want, and consumers will have no choice but to purchase it anyway because they are necessities.
From Wikipedia:
In economics, shrinkflation, also known as the grocery shrink ray, deflation, or package downsizing, is the process of items shrinking in size or quantity, or even sometimes reformulating or reducing quality, while their prices remain the same or increase. The word is a portmanteau of the words shrink and inflation.
[...]
Consumer advocates are critical of shrinkflation because it has the effect of reducing product value by "stealth". The reduction in pack size is sufficiently small as not to be immediately obvious to regular consumers. An unchanged price means that consumers are not alerted to the higher unit price. The practice adversely affects consumers' ability to make informed buying choices. Consumers have been found to be deterred more by rises in prices than by reductions in pack sizes. Suppliers and retailers have been called upon to be upfront with customers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrinkflation
Community Rules
- Posts must be about shrinkflation, skimpflation or another related topic where a company has reduced their offering without reducing the price.
- The product must be a household item. No cars, industrial equipment, etc.
- You must provide a comparison between the old and new products, what changed and evidence of that change. If possible, also provide the prices and their currency, as well as purchase dates.
- Meta posts are allowed, but must be tagged using the [META] prefix
n.b.: for moderation purposes, only posts in English or in French are accepted.##
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This is why I just make my own sauce. Takes about a half hour for two jars and costs less than a buck per jar. Only uses one pot, too.
And it tastes better.
Hijacking this in case anyone is interested.
Last year I went down a rabbit hole of trying to find the best canned tomatoes I could find in my area that didn't cost an absurd amount (the Italian imported ones from speciality Italian stores are excellent but very expensive). My conclusion is a little irritating.
Alta Cucina tomatoes by Stanislaus (major commercial food supplier) we're by far the best I could find in terms of quality/taste, availability, and price.
Bad news: these are designed for commercial use and only come in huge 28oz cans. So I usually open one , use a quarter of it, and freeze the rest.
Good: Excellent taste. Perhaps not strictly "the best" whatever that means, but so good that it basically made me stop looking further.
More good news: that 28oz can is only $10 at Costco Business Center, which comes to $2.50 ish per normal sized can, which makes it far cheaper than the other premium tomatoes I've seen.
https://www.costcobusinesscentre.ca/alta-cucina-plum-tomatoes%2C-2.84-l.product.100347364.html
If you live somewhere like California that itself grows high quality tomatoes then you probably have many other options. If like me you don't, then I hope this helps.
Whole tomatoes are better to buy canned they apparently keep the flavor better or something.
Diced canned tomatoes without preservatives tend to turn to mush during the canning process. To prevent this, citric acid is often added. Acidity strengthens pectin of whatever. But it affects taste and texture of the tomatoes in a bad way.
Thanks