Latest news with #shrinkflation
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
People Are Sharing The Worst Examples Of Shrinkflation They've Found In Stores Recently, And These Are Infuriating
Because products on store shelves keep getting smaller while staying the same price (or even more), I'm back with this month's shrinkflation round-up. Every month, I scour the internet to find photographic proof that illustrates the sneaky ways brands try to hide this all-too-common practice. Take a deep breath, because this will make you mad: 1.I don't believe that this cake mix, that has shrunk from 18 oz to 15.25 oz, still deserves to bear Dolly Parton's likeness. 2."Same price, half the size. Left bottle purchased in 2024, bottle on right purchased in 2025." —Anna S. 3.I remember when a pack of gum didn't come with an empty space in it. 4.A reader emailed me this pic, plus receipts showing he purchased both of these containers for $19.99 each, even though one contains 15 fewer pods. —Edward S. so-called "mega pack" went from 75 bags down to 60. these snack bags went from 100 in a box down to 90. —Alisha B. 7."These were 2 oz last week. End of an era." tu, Uncrustables? 9."I regularly buy Terry Ho's Yum Yum sauce, and today I saw the bottle and immediately knew it was smaller. 16oz to 14oz, I would rather they raise the price a little bit." online shopping reveals the same item in two slightly different sizes for the exact same price. 11."These are bags of wild-caught cod portions from Walmart. It's their Great Value brand, and both were $10 when purchased. One month, it was a bag weighing 908g, and three months later, it was a bag weighing 726g. They thought that by keeping it off the shelves for three months and changing the look of the bag from green to blue, it might catch us up so we wouldn't notice." —Andrea H. tube of toothpaste got 25 ml smaller. a carton redesign might keep some folks from noticing that this juice is now 7 oz smaller. OneDownAnd3Point6 / Via Via for this can of beans, that holds 10 grams less. 15."From 2lbs down to 1.25lbs, price unchanged at $7.29." 16."Our beloved Trader Joe's granola bars. Top bar bought in April, the bottom bar in May. Same packaging, same price." —Elizabeth S. bags of chicken strips may look identical, but one contains one ounce less chicken. roll of toilet paper went from 52.5 square feet to 49.9 square feet. Labubu collectors suspect shrinkflation is at play. The older Labubu on the left does look a bit plumper than the new one on the right. finally, this tube of sunscreen got taller, but it now holds less product. —Jill F. Have you spotted shrinkflation in your local stores? Tell us about it in the comments (with a picture if you have one!) or email me your shrinkflation stories and photos with the subject line "Shrinkflation."
Bloomberg
22-07-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Hershey Raising Candy Prices by Double Digits on High Cocoa Costs
Hershey Co. is raising prices on its candy due to historically high cocoa costs. The Pennsylvania-based maker of Hershey's chocolates and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups told its retailers last week that it would be implementing a roughly double-digit price increase, company officials said Tuesday. That increase reflects a higher list price as well as adjustments to the weight and number of candies in a bag, a practice known as shrinkflation.
Daily Mail
20-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Now Curly Wurlys become latest victim of shrinkflation - as multipacks cut the amount of bars, but keep the price the SAME
Cury Wurly bars have become the latest victims of shrinkflation as multipacks have shrunk from five to four - but the price has remained the same. The newly-shrunk packs of the Cadbury 's bar are being sold for £1.40, even though the bigger size cost the same only a few months ago. The change has been blasted by sweet-toothed shoppers online, causing some to vow to never buy the chocolate again due to the sneaky corporate tactic. Packs of Fudge and Freddo have previously gone down from five to four bars, and Dairy Milk Little Bars are reduced from six to four. Mondelēz International (previously called Kraft Foods), which has owned Cadbury since 2010, blamed the change on increases in cocoa and dairy prices, as well as rising transport and energy costs. One angry customer wrote on Twitter /X: 'I'll try to enjoy this four pack as it will be my last.' Another added: 'I defo won't be buying any. I saw it was a four-pack and was like hell no.' Consumer champion Martyn James described the Curly Wurly - which first launched in 1970 - as the 'chocolate treat of my youth'. He added: 'Chocolate is more than just an occasional sweet treat. It's evocative of our childhood and means a huge amount to us. 'Manufacturers need to realise that by doing this, they are destroying our faith in these cherished brands. And when we are unhappy, we vote with our feet. So cutting the chocolate will only drive away precious customers.' Curly Wurly bar of chocolate-coated hard caramel has been a Cadbury staple ever since it was launched in the UK in 1970. Mondelēz International said: 'We understand the economic pressures that consumers continue to face and any changes to our product sizes is a last resort for our business. 'However, as a food producer, we are continuing to experience significantly higher input costs across our supply chain, with ingredients such as cocoa and dairy, which are widely used in our products, costing far more than they have done previously. 'Meanwhile, other costs like energy and transport, also remain high. This means that our products continue to be much more expensive to make and while we have absorbed these costs where possible, we still face considerable challenges 'As a result of this difficult environment, we have had to make the decision to slightly reduce the weight of our Cadbury Curly Wurly multipacks so that we can continue to provide consumers with the brands they love, without compromising on the great taste and quality they expect.' Meanwhile, bags of Crunchie Rocks, Bitsa Wispa and Oreo Bites have all shrunk from 110g to 100g. However, they are still being sold at major retailers for the same price - £1.75. It is yet another blow for sweet-toothed Brits as Cadbury have quietly reduced the size of another multipack As well as Cadbury, other notable confectionary brands such as Nestle's KitKat and Terry's Chocolate Orange have suffered from shrinkflation. It comes after Spin Genie UK analysed Britain's four main chocolate selection boxes over Christmas - Heroes, Celebrations, Roses and Quality Street - to reveal how they have decreased in size over the last 15 years. Last year year, they were priced at approximately £6 across major UK supermarkets. Back in 2009, the boxes came with a heftier price tag, costing around £10 each. While today's tubs may seem more affordable, they offer less indulgence per pound than in the past. In 2009, across all tubs combined, the average weight per pound was 101.25g, whereas, in 2024, this is 93.25g. Consumer expert Kate Hardcastle previously told MailOnline shrinkflation is 'the exact opposite of what shoppers value – transparency and authenticity'. She said: 'I understand why producers do it. The cost of everything from ingredients to labour has risen dramatically over the last few years and we don't like paying more. So the obvious solution is to shrink the product and hope shoppers don't notice. 'They call it "re-engineering" or "price management" and it happens most easily in products with a lot of packaging, making it easy to disguise the shrinkage. 'But no one wants to be taken for a fool and that's what it feels like, and it's happening more and more.' Which? magazine's senior editor, Ele Clark, wants the Government to urge retailers to make unit pricing clearer. She said in August: 'Supermarkets and manufacturers must be more upfront with consumers about any changes in the size or ingredients of their products. 'They should also ensure that unit pricing is prominent, legible and consistent so that shoppers can easily compare prices across different brands and pack sizes.' So far British politicians have been unwilling to act and legislate on the rising trend of shrinkflation. In April, during a parliamentary inquiry into fairness in the food supply, leading UK retailers and brands denied the need for any further shrinkflation regulations and instead justified the practice. But this is contrary to what's happening elsewhere. For example, since July, French supermarkets have been obliged to display when food and consumer goods have been shrunk. Information must stay in place for two months. The French finance minister declared shoppers deserve 'transparency' and slammed shrinkflation as a 'rip-off'.
Yahoo
17-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
People Are Sharing The 'Silent' Scams In Society We All Just Kind Of Accept, And I Hadn't Even Thought Of Some Of These
Recently, I came upon a post from Reddit user Sweet_Programmer_592 on the popular Ask Reddit page that looked kind of interesting. In it, they asked, "What's a silent scam in society that everybody just accepts?" and whew, were the answers varied. Here are some of the best: 1."Subscription-based EVERYTHING nowadays." —u/JTHuffy 2."Health insurance. It's all made-up numbers. 30,000% mark-ups. But hey, you save with insurance! All you have to do is pay $250 a month plus the entire $6,000 deductible for it to even kick in..." Paramount Pictures —u/ArboristTreeClimber "Private health insurance. It's literally organized crime." —u/Yereli 3."Health insurance and the fact that dental is separate." —u/Cigaran "And vision!" —u/v13 4."Paying tax on a used car (or used anything, really)." —u/IllustriousLength318 5."Taxpayer-funded research that is patented and privatized as soon as it yields results, and then is sold back to the same taxpayers that funded its development." —u/---Spartacus--- 6."Shrinkflation: Companies quietly reduce product sizes but keep prices the same, so we pay more per unit without realizing it. It's accepted as normal inflation, but it's really a sneaky price hike." u/deleted / Via u/PiercedGeek / Via —u/tessaemilybrown 7."Almost literally everything now. Everything that used to work, flawed or otherwise, is now a grift. Nothing functions correctly, companies don't sell or make things people want, nothing that used to work and last can work and last now because in order for the company to make more money this year than last year, they need to sell you another one." HBO "Coupons and reward programs? Pointless. It's all to track your purchases, the sale price is the regular price, and the regular price is inflated; if you aren't a new customer, there are no rewards. Consumer goods? They're going to break. You need to buy a new one next year. Or it's a subscription. Or it's going to break and is a subscription. Finances? The government is actively tanking the market to buy the dip, and everything that used to be somewhat reliable is exclusively for the wealthy already, or is some crypto that you SHOULD invest in, even though the entire point is to get in early and sell before everyone else and everyone involved knows that. The boiled frogs' pan has been getting higher temp for decades, but COVID took the pan off the pot for 15 minutes, and when it sat back down, the burner was 150 degrees hotter and the pan is bending." —u/glopthrowawayaccount 8."Megachurches being tax-exempt. They're allowed to meddle in politics, help sway elections, and all kinds of other BS, but get to reap billions of dollars tax-free." —u/Ianm1225 9."Timeshares." —u/norm_190 10."Ticketing fees. When you buy tickets online, extra fees get added for things like 'processing' or a 'service fee.' Everyone just accepts them, but it's basically paying more for an automated service." ABC —u/tessaemilybrown "Absolutely this. I absolutely hate Ticketmaster, but if I want to see the show, I have to buy my ticket through them. I often travel to see concerts, so I can't just physically visit the venue and buy a ticket. I always buy an advance so that I get a good seat for a good price, because I do not want to pay hundreds of dollars for a resale ticket." —u/True-University-6545 11."Taxpayers subsidizing ballparks and stadiums." —u/kukukele 12."The cost of funeral services." —u/NSFWdw 13."Pop-up ads. You use my bandwidth to tell me blatant lies about things I don't need." NBC / Via —u/defyclassification 14."Tipping. It's the employer's role to pay their employees fairly." —u/draxenato 15."Paying to park at a place for which you also pay admission." "Example: amusement parks. I already paid $200 for my family's tickets, and I'm sure I'll spend more on overpriced food in the park. Why do I also have to pay $40 just to have a place to put my car for the day?" —u/HawaiianShirtsOR 16."I'm shocked no one has said credit scores yet; the three credit monitors/clearinghouses are publicly traded, for-profit companies." "They constantly try to sell you other services and affiliated services like credit cards (which, since they know your credit score, is a complete conflict of interest in my opinion); credit scores don't transfer across borders; everyone is forced to interact with these companies in some way; and the things that affect your credit score are often a mystery. Definitely a fucking scam." —u/ellsego 17."Taxes. The IRS knows what 99% of Americans owe, and annual reconciliation is a 100% scam that H&R Block lobbyists bribe Congress to maintain. Both Obama and Trump publicly wanted it reformed, but both were rejected by well-bribed Congress." NBC —u/ManufacturerPublic 18."I hate that every few months or years it seems I need to call my phone provider, garbage company, cable, car insurance, and threaten to leave to get them to lower my bill, or switch to a new company to get 'new member pricing.' It's beyond annoying." —u/Mimi4Stotch 19."YouTube reviews and demos." "It used to be a platform for the people by the people, showing what things really are. Now it's filled with marketing folks dreaming of being famous, who make you think you'll be like them if you use the products they're 'reviewing.'" —u/Square-Heat-3758 20."Rounding up at checkouts so that corporations can use our donations to cover the overhead of the charitable organization associated with their business, while also using those 'donations' to get themselves massive tax breaks." "Never donate to a non-profit through a for-profit. Give the money as directly as possible to the people who need it." —u/lxnarratorxl 21."Cars. Can't really be a member of modern society without one in most places, and they are extremely expensive, extremely dangerous, extremely loud, and one of the worst sources of air and water pollution." —u/Cache-Cow Got any "silent scam" observations of your own to share? Tell me all about it down in the comments. I want to hear it all! Solve the daily Crossword
Times
15-07-2025
- Business
- Times
Cadbury owner's shrinking chocolate is Germany's biggest rip-off
There were Pom-Bärs that boasted of containing 50 per cent less fat than regular crisps but failed to mention that they also had six times the sugar content. There was the French drinking yoghurt that claimed to strengthen the body's defences against illness but was immunologically indistinguishable from regular yoghurt. And then there was the boutique organic tomato sauce for children that had 240 per cent of the sugar found in its adult equivalent. • The experts' guide to the probiotics that work The latest winner, however, of the 'Golden Windbag' award, conferred by German consumer rights activists on the 'most blatant advertising lie of the year', is the incredible vanishing chocolate bar. Mondelez, the American processed food conglomerate behind brands such as Cadbury, Toblerone and Ritz biscuits, is the first company to receive the unwanted award for ' shrinkflation', the practice of furtively downsizing a product while maintaining or increasing its price. Its Milka Alpine Milk bars, which are especially popular in Germany, have dwindled from 100g to 90g — but the price has risen from €1.49 to €1.99. The brand is also sold in the UK ALAMY Foodwatch, the campaign group that runs the Golden Windbag award — the title is a pun on the German word windbeutel, which can also refer to a profiterole or a cream puff — calculated that this was equivalent to a 48 per cent stealth increase in the price per gram. 'Mondelez is tricking the people in the supermarket and making a pile of money in the process,' Chris Methmann, the director of Foodwatch, said. 'Shrinkflation is legalised consumer deception and the German government is leaving people to deal with it on their own.' Mondelez has been contacted for comment. The company told Tagesschau, the national public broadcaster's flagship television news programme, that it had announced the change on its website and printed the new weight on the front of the packet. It said it had been obliged to take 'carefully considered measures' to deal with the soaring cost of cocoa, and inflation across its supply chain. Shrinkflation has existed for decades but the term has come into vogue in recent years as manufacturers have been caught between rising input costs and shoppers with increasingly constrained budgets. • 15 biggest food myths, debunked Prominent cases have included Ben & Jerry's quietly scaling down its ice-cream tubs in Europe from 500ml to 465ml, while publicly denouncing its rivals for doing much the same in the US. The practice has become especially common in the world of chocolate as the price of cocoa beans has fluctuated, and surged since the middle of 2023. An early example was Toblerone, which was forced to reverse its decision to skimp on chocolate by increasing the size of the gaps between the distinctive triangular peaks of its bars in 2016.
