this post was submitted on 28 Aug 2024
102 points (81.1% liked)

Shrinkflation

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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

  1. Posts must be about shrinkflation, skimpflation or another related topic where a company has reduced their offering without reducing the price.
  2. The product must be a household item. No cars, industrial equipment, etc.
  3. 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.
  4. 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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Only 4 nuggets, and holy hell if that ain't a joke for a drink size! BTW, that's supposed to be sweet tea, but it's bitter as hell..

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[–] viking@infosec.pub 39 points 2 months ago (8 children)

That drink would be a medium size in Germany... Drink sizes is the one thing we do right I think.

[–] cm0002@lemmy.world 15 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Sizes yea maybe for soda, but y'all charge for water and then give it to you in a tiny ass (relative to water anyways) cup.

At least here the cups may be gargantuan, but you're free to fill it with water and ice for free

[–] viking@infosec.pub 12 points 2 months ago (6 children)

If you specifically ask for tap water, it's free, and must not be denied.

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[–] Drusas@fedia.io 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I recently ordered a medium soda for my dad at a McDonald's and I was full of regret. It must have been like 32 oz. It was huge. Probably enough calories in the soda alone to be a meal.

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[–] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 27 points 2 months ago (1 children)

this looks like a generous amount of food for $5 at a fast food place

[–] Dkarma@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

What are you, lilliputian?

[–] SkyezOpen@lemmy.world 9 points 2 months ago

It's probably about a thousand calories. So, yeah it'll do.

[–] Chivera@lemmy.world 19 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Good. You shouldn't be eating a lot of that stuff anyway.

[–] Opisek@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago
[–] Drusas@fedia.io 19 points 2 months ago (1 children)

That looks pretty reasonable for five bucks.

[–] over_clox@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Yeah, by today's 'standards', if that's what you're used to.

This is the shrinkflation community, some of us remember when an actual adult size meal was $5, not this kids sized shit.

Hell, the drink cup is even smaller than their official small size.

[–] Drusas@fedia.io 23 points 2 months ago (20 children)

This is an adult-sized meal.

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[–] HubertManne@moist.catsweat.com 18 points 2 months ago (3 children)

mcdonalds is advertising something like this to which is basically copying wendys thing they have been doing for awhile. meanwhile taco bell is advertising how great the garbage in their $7 box is. who knew it only took a few bucks to kick my fast food bad habit.

[–] Drusas@fedia.io 3 points 2 months ago (8 children)

There's nothing wrong with Taco Bell's bean burritos and they're only about two bucks. Of course, most of what they sell is garbage. I miss their black bean burritos. Those were actually good.

[–] citrusface@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago (5 children)

You can swap meat for black beans in any tacobell item - 1 for 1. No charge.

The veggie cravings box is my go-to I don't want to cook meal.

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[–] SGforce@lemmy.ca 14 points 2 months ago (2 children)

5$ in Canada will get you the small fry

[–] Aussiemandeus@aussie.zone 6 points 2 months ago

Yeah I was thinking that's a good meal for 5 dollars in Australia.

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[–] DerisionConsulting@lemmy.ca 9 points 2 months ago

That meal contains 2 different animals, bread, cheese, fries, a sauce, and a drink? How can that only be $5?

[–] superkret@feddit.org 7 points 2 months ago

Damn, they made the sauces bigger?

[–] ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 6 points 2 months ago (4 children)

When a big mac combo is $13 I will take that

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[–] Someonelol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 2 months ago (2 children)

McDonald's advertises their $5 meal deal nationally but Southern California only has it for $6. I wonder if Burger King does the same thing.

[–] Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Before or after tax? :p
Could be that they have it priced at $5 before in most and $5 after tax in other states

[–] Someonelol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 2 months ago

Before tax of course. Never seen a price with tax included before. Way too many different state/county/city tax differences for that to work well, at least in the US.

[–] over_clox@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago

It rings in at $5.35 after 7% tax here. Still, the food is actually smaller than the old-school Happy Meals..

[–] HaleHirsute@infosec.pub 4 points 2 months ago

I hate to be that guy, but you’d really just be better off waiting, aka fasting, until get a chance to eat some real food. But never mind you only live once.

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